Causes of Eating Disorders

“Never Just Pictures” by Susan Bordo, is about how today’s society is influenced by the mass medias unrealistic ideas of how they are supposed to look. In this essay, the author breaks down the images being showcased by today’s culture concerning the aesthetics of the female body. Bordo also talks about how what was considered ‘beautiful’ or ‘perfect’ before has changed. Lately, the world has been on a craze to look like the air brushed model in the picture. Bordo explains how a lot of people are becoming more obsessed with their physique, and depending on looking thin to make them happy, instead of focusing on being happy and healthy.

Eating disorders may not seem like it’s that big of a deal. In America, we hear about a lot about people who contract illnesses such as cancer, but eating disorders isn’t talked about much. Over thirty million people suffer from these mental illnesses, such as anorexia or bulimia. Even though these disorders have the highest life span of any mental illness, they can lead to death due to organ failure, heart failure, starvation, or even go as far as committing suicide. Things such as peer pressure, sports, body image, and low-self esteem can drive teenagers towards eating disorders.

Since the 1950s the cases of eating disorders have been increasing, especially in westernized countries (Wade, Keski-Rahkonen, & Hudson, 2011). 1950 was the year where having curves was accepted, but this view changed when societal culture started to become more important to the average person. Culture is comprised of how people think, behave, and work in a particular society (Merriam-webster’s collegiate dictionary, 2015). Societal culture is comprised of athletic influence, media, and the fashion industry. All of the societal culture factors are responsible for the rise of eating disorders in young adults. In 2011, it was found that 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from eating disorders at some point in their lives (Wade et. al, 2011). Eating disorders are not always considered an important mental illness, but due to the high number of cases they should be because they can lead to health problems including slow heart rate, low blood pressure, and severe dehydration. These side effects can lead to death if not treated properly which is why eating disorders should be looked at as a clinical disease.

Every day there are masses of women that are bombarded with today’s “thin-ideal media” of the so-called “picture-perfect” body. These unrealistic photos portray images in magazines all over the country to entice to our youth; which gives them the indication that they are skinny enough or pretty enough. The term “thin-ideal media” is a term that shows images and films that enclose unrealistically thin females as their centerfolds or lead characters. This is something that occurs habitually in the fashion industry, such as in magazines, clothing catalogs and television shows that appeal mostly to teens. Thin-ideal media gives the idea that being thin is a good thing and something that they should view as desirable and in some cases even strive to be like. Even if it could be potentially hazardous to one’s health by not

The culture and society people live in today tells people that in order to fit in then they have to be perfect. In order to become perfect people starve themselves, which can lead to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Media also plays a huge part in causing eating disorders. TV, movies, magazines and the internet give unrealistic images on what a persons bodies should look like. Media uses airbrushed models as an image of the average woman but in reality the model weighs twenty- three percent less than the average woman (Self Image Media Influences). Women see these images and take unhealthy measures to try and fit the standards set by media. Researchers at Duke University took a survey and discovered that forty percent of nine and ten year old girls have admitted to being on a diet. In a study based on self-image three out of four girls said that they are overweight but only one out of them was, the Rader Programs did this study (self Image Media

In today’s world everywhere you look there are images of what our society considers beautiful. Television uses pretty skinny girls for the popular TV shows, magazines use pictures of skinny women in the articles, store windows use pictures of skinny models modeling the stores clothes, and billboards use young skinny pretty models modeling jewelry or other products. In reality, these women do not look like what these pictures portray them as. These

It starts off at very young ages. Growing up, every little girl sees how the idols in their lives are supposed to look. Models, Disney princesses, and even Barbie dolls have one body type: thin. It seems like every girl’s dream is to someday be like them. They want to be thin and pretty like the models they see on television and in magazines or like the Barbies they play with every day. The desire could often become an obsession and young girls often see "thinness" as being a needed characteristic. For many girls, the teenage through college years are spent trying to acquire this look. Females are trying diets and are exercising like it is a competition to see who can lose the most weight the quickest. The obsession of many young girls over their appearance or weight has led to a growing number of people who have developed an eating disorder to try to deal with this.

Scientists and doctors have no single cause why teens developed eating disorder, however many scientist and doctors feels that eating disorders are triggered by the media, peers, family, psychological. For example, America Idol finalist and actress Jennifer Hudson appeared on the front cover of People magazine going from a size 16 to a size 6. To illustrate, how the media triggers eating disorders in young teens, American Idol judge Simon Cowell said on national television Jennifer Hudson did not fit the image society are used to seeing and she would not be successful in selling records due to her size. Obviously, the message that was deliver to many young teens was that obesity is not beautiful and to be accepted you must be slim to be accepted by

The second cause is the social pressure to have the “perfect body”. This social pressure can add to, and fuel, the shame that a binge eater can feel. This will then lead to even more eating because a binge eater

“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.

These are types of eating disorders are the most common that are caused by the media 's degrading influence. There are eating disorder specialists who still do not believe that the media can make adolescents more susceptible to eating disorders. They discuss the point of eating disorder versus disorder eating. The eating disorders mentioned above are long term, meaning that it is everyday or every meal that they over eat, starve or purge. It turns into a habitual cycle and they become obsessed with how much they loose each day. With that said, some specialists believe that disordered eating, not an eating disorder, is what most teens experience after they spend a prolonged time with the media. Disordered eating is when one has occasional bad eating

The media have constructed attractiveness for a long time many sociocultural standards of beauty and. Especially women’s body images have been a primary concern because the value of women has been measured how they look like. How women have similar body traits with the modern female body images has been a significant and essential issue, historically. The sociocultural standards of beauty which have been created by the greed of the media have dire impacts on young females. The current beauty level of the female body image in the media is thinness. In fact, the preferred female body images have been changed through the media. Throughout history, sometimes skinny women’s body images were loved, and sometimes over weighted women’s body images were preferred. Whenever the media have dictated the ideal female

Every generation has a set of values that they believe make a person beautiful. In the 1940’s and 50’s it was considered beautiful to be a voluptuous woman. A woman with a large chest and full hips was the ideal woman, such as Marylyn Monroe. The difference between then and now is, young women could escape this image if need be. Today it is impossible to ignore the stick thin super models on bill boards, TV, and in magazines. The influence of society on teenagers is so much that men actually expect a woman to be that stick thin model or they are considered “fat”, “tubby”, etc. The average fashion model is 5'9" to 6' tall. The average American woman is 5' 4" tall. The average fashion model weighs 110-118 pounds. The average American woman

What is beauty and who decides what is beautiful? It seems that beauty is no longer in the eye of the beholder but in they eye of media. Media has influenced the perception of what is being considered beautiful today. Media constantly portrays tall thin women and this is what many women strive for. This phenomenon has come to be known as the Thin Ideal. Although, it is unclear where this term originated from, Harrison (2008) describes this term as the way that media has “glamorized” the thin body. They create a fear in girls of even a little body fat because this ideal woman has little to no body fat. This review examines research on how the Thin Ideal is affecting women; specifically, its effect on a woman’s body image, weight satisfaction, gender differences, age differences and eating habits.

There is no single cause for eating disorders. A number of factors, including cultural and family pressures, chemical imbalances, and emotional and personality disorders collaborate to produce both anorexia and bulimia, although each disorder is determined by different combinations of these influences. Genetics may also play a small role.