...(“Beauty”). Celebrities who fit this definition act as role models for women who want to look like they do, and magazines and television advertisements are constantly telling women how they too can be “beautiful” by selling them weight loss products, exercise programs, and other image enhancers. The constant exposure to the media’s version of beautiful is not something that is often thought of as negative. However, their portrayal of what is beautiful has become distorted over the years, to the point where achieving this “thin-ideal”, which will be defined later, is nearly impossible for women if done through healthy means. Because of this, many women develop body dissatisfaction, which can lead to serious and dangerous consequences, such as the development of eating disorders, in order to be “beautiful”. While there are many factors that can be linked to eating disorders, research has found that the media’s influence on society’s portrayal of extremely thin females as the ideal body is directly correlated to the increase in body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and other harmful conditions found in women. By analyzing this from a feminist perspective, it can be argued that not only does the media’s influence on the idealization of thinness effect females physical and mental health negatively, but it also acts as reinforcement for the patriarchal culture prevalent in today’s society. There is a wide range of eating disorders, ranging from minor to severe. Body dissatisfaction...
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...Determining risk factors, consequences, and protective measures of Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorders Determining risk factors, consequences, and protective measures of Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorders Body image is an individual’s perception of his or her own body in terms of sexual attractiveness. Human society has emphasized on beauty of the human body for a long time. However, an individual’s perception of their own body may differ from society’s standards, thus, causing body dissatisfaction. As a response to body dissatisfaction, every year, millions of people in the world succumb to potentially life threatening eating disorders. Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterized by abnormal eating habits that may involve excessive or insufficient food consumption, thus, affecting an individual’s physical and psychological health. Some common types of eating disorders include bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, binge eating, and obesity. This paper has explored six published articles that conducted research on various factors contributing to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. The articles have examined the influence of society and media, gender and ethnic differences, development of depression, and some protective measures for body dissatisfaction and the development of eating disorders. ...
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...Anorexia: The Role of Media Hillary Indako University Of Nairobi Eating disorders have a higher mortality rate than any other mental illness. As many as 20 percent of those who suffer from anorexia will die prematurely from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems. While there are many possible causes and triggers for these disorders, the media’s influence on body image cannot be overlooked. The media has been playing a central role on the growth of eating disorders such as anorexia. As adolescents we are convinced with images and messages that tend to further the idea that to be happy and successful we must be slim. Nowadays, It is nearly impossible to open a newspaper or listen to the radio, or turn on a TV without being confronted with the ideas that to be fat is to be undesirable. When adolescents feel as though their breasts, weight or hips don’t match up to those of supermodels and actors, they feel fatally feel secure. This in turn makes to feel insecure about their body image and thus resulting in this eating disorder. Surveys show that there is plenty of evidence demonstrating that the media encourages slimness and weight loss and over-emphasize the importance of beauty and appearances. It appears that beauty and fashion magazines significantly impact the process of identity development in young women, especially with regards to gender-role learning, identity formation, and the development of values and beliefs (Arnett...
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...THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EATING DISORDERS 2 Abstract This paper delves into great detail about the impact of social media on eating disorders. Outlining eating disorders as a whole and how social media such as, fashion, advertisements, movies, and celebrities, can negatively affect many on a large scale as it aids in the development of this disorder. This paper further explains what eating disorders are, what causes them, how people diagnosed with this disorder live with it, and the latest treatments and preventions. This report also goes into great detail about a new method of trying to figure out how eating disorders affects the brain and which part of the brain it triggers with...
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...MEDIA INFLUENCES ON EATING DISORDER ABSTRACT: The media as well as the eating disorders are commonly at odds because much frequently than never, we view various photographs of anorexic masses that are somehow galmourised as well as depicted the ideal beauty. The question now arises that whether does the media have an influence over eating disorders? What is it the most about the media is that it makes female fatally overwhelmed to the unrealistic and serious pressure towards slenderness? The affect of the media on the development of the eating disorders like Anorexia, Bulimia or Compulsive Overeating can’t be disproved.Since from the very early age the people are pelted with the images along with the messages that reinforce the idea to be pleased and successful that the individual must be lean. Now, as seen in daily day to day life that it is notified as a message that fat is bad, whether it is a television, a magazine, or a newspaper, or listening to the radio, or whether shopping in the mall. The most fearsome part is that the destructive message it conveys is somehow reaching towards children. Adolescents sometimes really feel like fatally blemished if their hips, weight etc. doesn’t match up I comparison to those of famous models and actors. Today even the children of the elementary school aged are also obsessed in respect to their weight. Even if the contention is also made that the media’s depiction of women is just only a mirror of the society and not as an...
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...The Gender Differences in Eating Disorders: An Analysis Abstract This paper will provide a critical analysis of the issue of eating disorders in the two genders. It has provided a history of the eating disorders, and how they came to be known. Furthermore, the paper has focused on the issue of eating disorders through an analysis of a number of studies. The studies have focused on providing vital information regarding what influences the different genders to have eating disorders. The females are most likely to suffer from anorexia nervosa, while the males suffer from bulimia. A brief summary of all the key points has also been provided. Thereafter, some important recommendations regarding research in some key areas involving eating disorders has been provided as well. Keywords: Anorexia, Bulimia, Females, Males, Study, Eating Disorders, Gender, Media Introduction Eating disorders have now become part of the current culture people live in. In fact, the eating disorders tend to affect different people regardless of their genders and socioeconomic classes. There is even an overall prevalence that is estimated to be about five percent among the population. Many people have a desire to become thin since it is an issue that is always being highlighted by the media. Some of the popular sources of media that influence individuals to become thin include movies, television shows, and magazines, among others. It is such a pity that the prevailing culture, and specifically the...
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...Eating Disorders, Media Related? Fashion and media portrayals the ideal body image, an ultra thin model presented as the norm for beauty in advertisements. Many researchers hypothesized that the media may play a central role in creating and intensifying the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction, loss of self esteem and consequently, may be partly responsible for the increase in the prevalence of behavioral eating disorders. For the past years, researches have been conducted on the relationship between the thin beauty presnted in the media and the perception of one's actual body image. Studies have reported a significant change in the weight and size of female models portrayed throughout the media in western society. The cultural ideal woman body size and shape has become thinner and leaner, Katzmarzyk and Davis conducted a study which examined the changes in the body weight and shape of Playboy centerfolds over two decades (1978-1998). They found that there was a significant decrease in the measurements; 75% of women were 85% under their ideal body weight. Research has shown that as commercials for diet foods and diet products have increased the body sizes of Playboy centerfolds, fashion models and female actresses have decreased, while the weight of the average North American woman has increased. The confirmation that exposure to media images of women and the pressure from the media to be thin negatively affects body image and emotional well-being, has led researchers to evaluate...
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...“Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental illness, it’s estimated that 4% of anorexic individuals die from complications of the disease” (Eating Disorder Hope). Is anorexia nervosa an illness caused by negative social conditions or is it a mental illness/mental disorder? After reading “The Slender Trap” written by Trina Piscatelli, I don’t agree with Piscatelli when she states in her reading that negative social conditions are the cause of anorexia nervosa in young women. Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness/mental disorder. According to Mayo Clinic the definition of mental illness is “…disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating...
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...preoccupation with one’s weight, why is it that only certain individuals develop an eating disorder? Socio-cultural influences have traditionally been thought of as the leading cause of disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, this explanation alone doesn’t seem sufficient. We are all exposed to the same “thin is in” messaging and to live in a westernized society more or less means residing in a virtually inescapable landscape that pushes thinness as a valuable possession. Yet, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa affect only an estimated 0.3 to 0.7 percent, and 1.7 to 2.5 percent, respectively, of females in the general population (Berrettini, 2004). Through my research, which...
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...mainstream media tend to promote these ridiculous beauty standards. Television and fashion magazines only show one kind of body type, which is unrealistic and unattainable. Media shows who and what teenagers are supposed to look like in order to be considered attractive. The media puts pressure on adolescents to look a certain way which can cause body dissatisfaction, and can lead to mental and eating disorders. The body-type ideal that mainstream media promotes is a negative body image that causes body dissatisfaction. In a study conducted on girls and young women, the results showed that exposure to media correlates with body dissatisfaction (Grabe, Ward, and...
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...Jennifer Archuleta Professor Musgrave English 205 December 13, 2011 The Effects of Media on Body Image Imagine growing up in a modern day society. Everywhere you look there are images of beauty, representations of how beautiful people are supposed to look; flawless and thin. You grow up believing that this unattainable image is the only image of beauty. As you look in the mirror and see only flaws in your reflection, you rack your brain of ways to make yourself more beautiful. This becomes your obsession. Your dream is to become a model, but in the very start of your career, a fashion agent tells you that you will have to lose ten pounds in order to find work. This was the beginning of the end for former model and actress Isabelle Caro, just one of the many women affected by the media industry and the negative effects it has on body image. With Isabelle’s obsession to be thin, she battled with anorexia until it ended her life at the young age of twenty seven. In modern culture, a great deal of importance is placed on our looks and body image. This is portrayed by the media through magazine pictures, television advertisements, billboards, and the influence of models and actresses. Although the media affects both men and women, I will be showing how it specifically affects the behaviors, viewpoints, and attitudes of women. The media portrays a beautiful woman as being someone who is thin and flawless. Photographs of models that are posted in magazines are brushed-up, touched-up...
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...if they are a normal weight. This obsession has lead to young people developing eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. One big factor that causes these disorders is the media because it has placed an emphasis on how someone should look and what is the "normal" weight. These images of being skinny or any other characteristic that is found to be physically attractive, is causing young people to doubt themselves and lose faith in what they once thought made them beautiful. The problem is that in our day and age, our generation is an electronic one. Everything around us has something to do with the media and it is what young people are most associated with. The media can be compared as a type of propaganda as everywhere a young person looks they are bombarded with images of the "perfect" body type. In my paper I will be looking at the effects the media has on the attitudes of young people in relation to eating disorders. I will begin by giving a brief summary of both...
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...Studies show that the more reality television a young girl watches, the more likely she is to find appearance important (Web 1). The media plays a large role in how women perceive body image and themselves (ie, magazines, internet, television, etc). The results said peers predict the negative outcomes...
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...LESSON FIVE & SIX – ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EATING DISORDERS ------------------------------------------------- Specification link: You will be able to outline and evaluate: ------------------------------------------------- Biological, including neural and evolutionary, explanations of anorexia nervosa ------------------------------------------------- Psychology explanations of anorexia nervosa Outline and description of theories | Research evidence and commentary | IntroductionThe DSM-IV Rev identifies three categories of eating disorder: * Anorexia nervosa 1. AN -restricting type – refusal to eat 2. AN- binge eating/purging type – episodes of binge eating followed by removal of food from the body by vomiting, laxatives, or enemas.Both of these are associated with significant weight loss and the other symptoms of AN. * Bulimia nervosa – episodes of binging followed by removal of food from the body by vomiting, laxatives, or enemas (no significant weight loss). * Eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS)The four major symptoms of anorexia nervosa are: * The body weight is 85% or less of normal weight for age and height * Distorted perception of body weight/shape, and/or denial that the weight loss is severe * Intense fear of becoming fat * Loss of three consecutive menstrual cycles in women (amenorrhoea)Anorexia nervosa (AN) and Bulimia nervosa (BN) have much in common, particularly a dissatisfaction with body weight and/or shape....
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...The media has a tremendous influence on today’s society. The public absorbs the information that the media throws at them and tends to use it as a bar to set societal standards or normalcies. It has been scientifically proven that about 95% of the American population owns a TV set and watches it for 3-4 hours per day. By the end of the last century over 60% of men and 50% of women read a newspaper each day and nearly half of all girls, from the age of 7 read a girls magazine each week. (Jade 2012). The media is a very important aspect of life in our culture. Through this idolization of media, pressure is inflicted onto the public to live up to these expectations that are set. The epidemic proportions of drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and unsafe weight among women have led theorists to posit the existence of mechanisms that are capable of impacting a large number of women. The media is one such mechanism that has an ever-increasing influence and reach on women around the world. In the United States, negative body image issues are well established in the female culture. The media and peer pressure are key catalysts that...
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