Eating Disorders In Popular Culture

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Women are attacked because of their weight when they are seen as not living up to the popular culture’s standard of weight. Fat shamming is a problem that many overweight women are subject too. In multiple studies from the University College of London, that women are more likely to gain weight after being fat shammed then they are to lose weight. Women say that they comfort themselves with food rather than go to the gym to lose weight after being the victim of fatshaming. Women also say that being encouraged in a kind fashion is the best way to motivate some to lose weight. Women are seen as “lazy” if they are overweight and feel societal pressures to reach the goal of socially acceptable weights. Doctors across the country are encouraging …show more content…

Women are influenced by the people in popular culture that they see. In a study done by the National Centre for Eating Disorders, they found that the gap between the average female and the women they see on television is significantly wide. The gap between what normal women are and their celebrity conterparts puts an obsene amount of pressure on them to try to make themselves the same, resulting in eating disorders. They explain how this is the cause for some mental problems too, “we are getting heavier, and the gap between the ideal and normal body weight is giving rise to anxiety”. The more women see how far away they are from the cultures accepted body weight, they become more stressed out and suffer from higher levels of anxiety. Popular culture instill in the minds of women that they can “reduce this anxiety by reducing our body weight”. This ideal body size according to popular culture is unrealistically thin. Some celebrities are borderline anorexic but are seen as having the ideal body weight, this is a cause for anxiety among women. Due to the desire to have this ideal body that popular culture shows us, women fall victim to illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Bulimia is on the rise and is a growing issue for young women. One of the most common causes for bulimia is the combination of the low self-esteem and high regard for body image in young women …show more content…

Women seek to change their physical appearances to conform to the social standard of attractiveness. Cosmetic surgery is consider to be the “maintenance, restoration or enhancement of one’s physical appearance through surgical and medical techniques”. Women find their solution to their problem in cosmetic surgery. Women’s attitudes towards plastic surgery are influenced by society’s definition of beauty. Women might have self-esteem issues based on how they perceive themselves through societies eyes, this is sometimes the reason women decide to alter their appearance through cosmetic surgery. According to a study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, they found that one of the four main reason women get plastic surgery is because of media influence and the “pressure to appear like people in the media”. They were related to the desire to have cosmetic surgery. Women who watch TV more feel a stronger pressure to have cosmetic surgery to enhance their

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