Celebrity Body Image

The portrayal of body image in media are unrealistic and are photoshopped. Many young adolescences are unaware of this. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: does false portrayal of body image lead to the development of eating disorder? In this paper we will explore how eating disorder develops, and how we can prevent eating disorders, and the potential treatment of eating disorder. In the article, Relation of media exposure of to eating disorder symptomatology an examination of mediating mechanisms, the author emphasizes the consequences of beauty standards of thinness results in lower self-esteem and decreased weight satisfaction in adolescence. Research articles that supports the notion of media influence of eating disorders were

A day hardly ever goes by without hearing something about body image in our society. It seems to be all around us today and there is little we can do to avoid it being around us. I don’t like seeing this affecting our society, because I see it changing us in a bad way. In gathering information on just how and why people worry about their body image, ideas on how to prevent this obsess on were also

Body image is an important concept in many adolescent and young adult minds. To have a positive body image is to know that you are beautiful. To be beautiful is to reach the standards of beauty in society. However, society is constantly changing those standards as time goes by. Many young men and women strive to reach the positive, even if it means their health, money, and mind. They have the media, such as magazines to thank for these wonderful standards.

Millions of teens and adults are faced with eating disorders and negative body images everywhere they go. Celebrities promote unrealistic standards and display what the “acceptable” body is. Because of our stick thin role models we have in the media today much of our society holds their own body image to the unobtainable standards of celebrities. People are bombarded with images of what’s “sexy” instead of what’s healthy (Helmich). In a world based around celebrities and media, shouldn’t they be promoting a healthy body image instead of the negative ones we are being smothered with?

A transcript from “Dying to be Thin,” by Larkin Mcphee in a CQ researcher database article reads, “Model Kate Dillon said she got the idea to purge from a tv movie. At five feet 11 inches tall and a size 4, she was anorexic when she appeared in Vogue and Elle” (Prah 126). In this, Mcphee states that a “tv movie” led to the inspiration for an eating disorder in a female named Kate Dillon. This supports the idea that celebrities influence the likelihood of developing an eating disorder.

A very prominent and controversial issue related to media-idealized images is that of eating disorders and eating problems. Eating problems include binge eating, purging, and unhealthy eating problems. These disorders are seen in young adolescents who are at a very fragile stage of life. Teenagers experience bodily changes as well as peer pressure and new experiences of going into high school. According to Dakanalis et al. the media portrays individuals with an extremely thin build for females and a slim-muscular build (i.e., muscles along with minimal body fat) for males is considered to be the cause of body displeasure and eating pathology. There is no solid evidence to prove that the media is to blame for the degree of eating disorder symptoms and negative body-image feelings that many feel, hence the reason it continues to be a highly debated topic. There has although, been continuous research and theories comprised over objectification. This occurs when men and women are sexually objectified. A person is treated as a body, where beauty and attractiveness of a person are important and valued. This theory can be found nearly anywhere because of the amount and variety of social interaction. It is common because of the way media represents body images. The media has ideals of men and women’s body images and individuals are compared to how well

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, “the body type portrayed in advertising as the ideals is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females.” (“ANAD”) Body image has been a controversial theme because of the influence of the media. It is a widely known fact that eating disorder cases are on the rise. The concept of body image is a subjective matter. The common phrase, “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” holds true meaning in this sense. One’s view and value of their body is self-imposed. Falling into the destructive eating disorders reveals much about a person’s psychological and emotional state. Examining the mental, physical, and emotional conditions behind recognized eating

There are various ways that would help everyone develop a positive body image such as using the Body Image Continuum to find out which stage you’re in to see if your body image is positive or negative. Some other ways you could develop a positive body image is avoiding the media, eating respectfully, stay away from shopping centers. Because other people may think different about you and in today’s society there is lots of judgement. Also, there are people in this world that like to talk bad about someone

Females and males are both under pressure to conform to societies idea of beauty. Women feel pressure to be thin, big chested, while men feel the urge to be lean and muscular. Society portrays these images of thinness and muscularity through media, magazines, and even toys. These images can have an impact on peoples body images, which can lead to eating disorders such as Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa.

Demi Lovato once said, “I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body.” However, today we find that many individuals are doing the completely opposite. In Susan Bordo’s, “Globalization of Eating Disorders” essay, they fall into the media trap, the self-image trap, where they are concerned of what people may think about them. Americans nowadays have pageants, modeling, and media to thank for this absurd notion. Fit women, along with strong men give this motivation to others to want to be like them. Most people should be comfortable with their own bodies. Americans are mesmerized with media and enthralled by one’s body image, and ,as a result, face ramifications like eating disorders and anorexia.

Body image may be viewed as the way people see themselves and even imagine how they make look based off how they may feel about themselves. Yet it could also be viewed as the way other people see you. Body image, in medicine and psychology refers to a person 's emotional attitudes, beliefs and views of their own body (Positive and Negative Body Image). According to Positive and Negative Body Image, a negative body image develops when a person feels his or her body does not amount up to family, social, or media standards. Many people feel as if they don’t measure up to the belief of others. People who have accepted the way they look often feel good about their image and would be considered to have a positive body image. One’s appearance may not be measure up to how their family expects it to be or how it is perceived to be in the media, but once people learn accept and be proud of the way they look they’ll be better off in the long run. When a person is measured against the standards of the beauty seen frequently in the media and it doesn’t compare to how they feel about themselves it become discouraging. Having said that, long-lasting negative body image can affect both your mental and physical health which could lead to eating disorders down the road.

This is not intentional, but when one younger girl sees her idol and she or he has an eating disorder, the girl would want to be just like him or her. In fact, models are just as vulnerable as any other teenager to have anorexia because of pressure to be skinny all the time. Models can be so pressured by the company, by their agent, or by the people to be skinny that soon the model thinks he or her are never the right size. “Many Models face incredible pressure to stay thin, and sometimes the pressure can be too much” (Mills). There are many models around the world who have eating disorders including Isabelle Caro. She happened to be a french model who had anorexia, she was most well known for appearing at an anti-anorexia campaign. She died in Paris, France in 2010 because of Anorexia bulimia. One anti- anorexia campaign described the anorexic models like Isabelle, “Fashion sketches—the way that people communicate designs to one another—idealize these bodies, with their exaggerated proportions, long slender limbs, and expressionless faces” (Bridges). Overall, girls, women, men, and models are all possible of gaining an eating disorder and or unintentionally passing it on to another person. With models, there is a pressure to be thin, but with teenagers peer pressure is the main source for anorexia in their age

The amount of males that are unsatisfied with their bodies has tripled in the last twenty-five years. According to Helen Fawkner, doctor of philosophy, it has increased from fifteen percent of the male population to forty-five percent. It is an extremely severe problem that most people are not aware of. It can lead to suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and eating disorders, but the majority of people think that males do not have to worry about it as much as females. However, they have the same amount of pressure to have the perfect figure as females, it is just not delineated. Body image and eating disorders are not just female problems, men go through the same issues.

Children have role models which are mostly celebrities and models. These people who they look up to, and as a society we need to stop labelling them as having the ideal perfect body (size zero} , these are people who have publicly announced that they suffer from eating disorders. Thus if we keep encouraging this deal body we are contributing to development eating disorders since they would want to be/look like them. (Hausenblas et al., 2013).

As Bordo point out, “there hasn’t been a tabloid cover in the past few years that didn’t boast of an inside scoop on some star’s diet a “fabulous” success story of weight loss or a tragic relapse” (Bordo 1). There is such a fixation on being skinny that it’s easy to see how some people develop eating disorders to try and reach this “skinny” body. Most fashion models look like they are the billboards of eating disorders. Most are basically just skin and bones and look like they are on the verge of starvation, in reality they probably