“Body Image”

Have you see a fashion show on the television or read a magazine? If you have then you have been exposed to the media revealing models as beautiful. What you don’t know is that a decent percentage of these models are suffering from eating disorders. I trust the media is to blame for our country’s epidemic of eating disorders because, not only do magazines and television portray skinny to be in, but also songs in our nation deliver the attitude. The burdens to encounter the world’s demands to reaching self-satisfaction with one’s body image emotional have influenced the impression of eating disorders. As people are exposed to countless forms of media not only just on television or in a magazine but on the radio, internet & part of our everyday life media being a huge method of communication has been characterized as the leading reason of why people suffer from eating disorders. The role of media profoundly adds to the increase of abnormal eating behaviors within an individual. Without society and the media generating a fabricated image of attractiveness, the calculation of women suffering from eating disorders would decline extremely, women would discontinue trying to grasp a body weight that is unnatural also practically unmanageable to accomplish.

Body image has been an ongoing issue in the world and eating disorders are frequently developed, especially in females, in an effort to keep their bodies “fit” and “in shape.” The physical appearance of a person says nothing about who they are as an individual. One may look all put together on the outside and seem beautiful, thin and happy, but what the outsider may not know is that the person is suffering inside, miserable, depressed and has no control over what his or her mind or body does. This person’s life has become unmanageable due to an eating disorder that has more control over that person than his or her own brain. It is a disease of the mind and body that stays with a person for the rest of his or her life. It never goes away, which is why it is so important that it is treated in a way that allows life to be manageable. Anorexia nervosa is when a preoccupation with being thin takes over your entire life, including eating habits, thoughts, and behaviors. Being thin becomes the most important thing in your life and you do whatever you have to in order to achieve that goal. You lose yourself as a person and your life can be taken away as a result if not treated. Anorexia is said to be dated back as late as the 12th and 13th centuries, when Saint Catherine of Siena starved herself in a way that represented the spiritual denial of self. Those who were seen to be anorexic during the 16th centuries were accused of being witches and were burned as a result. In the 20th century anorexia was looked at as more than the denial of food, but as an endocrine disorder that was treated with pituitary hormones. An area of concern with anorexia nervosa is that it slows the heart rate down and it causes low blood pressure, which are not good for the body. This causes the heart muscles to change, increasing the risk for heart failure. Another area of concern is the way in which the disease causes reduction in bone density, muscle loss and severe dehydration. These can all lead to kidney failure and it can also lead to overall weakness. Dry hair, skin, and an extra layer of skin called lanugo (to keep the body warm) develop when one restricts themselves from food. These are all specific areas of concern that are made aware to those with the disease. A recent news event that happened in relation to body image and anorexia was seen on a show called Dr. Phil and it highlighted the ways in which a life can be completely destroyed if this illness is not treated. A woman was brought on the show with her family for an intervention. The family had grown to distance themselves from their daughter because she was not only destroying her own life but theirs as well. They did everything they could to help her in their mind, when in reality they were enabling her most of the time. Another young girl was brought on the show that had suffered a severe Grand mal seizure and was brain dead because of it. She was brought on the show to bring to the attention of how serious the disease is and how it can change your life in a blink of an eye because of one decision. Starving oneself is not just restricting your body from food; it is decreasing the chances of you living your life to the fullest extent and causes suffering not only to you but also to everyone around you. The family and Dr. Phil had agreed to send the daughter away to a treatment facility so she could be properly monitored and treated in ways that the family could not provide her. As said in my reflection, this disease eventually takes over your mind, body and soul and no one can fix it except you but you have to be willing to put the work and effort into the process or it will not work. This young girl had to have the willingness to do whatever it took to fix herself, and fortunately she did but it took her to cause the damage that she did already in order to develop this willingness. Body image can be looked at in both a positive way and a negative way. The negative view on body image can lead to life threatening diseases, such as anorexia nervosa, in which I have experienced in my lifetime. My conclusion is that body image stems from more than what meets the eye. It is not just about trying to meet up to the expectations society puts on physical appearance, but it is about control issues, perfectionism, low self-esteem, fear of becoming too big, anxiety, stress and depression. It is not something that can be easily fixed; it takes a lot of strength and courage to treat this disease. When we part ourselves from something we have developed a relationship with for some part of our life it is like losing a part of who we are as a person. It is a life changing experience and when the disease is treated properly a person is able to see life in a whole new perspective, and a better one at that.
Target is a popular store known throughout the United States. As one could say it’s a family friendly large department store. In recent news Target photo shopped a teenager to take inches off parts of her body. This is significant because the girl they photo shopped was in the juniors department so now even young teens are being exposed to the social pressure of being thin. “Why”? Is this to live up to the image of “what a model should look like”? This is contributing to the body image epidemic. It’s unnecessary and puts a bad message on everything. In my opinion it’s very disturbing we feel as a society to sculpt & photo shop girls into something there not and may never genetically be. The focus should be on health and self-confidence. That is why god created everyone different.
The typical teenager sees 400-600 images in the mass media everyday magazine pictures influences their idea of a perfect body shape. Everything we gaze at for numerous hours has to distress us. The media and body image are closely connected due to the amount of images we see in the media and the extreme quantity of disclosure we have to those images. The media has a huge effect on body image. We are constantly bombarded by media about the effects of bad health and in essence fat shaming. With these constant messages, we are not able to form our own opinions because we are constantly reminded what society thinks, wants and what we “should” be. Media heavily influences people’s ideal image of beauty. People are so exposed to media from magazines, TV, and internet that there always seeing celebrities with the “perfect body” so we compare ourselves to figures in the media.
The public was outraged about the young target girl. There already fighting every day to help young girls understand no body is the same, not everyone is skinny. Everyone is different, but everyone is loved. Media shows skinny women to promote the weight loss industry and to profit on diet plans, food, pills and weight loss products. Healthy isn’t being thin it’s eating right, working out/ staying active.
I n a resent blog I read about eating disorders in a young girl’s everyday life. Izzy was subjected to the media in her early years she would steal her sister’s magazines and dream of being a fitness model. Instead of playing with dolls Izzy got obsessed with looking through her sisters fashion magazines and begging to watch run way shows ( bikini contests & figure) She would role her shirt up so her belly would show & stand in front of the mirror and ask “ Am I skinny like the girls in those magazine? She would ask.” Her family thought nothing of the behavior and encouraged Izzy she could grow up to be anything or anyone she wanted to be, as long as she worked hard and put her mind to it. Izzy went through a long phase where she would wear princess crowns around her house and steal her mother’s high heels and call herself a fashion model. When going summer shopping instead of gaging towards regular children’s clothes Izzy wanted to look more like “the women on television” When her mother told her were not shopping for dress up clothes, Izzy was confused. She made comments like the girls on television aren’t dressed up they look pretty. Those are only a few prime examples why I think the media affected the early stages of Izzy’s eating disorder. You never know how young a child can be when there mind starts wrapping around images & what “should we look like”. A few years later Izzy moved from a small school in Ireland, her eating disorder came into effect fully after her move to a much bigger school. Izzy was only eleven years of age when everything started changing in her life. She has suffered from Anorexia and depression for five years, and was in and out of the hospital for two years. It started small with just skipping lunch because of her low self-esteem, not wanting anyone to see her eat, ( she would lie to her friends say she wasn’t hungry or had a big breakfast) and slowly progressed to skipping breakfast, to extreme exercise multiply times a day. After two years her purging, self-harm and extreme over exercise she started making her become weaker, sick, more depressed, and more self-harming. Izzy parents didn’t think much of her being so sick and pale because she also has Cystic Fibrosis, so being in bed sick wasn’t always out of the norm in the household. Sooner than later her mother found out of everything her young daughter was doing, and she drove her straight to the hospital. From in-patient to outpatient, self-harming nothing was working; you have to want to get better for it to possibly happen. After trying everything they possibly could her parents moved the family back to Sweden, for better hospitals & help for Izzy ( Sweden was home, where the family was originally from.) After feeding tubes, to wheel chairs, and lying to her case workers, and months of fighting with her own family. Hitting the all-time low to wanting to take pills to overdose and die. Izzy came to the realization she didn’t want to die, she needs to work on herself, started enjoying everyday life. It took a lot for her family to trust her again, they still monitored her eating for a while, but when they saw her trying like she never had before, and her attitude/ moods changing her mother knew she was getting her daughter back! Yes, I believe Izzy has been stigmatized. Izzy stopped going to school because her mental illness took over her body. She stopped communicating with friends because she was so depressed and didn’t care if she had them or not. Her social group and social character was non-existent for a while until she finally realized she needed to take life into her own hands & find the steps to recovery. Body image can be looked at in both a positive way and a negative way. The negative view on body image can lead to life threatening diseases as we saw in Izzy’s life story above, such as anorexia, and self-harm. Body image stems from more than what meets the eye. It is not just about trying to meet up to the expectations society puts on physical appearance which is the social topic Izzy discusses. It’s also about control issues, perfectionism, low self-esteem, fear of becoming too big, anxiety, stress and depression. It is not something that can be easily fixed; it takes a lot of strength and courage to treat this disease. When we part ourselves from something we have developed a relationship with for some part of our life it is like losing a part of who we are as a person. It is a life changing experience and when the disease is treated properly a person is able to see life in a whole new perspective, and a better one at that.
This blog was extremely interesting to me. I recommend that everyone at least reads a little of it if they have time. Yes, I have always known the danger and consequences of an eating disorder but in this blog, I felt bad for Izzy. It went from all extremes to the next. She really let her life out there for others to read, I find that extremely strong and brave of her. I feel like as the writer Izzy was speaking to girls, women, everyone in society. Even though I personally do not suffer from an eating disorder, I 100% look different at those affected due to Izzy’s blog. I also love how Izzy shows pictures; post recipe’s and shows her steps to recovery. She takes you through an everyday life of just being her, from finally having friends back, to what she eats, how she exercises, goes to the gym. She does every day still battle with life & having an eating disorder but encourages anyone out there to please accept help & look in the mirror & know that everyone means something.
Men and women of all ages, races and incomes get the illness of eating disorders. Nearly eighty percent of individuals with eating disorders started happening per dieting. Specialist’s calculation is one in four university women are bulimic. Did you know ninety percent of women overemphasize their weight and everyday fifty six percent of women are on or go on a diet? What is the deflection of being “normal” or thin? In the lifespan of a typical American, it is betrayed of being twig skinny, requiring barely any body fat, and looking like a individual with almost nothing left on their body. By what method the figure nurtures and matures is the most significant period in the life of an adolescent, but destroying it with starvation is ruining ones inside. The media articulates images that define what attractiveness is, this is why eating disorder are so popular. Unfortunately, the media has a profound impact on body image. Most women are subjected to the media and the image the media portrays of the perfect thin body. Although women come in all sizes, many people succumb to extreme dieting habits to achieve a thin body, leading to eating disorders. We can hope that current efforts can change nature of the media changes to embrace all body types. We can hope that current efforts can change the nature of the media to embrace all body types.

References

"A Life without Anorexia: For Granted." A Life without Anorexia: For Granted. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014.

"Anorexia Fueled by Pride about Weight Loss, Study Suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2014

"Body Image and Self-Esteem." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Michelle J. New. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Aug. 2014.

Foster. "Counseling Your Colleagues - What You Need to Know: Definitions, Best Practices, Benefits and Practical Solutions." Scribd. N.p., 2005. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.

Spruijt-Metz, 2011 Treatment and Prevention of in Childhood & Adolescence

"What Is Body Image? | National Eating Disorders Association." What Is Body Image? | National Eating Disorders Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2014.