Arise Of Eating Disorders

Beauty standards in the media are one of many reasons feeding and eating disorders are a rising problem. The unrealistic body types of being extremely thin, in pop culture, are influential factors for many teens, especially teen girls. According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), anorexia nervosa is a “restriction of energy intake, intense fear of gaining weight, and a disturbance in the perception of one’s body size” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals diagnosed with anorexia tend to place a high value on their shape and weight, which can interfere with their daily lives. Individuals diagnosed tend to view of their body shape in a distorted representation. The motivation to become

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), as many as 60 percent of children between ages 6 and 12 worry about weight gain, and half American teens think they’re overweight. (Turner, 2014) Girls want to lose huge amounts of weight because they think they will feel prettier when all there doing is damaging the inside of their body. Among adolescent girls, 1% to 3% have bulimia and 1% have anorexia. Only 5% to 15% of all people with anorexia or bulimia are male. (Harris, 2004) Most young females and males go through some type of eating disorder. A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that more than half a million teens have an eating disorder. (Turner, 2014)

Therefore, the commendation of such look and shape commercializes unhealthy body image and procreates eating disorders. Unfortunately, at present the commercialism of a perfect body is encountered by almost everyone on everyday basis. The public is bombarded daily with images of glamorously thin women in commercials, on billboards, in movies in magazines and etc?According to Melanie Katzman, a consultant psychologist from New York, the media has actively defined the thin ideal as success and treats the body as a commodity. (Rhona MacDonald, 2001) It is evident that the persistent advocating of the media and the society produced a constant pursuit of thinness, which became a new religion. A study conducted by Harvard researchers has revealed the effect of media and magazines on adolescent girls in high schools. The children were exposed to fashion magazines and television commercials, and a while after were given self-rating surveys. The study found that sixty-nine percent of the girls said that magazine pictures

Eating disorders have become a major social problem in America, especially for woman. Our society pushes a fantasy of the idealized body through advertising, magazines, television, and social networks. It has become the cultural norm for women to be materialized out of the delusional thought process centered on the perfect body. From a very young age, women are given the message that in order to be happy and pretty, they must look like a Barbie doll. Women need to become aware that society’s ideal body image is not feasible. Your body is merely a vessel that contains the beautiful mind and soul that makes who you are. Our society has created unattainable standards of perfection in body image, and it is causing the rate of eating disorders to keep increasing. Over time, I have learned the most important aspect in life: perfection does not exist.

These women we see in the media and in magazines are models. People see models as gorgeous women, who they should want to look like. People think models have it so easy because all they have to do is take pictures, walk down a runway stage, and ultimately look stunning all the time. The truth about models are they have to keep that thin body image or they could become jobless. Nona L.Wilson, and Anne E. Blackhurst say, “Those researchers who have acknowledged the importance of social and cultural factors in the development of eating disorders have focused primarily on the cultural norm of thinness. This approach has highlighted the role of the media and other cultural forces in promoting a "thin ideal" that is unattainable for most women. To date, the most

The media constantly sends out an influx of images and messages promoting an almost unattainable unrealistic image of beauty, that has consistently been linked to disordered eating and body dissatisfaction, predominantly among girls but can also be seen in boys. Throughout the years the ideal body shape has progressed from voluptuous and curvaceous an image Marilyn Monroe emulated to a slimmer and leaner frame in congruence with high fashion models such as Kate Moss (Katzmarzk & Davis, 2001). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia nervosa affect between 1% and 4% of young adult females (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Eating disorders have been linked to body shapes and images present in the media (Shorter, Brown, Quinton & Hinton, 2008).

Bulimia nervosa is when the person vomits anything they eat in order to “lose weight”(people usually maintain their same weight) and anorexia nervosa is when a person eats very little or does not eat in an attempt to lose weight (Belsky, 2010). Anorexia nervosa is far more dangerous than bulimia nervosa; it can cause serious health problems and even far worse - death (Belsky, 2010). In the article's research, eating disorders are very present with adolescent girls who want to have an “ideal body” image. We also learned about ideal thin, which is a “media-driven cultural idea that females need to be abnormally thin” (Belsky, 2010, p. 251). Without say, media has a big contribution behind the dramatic choice that adolescent girls make in order to fit in society. “…women compare themselves with the idealized, symbolic images, and, on finding that they ‘fail’ to meet the social cultural standards” (Lopez-Guimera, 2010, p. 404). Adolescent girls risk their own life (maybe without knowing it) in order to feel accepted in society. Both the research articles and the course text book emphasize that “fitting in” is highly important for adolescents, making them take dramatic choices to do so but those adolescent girls are unable to recognize that medias “ideal body” image is unrealistic. “A primary

Eating disorders are no secret in this generation; it is a struggle women face all around the world. However the problem is becoming increasingly more prevalent in America as time continues. People do not die from suicide; they die from sadness. According to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health one in two hundred American women suffer from anorexia and twenty percent of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications caused by their eating disorder commonly between the ages of twelve to twenty-five. No girl at such a young age should have such “thin” expectations of herself. Images of women in magazines as well as the toys children play with are responsible for these expectations from adolescence to adulthood.

With the condition being body image distortion amongst women increasing, this condition is becoming more widespread as the media continues to portray unrealistic expectations. Considering that this condition is being fueled and promoted by the media with its use of Photoshop and models, it is something that can be changed and even reversed. The media’s portrayal of women and beauty should be modified. Instead of aiming for perfection, the media should provide a representation of women that is realistic, and will no longer provide young women with the perception that their personal body image does not reach the standards of beauty. Current standards of beauty in the media encourages an extreme thinness that is often unachievable, and the extreme desire to reach this ideal body image can lead to anorexia nervosa and bulimia

Hundreds of girls everyday begin some form of eating disorder. Dieting to purging are all dangerous, especially for adolescent girls. Many forms of media promote skinny, thin, and extra thin, not allowing girls to think about their own body shape and appearance positively, “Field et al. (1999) studied 6,928 girls aged 9 to 14 years and found that attempting to emulate the appearance of females on television, in movies, and in magazines was predictive of beginning purging behavior at least on a monthly basis and that the risk for this behavior increased per category increase in frequency of trying to look like females in the media” (Lawrie, Sullivan and Davies 356). Television, movies, advertisements, and magazine all promote thinness without mercy. Every magazine headline advertises some form of calorie burner workout or dieting pill right in grocery store isles, “Restricting calories and taking diet pills were associated with reading beauty and fashion magazines in female high school students 15 to 18 years of age” (Lawrie, Sullivan and Davies 356)

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

     In America, girls are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin. Given the value which society places on being thin, it is not surprising that eating disorders are on the increase. Every time you walk into a store, you are surrounded by the images of emaciated models that appear on the covers of fashion magazines. Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves daily in an effort to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure. The average model weighs 23% less than the average woman. Maintaining a weight 20% below your expected body weight fits the criteria for the emotional eating disorder known as anorexia.

“Appearance is more important in our society than ever,” said Dr. Thompson in the New York Times. Undoubtedly, self-image has become an important trait for people to have. Unfortunately, some people go to extremes to get the so called “perfect body” to attempt to look like the models shown in the media. “Researchers have believed that the media may play a central role in creating the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction and consequently, may be partly responsible for the increase in eating disorders” (Paediatr Child Health). In fact, girls who are average weight, believe they are overweight or actively trying to lose weight. With out a doubt, media is at the palms of our hands, considering that most people have cell

People need to be informed on the issue that unrealistic beauty standards, set by the society, are harmful. These standards cause a “schema that combines three fundamental components: the idealization of slenderness, an irrational fear of fat, and a belief that weight is a central determinant of one’s identity” (Lintott 67). Our society promotes a specific body image as being attractive: being thin. It is represented throughout mass media, both in the physical and online worlds. The media exposes individuals, especially women, to impractical body types. Today, negative body image encourages women to engage in disordered eating behaviors to fit an impractical standard of beauty. In fact, according to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), 20 million females will “suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life” (Lintott 68). We contribute so much time striving to look like what society wants us to resemble. Some individuals believe that this thin ideal is the norm and that the media is not causing any harm. But, this thin ideal is detrimental. It is the main reason for the increase in the development and encouragement in eating disorders, body dissatisfaction in women and a rise in the number of pro-anorexia websites.

Over 20 million women and 10 million men will suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their life(Get the Facts, n.d.). A person with an eating disorder will start out eating small or large amounts of food. Then at some point that person will spiral out of control to where they are not eating at all or eating excessively. “Severe distress or concern about body weight or shape, or extreme efforts to manage weight or food intake, also may characterize an eating disorder”(NIMH, n.d.). For girls the need to feel skinny can start at the young age of 6 years old. According to a recent study 40-60% of girls from six to twelve years old have said that they are concerned about their weight or of becoming to fat. The rate of people