Eating Disorders And Media Essay Research Paper

Eating Disorders And Media Essay, Research Paper

It almost everywhere you look. Pictures running rapid on magazine covers,

advertisements, billboards: everywhere. Standing in the line at the grocery

store, flipping through a magazine, or just glancing at the advertisements on

television. It is quite evident by looking at the emaciated pictures of young

women and surprisingly men too, what the media considers as the

"ideal" figure. This perception society has created, plays a major

part in our countries obsession with thinness and extreme dieting. America’s

obsession with health and diets and the fashion industry and television

exhibiting waif thin models as "sexy and voluptuous", gives a

distorted notion sending many young women the wrong idea about body image. In

today’s society these eating problems, such as anorexia and bulimia, are

becoming all too common. Yet, the question still remains, what are the causes

and factors contributing to this destructive behavior, and what kind of impact

is the media contributing to these problems. Although there are only a few

quantitative studies on the issue of eating disorders and the link between the

diseases and the media: the research that has been done is quite informative and

interesting. Hopefully though, in time more research will fill in some of the

links to the enigma of eating disorders. The fashion industry, television, and

society’s norms have all promoted not only a distorted perspective of what a

"beautiful" person is defined as, but influenced many to deception

therefore leaving many with an eating disorder. Looking at the television one

can easily notice all of the ads and diet commercials claiming to have to newest

and hottest diet. With these ads and societies norms, many are led to believe

once the weight is lost, we they will be happy. Surely everyone has noticed the

magazines while standing in line at the grocery store. Most of them claim to

also have the latest and best diet. What happened to last months diet claims.

Without a doubt, dieting has become a insane obsession in North America.

Billions of dollars are spent trying to look the way society tells us we need to

look. People go to extremes from starving themselves to paying for various

cosmetic surgeries. It is very unusual to find actors and actresses in Hollywood

overweight-because that is not accepted in today’s society. Many actresses and

actors that seen on television have endured countless hours of strenuous

exercise and have deprives themselves of nutrition in order to maintain a thin

figure. Television is obviously a big influence on many teens. Thousands of

girls are starving themselves this very moment trying to attain what the fashion

industry considers the "ideal" figure. The average model/actress

weighs 23% less than the average women (Bulk 46) yet what society is telling us

is that this is normal. When I was watching the Grammy’s a few weeks ago I was

disgusted when I saw some of the celebrities. Most of them looked like they had

not eaten in months-seriously. I do not know what is so glamorous about this

look, but it seems to have caught on, and many are jeopardizing their health

trying to achieve this look. So who is to blame for our countries obsession with

thinness. Fashion industries, Hollywood .. Think again, the American public is

the one keeping them in business. The public is the one buying the magazines,

purchasing the diet foods, and also guilty of paying big bucks for the various

cosmetic surgeries. It is a known fact that eating disorders are on the rise,

and the statistics are even scarier(McMurray 30). From a very young age we are

lead to believe that the only way to be accepted and fit in, is to be thin.

Along with this we are also lead to believe that those who are thin are more

successful and happier. It is no wonder that many colleges and universities

around the country are reporting an increased prevalence of eating disorders

among many female students. One out of four people between the ages of 12-21

have some sort of disordered eating, whether it be anorexia, bulimia, or

compulsive over eating (Couture 47). Researchers feel though, that the

prevalence of eating disorders among female college students is not a

necessarily a new phenomenon, but is now receiving more attention due to not

only the media’s, but Hollywood’s fixation about weight and slenderness being

associated with being attractive. Obesity is not very attractive nor health

conscience either, but the weight of a person is not relative to how they should

be judged. During the 40’s 50’s and 60’s curviness was considered desirable. The

norms set during that those time periods were infact very different to those say

of the 90’s and today. Marilyn Monroe for example, is probably considered one of

the biggest sex symbols in Ameri

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать