The Socialization Of Eating Disorders Analysis

Can We Better Understand Eating Disorders, Namely Anorexia Nervosa, Through A Biomedical Model Or By Socio-cultural Analysis?

People are often exposed to the media 's ideal body image, whether it 's through magazines, television, toys (e.g. Barbie dolls), or social media, it is almost impossible to avoid it. There are numerous of people who desire to look the way the world defines beauty. And although this may not seem like so much of a bad thing, this can lead to hardships for many people. This type of influence has caused countless individuals to endure an eating disorder in order to get the body they wish to have. Eating disorders are a worldwide problem that are very dangerous due to having many types of disorders and symptoms that occur, the effects that take place in a patient 's mental

Along with the unrealistic body images on social media it drags along obsession with dieting, food, and appearance in young adolescents creating eating disorders. “Adolescents diagnosed with serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia often report that their symptoms can be linked to the bullying they received from their age peers as well as the unrealistic media images presented as an ideal for them to follow.”(www.phycologytoday.com) The unrealistic body ideal that they feel they need to follow has a big impact on the way teens look at what they are eating, and their weight and shape which can lead to serious eating disorders. “Adolescent females who are unable to conform to the ideal being put forward by movie, television find themselves taking extreme measures to be more like their role models.” (www.phycologytoday.com) Teens feel that it is important to become like their role models that they see on social media and go to extreme measures to become the ideal weight and shape

Many teens center a large part of their self-image on the way their body looks, a negative self-image may be linked to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, and mental health problems. People with eating disorders generally have a negative body image and social media doesn't help because they are constantly comparing themselves to other people. In American society, messages about what the perfect body looks like are constantly delivered by the mass media. Television, movies, magazines, the Internet, and advertisements show us what society views as a perfect body—the ideal we should strive for. In the 1920’s two major changes happened in women’s lives the first thing was they got the right to vote and there was a mass production of clothes. With these changes no one was alike anymore and that’s when self-image came about. As the years went on self-image became more important and fashion models set standards of how people were supposed to look. For example Twiggy was 5’7 and weighed 91 pounds, many teenage girls tried to achieve the “Twiggy look” by dieting and that made many people have a negative body-image. Today’s models haven’t changed much they still are trying to achieve the “Twiggy look” but now their body-image is more positive and models take positive and negative criticisms

According to the EDC (Eating Disorders Coalition) Approximately 11 million Americans suffer from and eating disorder.” The amount of people diagnosed with an eating disorder has reached an all time high. “Eating disorders do not discriminate: men and women, all economic classes, young and old are affected.” Some say that it has gotten worse because of the media’s new unreachable image of beauty. I believe that the media does play some part, but they are not the only ones to blame. We define our sense of worth by how we see ourselves and how others do as well. The people around us have a great effect on our attitude. A kid does not think that they are fat or ugly until they reach the age where someone has told that they are. They do not start

“Michelle M. Lelwica author of The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers Behind Women’s Obsession with Food and Weight declared that ‘Thinness is worshipped in American culture. Unrealistic body images are promoted in the media and entertainment resulting in greater numbers of women and men who feel ‘too fat’ and suffer from eating disorders’” (Shell 1). Eating disorders are characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Eating disorders have several causes including behavioral, psychological, and social factors, and they frequently appear during adolescence or early adulthood, but it may also develop earlier or later in life. In today’s culture media has a more powerful presence than ever before; this causes the individual to be constantly bombarded by what the media portrays as a “good” body. The mass communication transmits both positive and negative messages about body image to the public. The general public unaware of what a positive or negative body image can do in mental and physical health end up trying to meet those unrealistic standards, thus, so inducing harmful lifestyles. Eating disorders can be caused by sociocultural incitements such as unrealistic standards, set by society and culture, and lack of knowledge about positive and negative body image, but regulations and education must be established to help reduce the problems.

When the topic of eating disorders (ED), anorexia, bulimia, starving, purging, or any other form of self harm is brought into an everyday conversation, it is simply looked at as nothing out of them norm and is just brushed off as if the topic was concerning what the President had for lunch that day. At first glance, the average person would probably conclude that the main reason eating disorders are so noted in young women today is simply due to the fact that the media puts so much pressure on these women to be “perfect”. Eating disorders are a very prominent and common factor in our society, it is not something anyone can really evade. There are many theories as to what causes eating disorders. Although doctors and ED specialists cannot

The media’s false portrayal of body image has a great influence on the development of eating disorders. There are three types of eating disorders; anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating. Eating disorders are major issues in today’s society. Instead of people using the media to influence good eating habits, they use it to influence bad eating habits. The numbers of people who have an eating disorder are rising at an alarming rate. It affects not only women, but also men, teens, and young children of all ages. It is not surprising that the number of young children who have an eating disorder is increasing each year. This is an issue that people do not take seriously. The media gets the attention to continue to

Eating disorders have become a major social problem in America, especially for woman. Our society pushes a fantasy of the idealized body through advertising, magazines, television, and social networks. It has become the cultural norm for women to be materialized out of the delusional thought process centered on the perfect body. From a very young age, women are given the message that in order to be happy and pretty, they must look like a Barbie doll. Women need to become aware that society’s ideal body image is not feasible. Your body is merely a vessel that contains the beautiful mind and soul that makes who you are. Our society has created unattainable standards of perfection in body image, and it is causing the rate of eating disorders to keep increasing. Over time, I have learned the most important aspect in life: perfection does not exist.

To begin, body image is affected by social media. When men and women see ads and magazines with people with perfect bodies that are impossible to get, it lowers self esteem about their body image. In addition, these images are mostly photoshopped also. Patrick Kelleher, from the article “No body is perfect: is it possible to be happy with our bodies when we are constantly being bombarded with images of perfection?” explains “The images we see get stuck in our head, it makes everyone think they need to look like that.” (Kelleher). The text says that social media makes it impossible to feel good about are bodies. In fact, the images we see are photoshopped, but no one knows that. Women and men get distracted from these pictures and makes them obsessed with trying to look like that. This can also lead to eating disorders and anxiety. People get affected by social media when images get stuck in our heads. What social media doesn't show is imperfect bodies. In

What was first a diet to lose a few pounds was now a disorder resulting in drastic amounts of weight loss. She was already a normal weight pre dieting. Talking back with her now she shares, “I didn’t realize the stronghold dieting had over me. Every time I saw myself in the mirror I just saw a girl with excess fat.” She also shares, “It is still a struggle today with constant reminders from the media of standards I don’t meet.” A survey conducted with 185 students on a campus through the Nutritional Journal, 58 percent felt pressure to be a certain weight, and of the 83 percent that dieted for weight loss, over half were already at a normal weight pre dieting” (). Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are huge issues within today’s society. This creates a problem because it develops unhealthy patterns in women, so women begin self-starvation in the fear of being overweight or overeat and then crash diet. “13 percent of girls age 15-17 acknowledge having an eating disorder” (“The Dove campaign for Real Beauty”). Not only are girls turning to eating disorders in hopes to raise the decline of their self-image, but they are also partaking in alternatives like plastic

Eating disorders have physical and emotional effects on people throughout their lives. For instance, in a magazine discussing eating disorders, In These Times found, "On Nov. 17, 2010, anorexia nervosa claimed the life of 28-year-old French model Isabelle Caro, who had spent the last years of her life publicizing the horrors of the disease....” (Rodenbough). Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder, causes a person to refuse to maintain a healthy body weight. With anorexia nervosa people look in the mirror and see themselves as overweight when

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.

The effect that social media transmits through someone's way of thinking about themselves is more powerful than how you actually see yourself. It makes people self conscious about their body image and how they “should” look in order to be able to fit in the social group of theirs. Social media is toxic because it can bring anyone down by the way that they project the beauty standards and also by the pictures and comments of people who make them feel like they are way better than the person receiving the comments and making them want to be at their “level”, so they will do whatever it takes in order to feel just as good as them. When you post a picture on instagram, every minute that is passing you are always checking how many likes your getting from your followers.

Lastly, social media has a negative impact because it can create and encourage mental disorders. It claims “… Fiona Bawdon, a legal journalist, reports on the connection between images of unrealistically thin women in the media and the high rate of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in girls and women”, as well as “But the final piece of the jigsaw is the social context… Add the media, which celebrate impossibly skinny bodies over all other types, and numbers of sufferers are bound to increase”, and lastly “’You can immerse yourself in this world of other people who have the same exaggerated focus on an unachievable body-image’ says Guarda. ‘The more you look at this stuff, the more likely you are to… increase your preoccupation with