Credit: Natalia Kiss, Serbia

Today is Love Your Body Day in America, an annual occasion sponsored by the National Organization for Women to draw attention to the damaging beauty standards imposed on women through mainstream media and advertising.

NOW has been running LYB Day events for 16 years, including an annual poster contest (that’s this year’s winning entry above) and educational materials that help explain the corrosive effect of media representations on young women’s self-image. This year, it’s also hosting a Google Plus hangout where women can share their personal stories.

Earlier this year, NOW published results of a survey that asked women what really bugs them — and inspires them — about how they are portrayed in the media. The results were revealing, though not surprising. Here’s a sample:

Worst Body-Image Incident/Trend From The Past Year

• 43% — Exploitation of young girls, as in Toddlers and Tiaras and fashion magazines.
• 16% — Weight-based bashing of women athletes at 2012 Summer Games.
• 11% — Media obsession over Jessica Simpson’s pregnancy weight gain.

Most Inspiring Incident/Trend

• 51% — Successful campaign by Julia Bluhm and SPARK girls activist movement, which persuaded Seventeen magazine to stop photoshopping models’ images.
• 10% TV shows like Girls and The Mindy Project that “feature women often missing from popular culture”.

Changes We’d Like To See

• 25% — Stop using Photoshop to create unrealistic images of women.
• 21% — Stop marketing that tries to convince women there is something wrong with them.
• 19% — Show more successful, smart, power women in media, particularly in shows where men dominate.
• 13% — Show a broader range of women actors in TV and movies.
• 10% — Fashion industry should use more diverse models, not just “one or two” token plus-size models and women of color.

You can see the full survey results here.