Should Mass Media Continue to Promote a Thin Body?

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Every morning, when you turn on the TV to those early morning talk shows, it seems that the hosts on the show are talking about things that all revolve around one certain topic: weight. Whether it is the newest healthy Thanksgiving substitute meals or workouts that are proven to give you the abs you see in late night infomercials, it’s the news of the day, and it’s everywhere. Just when you think it’s over, a commercial comes on with a woman that has so much makeup on that she looks flawless with no blemishes, and perfect, straight, white teeth, and hair perfectly placed. The media is overloaded with things that not only display unrealistic beauty ideals (most of which are digitally altered), but promote them with tasteless meals and “miraculous” workouts. Because of this, eating disorders are more common and romanticized, the number of deaths caused by these eating disorders has gone up, and the age that girls and boys begin to develop low self-esteem has gone below twelve years old. These are the reasons why media should not be allowed to continue with the promotion of unrealistic beauty ideals. In the realm of social media and body image, there are three kinds of people. There are those that say they believe everyone is beautiful, the people who say they don’t care, and there are the people who point out every single flaw. Blogs have been sprouting all over the internet within the past few years, promoting eating disorders. The owners of these blogs will post regular updates of how many calories they have eaten, how long they have worked out, and how much they weigh. They also post what they call “triggering” images, of abnormally thin people, or new ways to burn off a pound with one workout (which they would have to do thousa... ... middle of paper ... ...." DMH. South Carolina Department of Mental Health, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Fetters, Ashley. "'An Epidemic, Basically': A Conflicted Weight-Loss Blogger on #Thinspo." The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 8 May 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. "Get the Facts on Eating Disorders." NEDA. Rader Programs, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Goodwin, Jenifer. "Rate of Eating Disorders in Kids Keeps Rising." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 29 Nov. 2010. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. "The Media Assault on Male Body Image." SEEDMAGAZINE.COM. Seed Media Group, 15 Sept. 2006. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. Norton, Cherry. "Media Blamed for Rise in Eating Disorders." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 31 May 31. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. York, Christopher. "Eating Disorders: How Social Media Helps Spread Anorexia and Bulimia in Young People." The Huffington Post UK. AOL (UK), 13 Oct. 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

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