Eating Disorder Symptomology

The social comparison theory offers some level of explanation for how media images actually come to impact the way women feel about their bodies. It examines how individuals evaluate themselves in relation to peers, groups, and/or social categories (Milkie, 1999). The main argument is that people compare themselves on many different dimensions with other individuals who are similar to them. Depending on the target of comparison, a person will usually judge themselves as being either or better or worse on some dimension. An upward comparison occurs when an individual compares himself or herself to someone who fares better than they do on a particular construct. In contrast, downward comparisons involve a person comparing himself or herself to

In his article, Sheldon referenced many articles that reported how the exposure to thin models in magazines can lower self-esteem and body satisfaction significantly. The authors of the referenced articles found that women who believe they do not have an ideal or thin body tend to be disappointed, and will work hard to achieve the ideal body to be “accepted” into society. This is caused through the media such as magazines and television as the people in those media can be used as a reference point to make unfavorable comparisons between the viewers and the person they are comparing. Through a body image survey made in 1997, researchers (as cited in Sheldon, 2010) found that 43% of them felt insecure about their body when they see very thin or muscular models. About half of women who were surveyed wanted to lose weight in order to look similar to the

Another issue that seems to be prevalent is the distinction between an eating disorder and disordered eating. These two are frequently misunderstood and used out of context. Disordered eating is almost the same thing as an eating disorder with a few differences. Someone who suffers from disordered eating is someone who does the same things as someone who suffers from an actual diagnosed eating disorder but with less frequently. An example of this would be purging after eating an excessive amount of food. Those who suffer from disordered eating often times have a history of depression or anxiety.

Everyone is exposed to the media, and what the media presents to the public can have a powerful effect on the viewers. The media holds an influence over many subjects. For example, the media is a medium through which many social problems gain attention and support. The media plays such a prominent role in the circulation of social problems, however the media is also the cause of social problems that are detrimental to today’s youth. The media presents and promotes an image of beauty that is practically unachievable. This image of beauty is most often targeted towards women through exposure to commercials promoting weight loss, perfection, and a distorted depiction of what the female body should look like. Women’s magazines have an average of sixty-three diet ads, while in contrast men only have an average of one (Myers & Biocca 110). Myers states that body image is a mentally constructed self-schema, consisting of three parts. The objective body image is their true physical appearance, and their

Two Psychiatrists, Joel Kevin Thompson and Leslie J. Heinberg (1999), studied the “media’s influence on body image disturbance and eating disorders” (Thompson,.et Heinberg:Dec 17, 2002) , basing their research within the

Mass media is overwhelmingly present in today’s society. Although mass media is a convenient and important form of communication, does this constant flow of interaction have unintended consequences for the public? In an increasingly connected culture, the influence of mass media on one’s perceived body image is important to consider. The media influences how individuals act and interact in their daily lives. The complex effects of exposure to unrealistic images of beauty are especially concerning to sociologists. For example, a feminist analyzing mass media and body image would argue that social pressure to be thin leads women to compete with each other, wasting resources that one could otherwise use for self-development (Park, 2005, p. 609-610).

Media can bee seen as a channel of communication in whereupon millions of people frequently use in their daily lives. So, with all of this technology around, how is the media portrayal of beauty affecting women? According to Cheryl J. Haas, Laura A. Pawlow. Jon Pettibone, and Dan J. Segrist, “Research has shown media exposure to unattainable physical perfection is detrimental to people, especially women and that inimical effects are currently more the rule than the exception” (1). When a person feels as if they do not compeer with the standard of beauty media has set, that individual develops negative emotions towards themselves which can lead to ailing eating habits including binge-eating, purging, or starving. Several studies further reveal a show in decrease of self-esteem, including other psychological distress, following exposure to idealized media portrayal.

Similarly, Posavac et al. (1998) studied media image exposure to adolescent and young adult women and how this exposure impacted body weight concerns and attractiveness levels. They found that the exposure caused overall increased weight concern among young women. The results also showed that young women compared themselves to the images in the media and therefore intensified their attractiveness standards. Since the images of females were thin and attractive, the female participants began showing feelings of dissatisfaction with their own bodies. Therefore, these studies show that the more women internalize the images of the thin ideal the greater chance of body dissatisfaction. These studies explain that internalization of the thin ideal may be a contributing factor to body dissatisfaction. The above meta- analytic research included experimental and correlational studies that supported the idea of the negative role of medias portrayal of the thin ideal on body

Tiggemann gathered one-hundred and forty-four female undergraduates for the study (between 18 and 35 years) and presented them with fashion magazines either centered on thin ideals of beauty or an advertisement containing only beauty products. In the study positive mood comparisons depleted the more the women were shown fashion magazines containing thin body ideals. The negative mood compared to the positive in the information given was an average of 15.66% in difference. Also, the thin ideal images produced an average of 51.39% in body dissatisfaction compared to the control that had an average of 46.42% when shown only products. Yes, models are what women and men look to when consuming a product, but because that’s what our society is based on, they should represent all kinds of body types and not the one that seems social and culturally acceptable. Trends come and go but they shouldn’t set the bar for the way and individual should

Researchers Dirk Smeesters and Naomi Mandel in their study titled “Positive and Negative Media Image Effects on the Self” aimed to show how exposure to media images of models of different body types effect self-esteem. It is significant because it measures both the positive and negative effects that body ideal standards represented by the media has on self-esteem. Additionally, the research is interesting because it not only measures the effects of the thin-ideal but also measures the effects that different, some might say more realistic, body types have on self-esteem. Dirk and Smeesters hypothesized that “When completing a free-response measure, participants will demonstrate higher self-esteem after exposure to moderately thin models than after exposure to moderately heavy models and lower self-esteem after exposure to extremely thin models than after exposure to extremely heavy models” (Smeesters & Mandel, 2006, p. 2). To test this hypothesis, in a blind study, experimenters exposed women to pictorial images of models of varying sizes to measure

Exploration into the media influence of elusive physical superiority encourages unfavorable reactions in women, however uncovering the fiction regarding the female media figure is essential to developing image contentment (Haas 2015). In the study published in “An Intervention for the Negative Influence of Media on Body Esteem”, it was contemplated that when a slim figure was exhibited to a female, her self-appreciation would decline, yet when media fallacies were presented, the female’s self-appreciation would increase (Haas 2015). For the analysis, 160 females, ages 18 to 45, were selected indiscriminately and divided into control and experiment groups (Haas 2015). For the purposes of this examination, standard media representations were

A large amount of research has been done on the subject of eating disorders and their causes. Many eating disorders have proven to emerge during a young age and often serve as the foundations to more serious problems like depression and even death. Although there are no real solutions to eating disorders taking various medicines can help improve it, also going to therapy can help. Many people think eating disorders are not important, but they are very important. Eight million of American population suffers from eating disorders (seven million women, one million men). There are over ten types of eating disorders from anorexia to rumination. The affect this has on women is becoming a dramatic increase and what is being done is not enough.

The internalization of the “thin ideal” denotes a key cause of such dissatisfaction (Dittmar). Thin-ideal internalization is the degree to which a person will consciously accept a social definition of beauty, and in turn take action to parallel these values (Thompson and Stice). The mass media is viewed by countless body image experts as a “particularly potent and pervasive” root of thin-ideal internalization because of the notoriously unattainable idea of perfection it portrays (Boone et al.). Young girls and women are plagued every day by images of pin-thin, underweight women, not-so-subtle implications of the standard of attractiveness that they feel expected to meet, and are made to feel inadequate when they inevitably fail.

Nowadays, the standard for the attractive or adequate body as portrayed by media is slim bodies. Media indicate thin models and celebrities in Ads and TV in situation that attract women persuade in order to persuade them to buy products (Hendricks, 2002). As a result, enormous viewers of mass media it build up the thought that being thin that is the society will be acceptable with, so they start to compare themselves unconsciously with models and feel that they are not satisfied with their body shape, because they being convince with that in order to be acceptable from people or be happy the must to be similar to the model, in that case she has same body shape (Kinnally&Vonderen, 2012).

Media and Body Image. In order to prevent continued negative effects on body image by the media, it has been suggested that images that have been changed need to have labels to prevent body dissatisfaction (Slater et al., 2012). Wang et al. (2010) provided evidence that both men and women attempt to appear like the people portrayed in magazines. Men were influenced by health and sports magazines, whereas women attempted to look like the models in entertainment and fashion magazines (Wang, 2010). Participants in the Slater et al. (2012) study showed that warning labels may help prevent the negative effects of media images, as they portray an unrealistic ideal for the human body (Slater et al., 2012; Wang, 2010).