Disordered Eating and the Media

The media constantly sends out an influx of images and messages promoting an almost unattainable unrealistic image of beauty, that has consistently been linked to disordered eating and body dissatisfaction, predominantly among girls but can also be seen in boys. Throughout the years the ideal body shape has progressed from voluptuous and curvaceous an image Marilyn Monroe emulated to a slimmer and leaner frame in congruence with high fashion models such as Kate Moss (Katzmarzk & Davis, 2001). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia nervosa affect between 1% and 4% of young adult females (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Eating disorders have been linked to body shapes and images present in the media (Shorter, Brown, Quinton & Hinton, 2008). For many children it is genetically impossible for them to obtain societies ideal body image, which may contribute to their obsession for a thin body frame (Lawrie, Sullivan, Davies & Hill, 2006, pp. 366). In addition to the popular medias persistent message that it is necessary to be slender to be beautiful, there has been an emergence of pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites designed to encourage a lifestyle of disordered eating and thinking (Bardone-Cone & Cass, 2006, pp. 256). Literature on eating disorders shows that self-internalization, social comparison, self-objectification, and the sociocultural etiological model may explain the effects of media on disordered eating.

Thompson and Heinberg (1999) have found that internalization of social pressures at least moderately mediates the effects of the media on women’s body satisfaction (Thompson & Heinberg, 1999, pp. 339). Heinberg, Thompson, and Stormer (1995) used the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire, which they ...

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...d experience of media by children and adolescents (Calogero et al, 2005, pp. 47). This study also showed that internalized media ideals predicted desire for thinness directly and indirectly through self-objectification. This data shows that the media encourages women to self-objectify themselves, and that both internalized media ideals and objectification explain some variance in disordered eating patterns (Calogero et al., 2005, pp. 48). Self-objectification may hinder those with eating disorders from proper recovery. Typically those who enter treatment facilities do not list self-objectification as a possible cause, risk factor, or problem, and “when women continue to view themselves from a third person, rather than a first person, perspective, factors that contribute significantly to eating disorders pathology remain untouched” (Calogero et al., 2005, pp. 48).