Eating Disorders and The Media

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Eating Disorders: Affects and Prevention by Media 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 and how it affects our society has changed tremendously over the past few decades. Our population of children who spend a lot of time in front of the television or on social media continues to increase, creating a superficial view of themselves and who they should be. This superficial outlook has been created by the media because it preaches to our society that looks matter. Not only are there millions of advertisements saying to lose weight and buy certain products to be beautiful, but there has been a specific standard of beauty set for models and actresses to obtain. These standards include big eyes, volumino... ... middle of paper ... ...." Psychology & Health 26.10 (2011): 1273-1291. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. Haas, Cheryl J., et al. “An Intervention For The Negative Influence Of Media On Body Esteem.” College Student Journal 46.2 (2012): 405-418. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. Levine, Michael P., and Sarah K. Murnen. “Everybody Knows That Mass Media Are a Cause of Eating Disorders”: A Critical Review of Evidence For a Causal Link Between Media, Negative Body Image, and Disordered Eating in Females.” Journal Of Social & Clinical Psychology 28.1 (2009): 9-42. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. Lopez-Guimera, Gemma, et al. “Influence Of Mass Media On Body Image And Eating Disordered Attitudes And Behaviors In Females: A Review Of Effects And Processes.” Media Psychology 13.4 (2010): 387-416. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

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