Negative Body Image Essay

Nedc (national eating disorders collaboration, 2017) define body image as the perception that a person has of their physical self and the thoughts and feelings that result from that perception. Nedc (2017) also states that these feelings can be positive, negative or both and are influenced by individual and environmental factors. Research from Allie Kovar (2009) demonstrates the negative impacts that the media is having on teenage girl’s perception of body image. Allie Kovar (2009) claims that today in our culture, the “thin ideal” is portrayed in every avenue of the media including magazines, television shows, movies, and commercials all portray attractive woman as being extremely thin.

According to the internet, 10 million American women suffer from eating disorders? Eating disorders are serious illnesses which are caused by irregular eating habits and concerns about body weight. As a result, eating disorders are caused psychological and environmental behavior which can often result in a fatal illness. This is what Kathryn Arnett experiences in her life. She explains how she developed an eating disorder in her essay, “Media and Advertisement: The New Peer Pressure.” The factors that contributed to Arnett’s eating disorder was media idolizing and portraying fake body images, teens developing and having low self-esteem, and parents not being present in their children's’s life.

In a recent survey done by the National institute on Media and the Family, fifth graders, ten year old boys and girls told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show “Friends.”(4) If this isn’t shocking enough, the research group reported that at the age of thirteen, fifty-three percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to seventy-eight percent by the time the girls reach seventeen. Also, eating disorders are beginning to start at an alarming young age. Statistics show that girls are developing eating disorders at the age of six.(1) Young girls that are exposed to appearance focused television programs, and magazine shows feel that they need to look like the models that they see. Most of these girls are not even have fully developed bodies yet and are already trying to perfect themselves. One girl had even shared how one of her best friends discovered that her fifth grade cousin was bulimic. Girls at that age should not even be concerned with their bodies yet and eating disorders being developed is a harsh wake up call as to how young girls everywhere are being effected by the media each and everyday.

Picture the world controlled by the media. Could you imagine how ugly, scarce, and hateful it would be. What would you do if a magazine or a television show told you that your body weight had to be twenty pounds lighter to be all most perfect? Would you actually consider the fact or let ignore it? Teens, mainly girls, will be sucked into these magazines. (National Eating Disorders Info Centre 15) These could be magazines like Seventeen and Cosmo Girl. In addition with many others of course. All though, the media is a bad example at times it is not precisely the main issue for negative body image. (National Eating Disorders Association 1) All though, these constant screaming messages the media produces

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

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

I chose to read the book titled “Understanding the Causes of Negative Body Image” by Barbara Moe because I plan on focusing my research paper on how the media has strong control over women’s development of self-esteem and body image. The message that the media is sending creates the context within which people learn to value size and shape of their body.

Though this is true, research shows that media does contribute to the increase in body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. “Anorexia means ‘lack of appetite’, but in the case of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, it is a desire to be the, rather than a lack of appetite, that causes individuals to decrease their food intake,” (Smolin and Mary Grosvenor, 76). “The name bulimia is taken from the Greek words bous (“ox”) and limos (“hunger”), denoting hunger of such intensity that a person could eat an entire ox,” (Smolin and Mary Grosvenor, 94).

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

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.

Under society’s customs for decades, young women have found themselves immersed in the pressure and anticipation to have exemplary bodies. Nearly every young woman prefers to be slim, have a perfectly shaped body, that is beautified by applying pounds of makeup to their face but does not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these measures imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model on the cover of Vogue being called flawless, naturally it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the that model. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough, our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a surging subject for young girls. Advertisements and pictures of lean female models are all over. Young women are measured and perplexed by their physical appearances with attire intended to raise their physical structures; social media, magazines, the society, marketing campaigns, advertisements, and the fashion gurus add to a strand of excellence.

The image of a woman’s body has always been the center of attention to society all over the world. Globally, anyone who thinks of a woman’s ideal body, immediately thinks of a thin body with no cellulite and no imperfections, a small waist and soft skin, between other descriptions that are considered “hot” and “good looking”. Females often feel pressured to attain society’s highest expectations because it is easier to fail them, rather than meet them. The music and other industries, like advertisements constantly portrays an ideal and beautiful body for women, in most cases thin. When women see these images and then look at their own bodies, which are most of the time different from what is portrayed as ideal in society’s eyes, they begin

Scrolling through social media posts can be a bit of an emotional roller coaster. One minute, you're laughing at the antics of an adorable kitten, the next, you're crying over a tender commercial, the next, you're seething over an inflammatory political post.

An analysis done by the National Institute of Health revealed, that plenty of Pro-Anorexia or "Thinspiration" websites and blogs support extreme weight loss and eating disorders, masquerade as fitness inspiration websites. This caused plenty of body dysmorphia sufferers to restrict their diets, which is potentially hazardous as the content should supposedly be devoted to healthy pursuits. Social media is also an outlet where a person can be exposed to body shaming, which serves as a trigger for those already suffering from the

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.