Media's Influence On Eating Disorders

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.

In fact, media is contributing to many false advertisements and unrealistic images that cause eating disorders. Media gives us these false beauty standards by making teens think they have to be thin and tall. Meanwhile, many teens want to be like the models and they try to be thin but instead of doing it the healthy way. The way they do it is to skip meals and that develops eating disorders. For instance, Arnett says, “Marketing and advertisement agencies focus on models such as tall, thin women or a muscular man with a chiseled jawbone when casting for photo shoots and television commercial” (265.) Therefore, we experience and seen is that the media do give us a false beauty standard which makes teens want to do everything that is possible to become like models. This has contributed

The media group that retouches images skews the “normal” body image of people through many of its outlets, including models in advertising and magazines, and actors in TV and movie productions. “The average model portrayed in the media is approximately 5’11” and 120 pounds. By contrast, the average American woman is 5’4” and 140 pounds” (Holmstrom, 2004). This statistic shows how the media manipulates consumers into believing that because they are not what the average model looks like, they are not living up to a certain standard which implies that they need to look like that to be beautiful. Another research fact that shows a similar concept is that, “In the United States, 94% of female characters in television programs are thinner than the average American woman, with whom the media frequently associate happiness, desirability, and success in life” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This association of female thinness and happiness, desirability and success makes consumers believe they must achieve this unrealistic thinness to achieve more ultimate goals and fulfillment in life. “The media also explicitly instruct how to attain thin bodies by dieting, exercising, and body-contouring surgery, encouraging female consumers to believe that they can and should be thin” (Yamamiya et al., 2005). This idealization of thinness in the media is seen so much, and is extremely harmful to women’s self confidence and is often associated with body image dissatisfaction, which can be a precursor to social anxiety, depression, eating disturbances, and poor self-esteem (Yamamiya et al.,

Cultural influences are cited as a significant factor associated with eating disorders in women due to the belief that “they must be as thin as the actresses and fashion models that dominate the media”, and “young women are dissatisfied with their weight because of the societal ideals promoted by the media are unattainable for most of them” (Weiten p473). However, according to a recent meta-analysis over 204 studies a conflicting viewpoint was raised which indicated that, “effects of thin ideal media appear to be limited to a subgroup of women with preexisting body dissatisfaction susceptibility” (Ferguson 2013).

An article found on psychcentral.com believes that the media doesn’t lead to teenagers having eating disorders. The article states that, “In many ways, the media is to blame for the state of our body image. For our desire to diet. For a view that thinness leads to happiness for young girls - teenagers. For the idea that we must wait until we lose weight to do anything… But the media isn’t to blame for eating disorders” (Tartakovsky). The article then goes on the explain that most women and girls do not have eating disorders and that the media isn’t to blame for those children that do have an eating disorder. I think that it is a valid point that is made when the article states, “Although I think our cultural ideas and beauty obsessions and

JADE stands for Joint Advocates for Disordered Eating. Today during class, we had the opportunity to discuss eating disorders and the psychological effects it has on the body. We were asked to describe our own perception of how the media influences the way we look or feel about our body. Furthermore, individuality is not properly expressed in the media; rather this perfect body image is imbedded into our heads.

Being skinny has been America’s greatest beauty ideal for decades, a societal standard pressured upon women. In our current society, the media expects women to look a certain way. However, the media’s interpretation of an ideal body is so warped and distorted that many women are attempting to attain an unrealistic physical appearance that will never be possible. Most models within the fashion industry are thinner than 98% of American women (Lippey). When models are photoshopped and put in magazines, completely unachievable body goals are displayed everywhere. Even models suffer from substantial expectations-- 64.1% of models have been asked to lose weight by their agencies (“Model Scouts”). Models can be perceived as perfect, epitomes of beauty, and yet they too are unable to reach their own agency’s demanding requirements. These unhealthy and toxic standards have been placed upon a tall pedestal that no one can achieve. According to the NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association), there has been “a rise in incidence of anorexia in young women ages 15 to 19 in each decade since 1930” (“Get The Facts”). Damaging and negative concepts are established during childhood, forcing adolescent girls to believe that if they can’t fit into

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.

“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.

The media, magazines, films, television, advertisements and newspapers can all put incredible strain on a person’s perception of beauty. Found in these are thin women, extremely fit men and ideas and expectations on how people need to appear in order to be better looking. These people are viewed as healthy because they are successful when really it is just as unhealthy for people to be underweight as it is to be overweight. Magazines are generally blamed for rises in eating disorders from their use of thin models. While showing people what is good for them fashion wise or appearance wise, they are contradicting themselves by using overly thin models. Arty 15, wrote in the Sunday Mail (May 13 2007) “I think magazines put the most pressure on teens, they seem to sort of set the standard about what’s appropriate and what’s not as far as body image goes.” After conducting research and creating surveys magazine editors found thinner models sell more items and look more appealing to people. When most people would not like to see somebody that looks better than themself in a magazine, and see them also be successful. Women’s magazines such as Cleo,

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).

“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it

The National Eating Disorders Association states that eating disorders are conditions that arise from factors including physical, psychological, interpersonal, and social issues. Media images help define cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness and are often acknowledged as one of the factors that contribute to the rise of eating disorders (NEDA). The National Eating Disorders Associations website, "The Effect of the Media on Body Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls", "The Media's Influence on Body Image Disturbance and Eating Disorders", and "Dieting Behaviors, Weight Perceptions, and Life Satisfaction Among Public High School Adolescents" are all articles that evaluate how the media

A large contributing factor to this problem is that many people in the fashion world encourage the use of overly thin models in editorials and fashion shows. For example, as Kathryn Shattuck, What's On Today: [The Arts/Cultural Desk], mentions that Kelly Cutrone, world renowned fashion publicist, encourages, “Clothes look better on thin people. The fabric hangs better” (1). The fashion industry’s emphasis on being thin and its use of extremely underweight models in unacceptable. Many people would agree that the fashion industry plays the majority role in eating disorders, but Lisa Hilton, British Vogue writer, disagrees. Hilton argues, “Its objective is selling clothes, and the consensus remains that in order to achieve this, models need to be thin . . . Fashion is about fantasy, about impossibility, about, dare we say it, art. Most women can’t tell the difference” (1). Hilton condescendingly continues to refute the criticisms that models are too thin and the fashion industry encourages eating disorders.