Media Influence On Eating Disorders

     Plato once said, "We behold beauty in the eye of the mind...." What some people consider beauty others may not. From the actresses that are shown on television, movies, models that are in magazines, and the pop stars that create hip and modern music videos, one could be under the impression that to be beautiful you must thin. Actresses such as Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Michelle Gheller, Clarista Flockheart, Courtney Cox and Debra Messing all have staring roles in their own television shows and are all extremely thin. The audiences of these shows being mostly women and adolescent girls, what kind of message about body image are they sending out?

It is apparent that with the increasing popularity of social media today, there has been a shift in dietary changes within our society. Individuals are subconsciously changing how and what they eat. The question arises, why are so many young women dissatisfied with their bodies, despite their size? Although there are several forces believed to play a role in this dissatisfaction such as peer criticism and parental influences, the thin-ideal body is dominating the media (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Thinness is largely emphasized and praised for women in magazines, television shows, movies and commercials (Stice & Shaw, 1992). Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that stems from this ubiquitous obsession to be thin and is often associated with a pathological fear of gaining weight, distorted self-body image and emaciation (The American Heritage® Science Dictionary).

As of the year 2013, an estimated 805 million people worldwide suffer from Hunger. This number represents a group of people who suffer from food insecurity. This means they have inadequate access to food and don’t know when their next meal will be. This being said, an estimated 70 million people worldwide suffer from some sort of eating disorders as of 2015 with 30 million being made up of Americans. Eating Disorders can be defined as any eating habit that negatively affects ones overall health. Media has had a large impact on how both males and females see their bodies.

Eating disorders have become a major problem throughout the world, specifically in the United States. The key factor that has an influence on eating disorders is the media. Including people of all ages and genders, up to twenty-four million people suffer from an eating disorder in the United States (ANAD np). This is a huge problem in the world today but what makes it so much worse is the fact that it can be prevented and it is in our control to change it. Young adults look to these celebrities, which are often their role models, and try to look just like them. What they fail to remember is the fact that celebrities have a lot of money, money that can afford nutritionists and personal trainers. They also fail to remember the extensive measures the celebrities may have to go through to look the way they do. An example of extensive measures can be considered plastic surgery. Ultimately, this creates a false goal that is almost unattainable for the “average” or “regular” person. Overall, the media has overtaken a huge impact on what the “ideal” body image has become today. Eating disorders are still on the rise and it is proven that an eating disorder such as anorexia affects up to 5 percent of women from ages 15-30 years old ("Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association np"). This may not seem that significant but it is also not considering other eating disorders such as bulimia. All in all, eating disorders

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

Media has greatly evolved since starting, but has bad evolved with it? Print media, digital media, and now social media surround everybody today. Media surround us when we go to the store and see magazines, when we sit and home and watch TV, and especially when we go online. Over time, media has created its own idea of beauty. Medias influence on body image can’t be overlooked. Media and eating disorders have a cause and effect relationship. In Helens article, “Eating Disorders: A growing problem on college campuses”, she expresses that, “In today’s media-saturated world, young women are bombarded with one message: be thin” (Helen, 2014, Paragraph 9). Today media shows that to beautiful you have to be an unhealthy weight. If media doesn’t change its view of beautiful, then the rate of eating disorders triggered by media will go up. We need to figure out a way to help now.

In this essay I will discuss how far sociologists would agree that the media causes eating disorders in women. Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions characterized by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the damage of an individual's physical and emotional health. Eating disorders include: bulimia, anorexia and obesity.

The opposing side to this topic says that media does not play a role in anorexia because of environmental factors, exercising, and dieting. People that support this side like Adam Cresswell and Sarrah Le Marquand state that anorexia is not caused by society or the media world. Cresswell states “Eating disorders are a product of epigenetics is good news for parents and carers, who often “wring their hands, asking: ‘what did I do wrong’””(Cresswell 1). Cresswell is wrong by this fact in the actual fact that if a young teen is suffering from anorexia, then the parents should be worried about their child and get that child help. No child or adult should have to suffer from such disease. Cresswell also states “These can be early-life pressures, stress, and ultimately dieting,” he says. “For some people, dieting can be really dangerous behavior. The reduction in certain nutrients can alter gene expression “” (Cresswell 1-2). Cresswell is right about how dangerous dieting can be, because it is, but television advertises all of these new diet methods and how to exceed these plans, internet sites give lists of different dieting options, and these are examples of how media pushes some people that live in this

Symbolic Interactionism is a theory focusing on the approach that has evolved from social behaviorism and that stresses the symbolic nature of human interaction (p. 46). In society, there are norms and expectations that people are expected to follow and live by and trying to achieve this ideal self-image, people sometime behave in a self-destructing behavior. Because the media creates an image that we are suppose to fit, people will go to the extreme measures to meet this look even if it involves developing an eating disorder (DeGroat).

When it comes to disturbances in a person’s diet or food intake where the person is afraid of eating and becoming overweight, it is hard not to feel spiteful towards the media (Spettigue & Henderson, 2004). Many researches have tried to figure out who are the individuals at risk towards the media’s messages. Eating disorders are psychological disorders that are distinguished by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. The most common types of eating disorders are anorexic nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating. Victims of such disorders are usually teenagers who are unhappy with their own body shapes or sizes, especially in females. With the constant evolution of technology, media now plays a huge role in advertising and it seems to be playing a huge role in placing importance on how ideal body shapes should be like.

Many people can relate to media being the blame for eating disorders because they’ve either dealt with this or know someone who has had an eating disorder due to what the media says you should look like.

The influence of social media on eating disorders has caused people to ban social media in their households because of the harmful effects exerted onto so many people. This influence causes girls to take a huge blow to their self esteem. Due to the possible repercussions of social media people have resorted to banning the use of social media within their households, such as Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet. Winslet told Fox News: “Let your kids climb trees. Take the device out of their hand. Play Monopoly! You go to a cafe and grown-ups are at one end of the table and children the other, on devices, not looking up.” Kate Winslet is not the only one who feels this way; Donna from White Plains, New York was previously a victim of bulimia, a

To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself. Many people often forget that our flaws are what makes us human. If we can accept them as part of who we are, they really do not have to be an issue. In fact, the things that we hate in ourselves causes us to function differently than what is expected. This ideal perception of beauty can lead to several mental illnesses. Most importantly, eating disorders. Eating disorders include extreme emotions, attitudes and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. Many people suffer with this mental illness and it can have a huge impact on their lives. People today live in a media-saturated world and do not control the message. Society and the media contributes to eating disorders by displaying unrealistic body images, unsuitable advertising and impractical mental health care.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association the media has a major influence on what a woman’s body should look like. Every print and television advertisement suggests that the ideal body is extremely thin. However, most women cannot achieve having a super-thin body that the media favors. The resulting failure leads to negative feelings about one’s self and can begin a downward spiral toward an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association).

A USA Today article reported, “According to a 2011 study in Archives of General Psychiatry about 6% of youths suffer from eating disorders. The report went on to say the 55% of high school girls and 30% of boys had eating disorder symptoms. They used diet pills, vomiting, laxatives, fasting and binge-eating to help them lose weight.” (Healy). Going along with the previous statistic, The Random House Dictionary defines peer pressure as “a social pressure by members of one’s peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted” (“Peer Pressure”). The aftermath of being constantly pressured by fellow peers can lead to various health conditions for both children and teens. This pressure doesn’t just have to be from unfriendly peers, it can also be friends or even family members. Children and teens want to be accepted and they often feel pressured to fit in. They often want to be one of the more popular students in their class. By being thin, they feel that they can achieve this. Then when someone is being pressured into believing that he/she is not thin enough; that can lead to serious health conditions. Also, when someone is continuously being told that they are fat they may end up believing that it is true. However, these health conditions are not only caused by peer pressure. In the end it is peer