Body perception plays a major role in the self-concept that we create. Based on this view establishes our self-esteem, and many western civilizations are subjugated to an unrealistic image that their society conveys. Many young Americans cope with this “perfect” image by developing eating disorders. Although eating disorders can affect everyone the most common stereotype is young American women. Evidence shows that eleven million women and one million men have developed an eating disorder (Stephens et al). The social pressure to conform to a certain standard mainly affects girls, due to gender socialization and the objective theory. Eating disorders consisting of anorexia nervosa and bulimia are the result of a society that has underlying issues. The issues regarding society’s view for women and the media that reinforces this view, is the direct result of eating disorders that are continually on the rise. Gender socialization depicts how women are valued by their physical attributes, however; men are valued by their success and achievements. (Arnaiz) Also, the objection theory states how women are often objectified for physical attributes, and therefore have developed a sense of worth based on these attributes. (Fairburn) Social Interactionism shows the relevance of an individual’s issues with body weight and how this consequently affects the larger society. Justification Western society places high importance on thinness that is equated with beauty and success. Eating disorders are defined as a persistent disturbance of eating behavior or behavior intended to control weight, which significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning.(Fairburn) Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa that are... ... middle of paper ... ...ess our society forces upon women. Works Cited 1. Fairburn CG, Walsh BT. Atypical eating disorders (Eating disorder not otherwise specified). Eating disorders and obesity: A comprehensive handbook. In: Fairburn, Brownell, editors. London: Guilford; 2002. p. 171-7. 2. Chakraborty K, Basu D. Management of anorexia and bulimia nervosa: An evidence-based review. Indian J Psychiatry [serial online] 2010 [cited 2011 Mar 20];52:174-86. 3. Mintz, L. B., & Betz, N. E. (1988). Prevalence and correlates of eating disordered behaviors among undergraduate women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 35, 463–471. 4. Tylka, T. L., & Subich, L. M. (2002). Exploring young women’s perceptions of the effectiveness and safety of maladaptive weight control techniques. Journal of Counseling & Development, 80, 101–110. 5. Moradi, Dirks, and Matteson.
However, these views don’t take social process into consideration. Therefore, they organized a self-help group for bulimics and anorexics known as BANISH in order to determine what societal aspects cause these disorders. The author’s group consisted mostly of college age females which is significant because this is group primarily affected by these disorders. Interestingly, the backgrounds of the women in the BANISH group are strikingly similar in that they are excellent students, good children who have very close parental relationships, from “functional” families - all having been brought up with an emphasis on thin physical appearance. The authors also allude to the fact that in today’s society, slimness is considered attractive and most worthy, while being overweight is viewed as both morally and physically wrong. Society labels heavy people as “lazy, obscene, and unhealthy”. (244) It is noted that when members of the group lost weight, they reported feeling more accepted and
Crow, S.J., Peterson, C.B., Swanson, S.A., Raymond, N.C., Specker, S., Eckert, E.D., Mitchell, J.E. (2009) Increased mortality in bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry 166, 1342-1346.
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder with psychological, physiological, developmental, and cultural components. The disorder is commonly characterized by binge eating followed by inappropriate compensatory behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, fasting, and the misuse of diuretics, laxatives or enemas. Patients properly diagnosed with bulimia nervosa endure many psychological and physiological problems. In order to alleviate these problems for the patient, usually some type of intervention is required. Considering the financial costs to the patient who seeks treatment, it is important to identify effective and efficient treatment programs. Due to the wide variety of individual patient differences, it would be unwise to proclaim one treatment method as the universal cure for bulimia nervosa. However, identifying what methods work under particular conditions may help therapists tailor an individualized treatment program after a careful assessment of the client. Having this knowledge would potentially save both the client and the therapist a lot of time and frustration; not to mention, the patient would be on the path to recovery sooner. Kaye et al (1999) stress the importance of making progress towards the understanding and treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, in order to generate more specific and effective psychotherapies and pharmacologic interventions.
...l, D. M., & Willard, S. G. (2003). When dieting becomes dangerous: A guide to understanding and treating anorexia and bulimia [Ebrary version]. Retrieved from http://libproxy.utdallas.edu/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/utdallas/Doc?id=10170079&ppg=4
Our society today is heavily influenced by the media and the imagery it shows. Though it may be indirect, the media provides unhealthy messages about ideal body sizes, gender attractiveness, and weight control that make women view themselves in a negative way. Magazines, television, and movies influence teenage girls on what they believe their body image should be. The images they show set the standard of what is considered physically attractive in our society. With the use of photoshop, media depicts falsified images of models and actresses to create a perfected look that is unattainable by the average woman. This creates a desire among teenage girls to look like these stars that are often shown. When teenage girls look at these images, they compare themselves to those images, and then judge themselves based on these comparisons. These judgements can potentially lead to eating disorders. In order to prevent the risk of eating disorders among teenage girls, the media should depict a typical image of people, rather than idolizing a specific standard of beauty.
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
Anorexia is an obsessive desire to control ones bodily appearance. It often starts with the refusal to obtain a healthy body weight. “This disorder is associated with under nutrition of varying severity with resulting secondary endocrine and metabolic changes and disruptions of bodily functions” (Kontic et al. 2013). An Anorexic person has a distorted view of themselves which can lead to devastating measures of self-starvation due to an immense fear of weight gain. In the same way, an individual suffering with Bulimia has a fear of weight gain, but goes about their technique in a different manner. Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating or, consuming a large amount of food in a short time followed by guilt. This guilt is the leading factor to the purging stage where the individual will rid themselves of the physical and emotional discomfort. The ridding stage can invo...
Eating Disorders (EDs) are a series of often life-threatening mental health disorders which are commonly used as coping mechanisms or as ways to mask one’s problems. The causes of these illnesses are still being researched, and the effects they have on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing can often be as long as the sufferer’s life.
The three most commonly known eating disorders of today are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Anorexia nervosa is a disease connected with abnormal eating; it is not brought on by excitement, delusions, overactivity or a bad habit, it is a mental illness. Development of anorexia usually starts in the early teenage years, however it can go undiagnosed for thirty to even forty plus years. Another eating disorder is bulimia, people who are bulimic have no time to think about daily life; all that is on there mind is their next meal. Someone who has bulimia often l...
Eating disorders are persistent disturbances in eating behaviour and habits that ends in a change in consumption or absorption of food that damages health or mental health (DSM V ed American psychiatric
What is the perfect body type? Throughout our adolescence ages into the adult hood stage many of young women struggle to answer this question. Our idea of what the perfect body type is ever changing however it is always influenced by the Medias perception of what the perfect body image should look like. We all idolize these images we see on television and in magazines and some of us would do anything to look just like them. This image forces us to have self esteem issues.These advertisements are damaging both our mental and physical state of being Many young girls who take extreme measures to live up to the Medias perception of the perfect body type are more likely to develop one of the many body image disorders. The average age a girl starts to diet is eight ("Media and Eating Disorders" 1). When a girl becomes obsessed with dieting and looking better, they can easily become anorexic or bulimic. 79% of teenage girls who vomit are dedicated readers of woman's magazines ("Media and Eating Disorders" 2). The Medias standard of perfection puts stress and pressure on young girls to become skinner. Eating disorders, excessive exercise, and depression are a result of the Medias influence on their self image. The media have negatively influenced the self image of young girls by forcing their unrealistic perception of what women should look like onto them .
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
The complications that accompany body image have long been an issue in society. Body image is the sense of how an individual views his or her own body as compared to others in society, or what is considered to be the ideal body image. There are many different factors that effect ones body image, but a major influence is the media. The media has long been associated with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where an individual participates in self-starvation, and bulimia is an eating disorder where an individual will eat as much as he or she wishes and then purges the previously eaten food. These are two destructive eating disorders that are associated with a negative body image. This comes to question, does media have an influence on creating a negative body image, which may inherently lead to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia? Anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect various age groups but is extremely common in adolescence and emerging adulthood. During this stage in an individual’s lifespan there is a lot going on with ones psychological development as well as body. How an adolescent views his or her body image be highly impacted by how the media portrays what the ideal body image is. According to Berger (2015), “as might be expected from a developmental perspective, healthy eating begins with childhood habits and family routines” (p.415). If proper eating habits are not implemented negative body image and eating disorders that are associated with media becomes further predominant in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
Abraham and Mira warnes in 1988 that health educators and health professionals should weigh up carefully the benefits of weight loss against the risks of inducing psychological disturbances such as eating disorders and adverse physiological side effects such as dieting and severe weight loss…(37)(ajn).
The "Anorexia Nervosa" BMJ: British Medical Journal 334.7599 (2007): 894-98. Print. The. Hay, Phillipa J., and Josue Bacaltchuk. The "Bulimia Nervosa" BMJ: British Medical Journal, 323 (2001). Print.