“Beauty is only skin deep.” Everyone knows the quote, yet why is it that we still struggle to look our best? Why is it that some women bother to wake up an hour early to do their hair and makeup? Its simple etiquette, some might argue. However, etiquette aside, why is it that twentymillion people in America alone suffer from eatingrelated disorders? Why is it that a 38 inch plastic doll is a little girl’s role model? This is why (visual aid). Magazines, movies, newspaper advertisements, the internet. All of these tend to showcase seemingly thin, beautiful, toned models and celebrities, causing many women in the world to be pressured to have the ‘perfect’ body image, never satisfied with their own bodies and looks and willing to do anything to achieve the ideal image, even if it means having to subject themselves to dieting, hunger and eating disorders. Now, what should blame for this unhealthy obsession that has bloomed among today’s women? Of course it would have to be the media. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely other causes of eating disorders, but with constant advertising and material showcasing visuals that feature seemingly flawless and thin women, who would not feel insecure? Who would not feel influenced to want to have a similar body image? The very image of the ‘ideal’ woman has caused many women around the world to place outer appearance on a pedestal, to hate their own image, and ultimately fall victim to terrible eating disorders. My name is Valerie, and the purpose of my speech today will be to convince you that the portrayal of a woman’s body image by the media is the root cause of eating disorders and selfesteem issues among women and girls today and thus implore your support in getting the media to stop... ... middle of paper ... ...ing is very wrong. Today I have gone over three main points to aid me in persuading you of my cause against this unhealthy promotion of an unattainable body image by the media: The highly negative effects on body image caused by the media, the ways the media promotes an unhealthy, unattainable body image of a woman as the ‘perfect’ and ‘ideal’ image, and last but definitely not least, how the emulation of this sort of body image can be prevented. With that, I do hope I have managed to convince you that the portrayal of a woman’s body image by the media is the root cause of eating disorders and selfesteem issues among women and girls today and thus implore your support in getting the media to stop airbrushing and promoting these unattainable images of perfection. Everyone deserves to feel beautiful. The eradication of the pressure to be perfect begins with the media.
Over the past five years the way media has depicted the perfect woman to have a specific size has caused many women to have problems with body image in their everyday life. The specific size that the media portrays is a super thin woman, who has very little fat, and is tall and slender. One health issue low self-esteem can be caused by how the media portraying the super thin woman making females feel bad about what their body type is and how they look when they compare themselves to the media’s portrayal of the super thin woman. Another health issue that females can develop is disorders. Disorders are serious problems and cannot be overseen. Overseen disorders can cause many health problems and even death. Weight issues is also another health related problem caused by the media’s portrayal of the super thin woman.Weight issues can be caused by excessive dieting and eating disorders. An abundance of females have problems with their weight every day. Whether it is the female feeling like she is too fat or even in some cases the female feeling like she is too skinny. In the United states, the media’s portrayal of body image has been a key factor in many females’ lives and distorts the perception of how the females’ picture themselves and how they treat their bodies based on the media’s portrayal of the “perfect woman.”
Society is obsessed with fitness and weight loss. Ever since I was in sixth grade I have had issues with my weight and self-image. The article “Fat Is a Feminist Issue”, by Susie OrBach focuses on how our society puts this unrealistic image of what women should look like into everyone’s heads. The media and magazines urge women to conform, at any cost, into a constantly changing expectation of what is beautiful. Women are taught to look at themselves from an outside view, to be a sex image for men and fuel the diet and fashion industries. Society thinks if women do not fit within the unrealistic image something is wrong with them. The highly glorified concept of beauty marketed by the media contributes to the concern over body image that causes many women, including myself, to eating disorders and poor self-image.
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.
Ever since the development of the media such as television, the internet, various fashion magazines and commercial advertisements, society focused more and more on personal appearances. Not only were runway models becoming slimmer but the viewers that watched and read about them were becoming more concerned with their weight. In the past fifty years the number of adolescent girls developing eating disorders increased just as television, advertisements, and magazines were becoming a social norm that was easily and often available. Today, more than ever, adolescents are worrying about weight, shape, size and body image and. It does not help that these children are growing up in a world filled with media material emphasizing dangerously skinny bodies as beautiful and perfect. Anne Morris and Debra Katzman, authors of “The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents” argue that the media is corrupting individuals to develop eating disorders and body dissatisfaction. “Exploring the Role Society and the Media Play in the Development of an Eating Disorder and the Media Influence on Eating Disorders” claims that there are other factors leading to eating disorders other than media, such as genetics, or public and cultural pressure. "Body Image Within the Vandy Bubble" defends the argument by saying that although media is causing harm in society by portraying extremely thin women and that beauty and thinness go hand in hand, but there are media corporations that are positively informing individuals about healthy body image.
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.
Fat phobia is one of the major causes of anorexia, and 81% of ten year old girls fear becoming fat. A body image complex is very serious mental issue that becoming more and more eminent in society today. The media should not be able to show only one “perfect” view of the female body. Media’s influence effects eating disorders and the ideal body-image negatively, and causes models to harm themselves in the process.
Ninety percent of the eating disorder cases occur in women ages twelve to twenty-five and many researchers believe the media is to blame. Though there is no single cause of an eating disorder, multiple studies cause an eating disorders to the media. With being vulnerable to the “thin ideal” in mass media, there is an increased risk of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. (“Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders”)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In our society today, people would rather see what celebrities are up to than what is going on with our health plan. Watching the news makes us aware of the latest trend, new gadget, who’s in rehab, or who has an eating disorder. In the eyes of society, women like Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Fox are the epitome of perfection. What girl wouldn’t want to look like them? Unfortunately, this includes most of the girls in the US. Through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which women emulate. The media has created a puissant social system where everyone must obtain a thin waist and large breasts. As a society, we are so image obsessed with the approval of being thin and disapproval of being overweight, that it is affecting the health of most women. Women much rather try to fit the social acceptance of being thin by focusing on unrealistic body images which causes them to have lower self esteem and are more likely to fall prey to eating disorders, The media has a dangerous influence on the women’s health in the United States.
“We live in a media-saturated world and do not control the message.” NATIONAL EATING DISORDERS ASSOCIATION, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders. Accessed 11 November 2017.
Starting this paper was quite challenging because I was uncertain about what to critique on. For my first take on paper two, I read a speech by Michelle Obama. In the beginning, I had a difficult time figuring out what to include in my paper since my paper was going to be mostly favorable. I had to read the speech many times to formulate critiques on certain examples and languages that the author used to support my claim. Therefore, whenever I reread the speech, I kept finding something new and became confused on whether to include it or not, because I was not completely sure if it would contradict with my claim. After annotating and making an outline for my paper, I began writing my draft. A few days later, I put together my paper and turned it in. Then I received feedback from Professor Boatner on how it seemed like I did not enjoy the speech, so I had to give another chance on a critique of a different article.
...gly relevant today because of the prevalent role of the media in modern society. Shifting exposure of young and impressionable people from unrealistic images of beauty to more positive ones that better reflect what’s healthy and obtainable can ultimately help people form more positive self-images, both physically and mentally. Preventing these insecurities can stop the development of psychological disorders such as body dysmorphic disorder and in turn, depress the emergence of eating disorders later in life. Further research could be done on the impact of eating disorders across different countries, since ideal body images differ among different ethnic groups. It would be useful to see what the implications of eating disorders are on physiological health. This way we could work towards a more healthy living by promoting awareness of the implication of this disorder.
So what about media changes the view of women on themselves and their bodies? Research has shown that as adolescents we tend to watch television and read magazines that have images that portray what we see as the ideal “woman”. Media depicts women as ultra thin actresses and models, with this came an increase in women's concerns with their bodies. As teens grow up watching these images and depictions of women, they idolize them as something that they want to turn into. “The sexualization of girls and women in the media is a growing concern” said Emma Stydahar “It creates a limiting idea of beauty in our society.”(Nackman) We idolize these women that have been continually photo shopped and done up as if they were dolls. Teen girls are being continually subjected to magazine articles telling them that they should not be happy with themselves and to change their appearance. The media has changed the way women are now seen by both women and men alike.
Fashion models are becoming skinnier, while the average American woman is becoming plumper, and yet the malnourished supermodels with waists that you could wrap a child’s arm around are the prime examples of true beauty – according to today’s society via the media. Media, with the tiny models, the slender celebrities, and the idea that skinny is sexy is practically, yet sometimes unintentionally, creating eating disorders in the lives of young, insecure girls that cannot fully comprehend what they are doing to their selves. Social media along with the fashion and film industries are just a few outlets inadvertently encouraging eating disorders.
Many people only think that women have the pressure of being flawless; however, the study shows that is not true. Not every men in the today’s world define themselves as dangerous, exciting, powerful, wealthy, tough, no emotions, has complete self-control, loves violence, and controlling women. These word our descriptions of what men are stereotyped in media. Also not everyone woman defines themselves as motherly, kind, powerless, emotion filled, no control, patient, creative, sexy and stupid. However, the media depict women to be this way. The reality is that research suggests that one in four people with eating disorders are men. Images of Adois-like male models with six-packs and, seemingly flawless professional athletes are shown every as an example of what men are suppose to look like. Girls are forced to look the right way to the point where they 're worth is often equated with their physical beauty. In fact, women experience an average of 13 negative thoughts about their body each day for example, an “I hate my body” thought. There was a survey done on 5th to 12th grade girls that looked at the negative influence of media on the perception of body image. 47% of the girls said they want to lose weight to look like famous people because of the people shown as beautiful on magazines. 69% said that magazine pictures influenced their idea of what the “perfect body” looks like (Jennifer L &Eugene V, 2004). Body image issues are relevant in both gender
...s, and eating patterns are affected negatively by what is seen and heard in the media. Social endorsements found in the media portraying an ideal body has led to body image disturbance in some women, as well as implicated the development of eating disorders. The media’s representation of thin ideal women has been connected to the predominance of body image dissatisfaction and dieting disorders. This is another reason why the connection between the media and body image is important. This connection is serious because poor body image sometimes leads to eating disorders, such as anorexia and binge eating, which can lead to death. . The only reason that the media has been able to dictate what people should look like, what is sexy and desired is because people continue to blindly consume without taking a good look at what is being sold and what messages are being sent.