The Social Problem Of Eating Disorders

In America today, there are unrealistic beauty standards women must face daily. When women can not meet this idea of perfection pushed by society, some women will risk their health just to fit a cultural stigma. Women are held to an insanely high criterion when it comes to beauty which tends to lead to negative body image. Ten percent of women in The United States of America report symptoms consistent with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Which concludes that a total of 75 percent of all American women endorse some unhealthy thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to food or their body image-UNC Medical Department Although eating disorders are not subjective to women only, after reading “Beating Anorexia and Gaining Feminism” Marni Grossman and “Feminism and Anorexia: A Complex Alliance” Su Holmes, I will discuss how eating disorders coexist in the lives of women who struggle with body image, and what feminism can do to give these women a second chance.

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

At the end of my speech, the audience will have a better understanding on how society plays a big role on women’s body image. They will also be able to identify the relationship between body image distortion and eating disorders. Finally, I will provide further understanding on the crucial factors of eating disorders, as well as the different treatments available.

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.,

When did a healthy body stop being beautiful? Approximately thirty million Americans have suffered from an eating disorder, yet most people do not understand the solemnity of them. (11) Eating disorders bring forth many harmful effects and even some destructive long term effects that very few people put into consideration. Eating disorders are mentally, emotionally, and physically deteriorating. There are many different reasons that a person might develop an eating disorder, and the attempt to recover from these disorders are exasperating. Eating disorders are not something that should be taken lightly. (8)

Our culture has portrayed the “thin ideal” in every avenue of the media such as; magazines, social media, movies, and commercials. In the past 70 years, the number of all eating disorders incidences have dramatically increased. For example, bulimia cases have tripled since 1988 from ages 10 to 39 (Grabe et al 462). Body dissatisfaction and low self- esteem has put

Social interactions play a big part in contributing to eating disorder. Eating disorders are usually caused by concern over their body image, but why are they concerned with it? People are usually concern over their body image due the interaction they have with people around them and also the labels they have with them. For instance, there was once that I am concerned that I might have eating disorder because on how concern I am over my body image. My weight have a sharp rise when I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and everybody around me is asking whether or not I put on weight and my mother constantly commenting on how I could not fit into my clothes anymore. Besides that, the label of ‘fatty’ that I always get from my siblings deeply affect

wealth. It highlights the idea that thinness is a good and desirable thing to be, even if

In modern society we are faced with a narrow idea of what is perceived as beautiful. The media influences us everyday. Women and men are constantly trying to modify their body into what society has deemed “acceptable”, and it has caused major consequences, including the rise of eating disorders. Women feel the need to be a size zero and men feel the need to be muscular. This is due, not only because of social factors, but also a person’s genes, biology and psychological reasons.

In fact, one would argue that the media is so influential it is slowly decaying our perception of the human body to the point to where many people in our society are beginning to develop eating disorders and severe body dissatisfaction because of the unrealistic expectations set up by the media. This paper sets out to provide evidence that this change in eating disorder and body satisfaction in men and women is a direct result of the media that men and women are viewing on a daily basis.

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

Myanmar people nowadays choose fast foods over home cooked meals and why fast foods market is blooming non-stop as there are influences around their surroundings, such as social, cultural and economic. Food decisions such as what to eat (including food and volume), how often, when and with whom, are made within complex eating environments. These environments are multifaceted and it is difficult to determine how decisions about eating will be made in any given context (Scheibehenne, Miesler& Todd, 2007).

It is funny how so many girls and women today are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and be beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. Women are dieting more today then they have ever been before. They are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's women. It gets worse. Not only are women dieting unlike ever before, but they will ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve these inaccessible standards. This ruthless harm that haunts so many women today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating

In order, to see a change in eating disorders, a decrease in plastic surgery numbers, stereotypes, and this ideal beauty standard there are drastic changes that need to be done. First, not everyone is born perfect and the reality of having a perfect body is nonrealistic. Sacker defines perfectionism “as a powerful, sometimes irrational, urge to do everything exactly right—is a personality trait that’s common among people with eating disorders” (50). The media is promoting a beauty standard that comes across as ideal/perfect/right, however nobody meets this perfection naturally. Thus, being said females plant this seed of perfection in their brain due to the media. In order, for results the media needs to start introducing plus size models, showing more

“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