Media Influence On Eating Disorders

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Eating disorders are a prevalent and critical problem in our society today. These can include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, purging, and many others. A multitude of people believes that in order to be beautiful you have to be a certain weight, size, color, height, etc. This stigma occurs most commonly in the minds of females. Women of all ages are put under immense pressure to look a certain way, so they can please those around them. Contrastingly, others feel that beauty is found in individuality. They postulate that what is on the inside matters, rather than a person’s physical appearance. Overall, because of the influence of the media, low self-image, and the compulsion to lose weight, women have developed a scrutinizing view of themselves …show more content…

The models and actresses we see on television and in magazines have created an unrealistic standard of beauty. Jill Zimmerman described this constant struggle in her article “An Image to Heal” when she stated, “All they really want is to feel good about themselves in a sea of doubt and turmoil encouraged by a multi-billion-dollar-a-year beauty industry. And they think the panacea is to look like a supermodel: perfectly thin, tall, sculpted, and commanding - our epitome of feminine success.” This quote expounds on the idea that every woman has to fit the flawless mold that is worshipped by the fashion industry. Females believe that in order to meet the qualifications, they need to starve themselves to be considered pulchritudinous by others. “Hollywood makes us feel inadequate if our bodies aren't carbon copies of the professional beauties seen in movies or on television. We seem to be so busy wishing our figures were a perfect size five that we forget there is beauty in individuality....” (Zimmerman). Women are willing to skip meals, so they can be “skinny enough” and win the approval of our population. Our society places so much emphasis on our physical appearance, that we often overlook the significance of our personality and character. Nonetheless, the media has contributed to eating disorders because of the unachievable and impractical criteria for being viewed as

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