Media and Body Image

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Recommended: Young women and issues with body images-does the media influence those sterotypes

We live in a world where the media makes us believe that looking good is important, especially for women. Young women today, are caught up in their body image and some of them turn to eating disorders because they think it will help them get the body that “perfect” in the eye of the public. According to the findings of Reinkin and Alexander (2005), the number of female college athletes from 1971 to 2000 increased by more than 500% (Reinkin & Alexander, 2005). Female athletes are more prone to eating disorders than men because, they are expected to look a certain way and look attractive. In the research of Greenleaf, Petrie, Carter and Reel (2009) it states: The sports environment can heighten body-and-weight-related concerns because of factors such as pressure from coaches, social comparison with teammates, team weigh-ins, performance demands, physique-revealing uniforms and judging criteria. (p. 489) A woman suffering from eating disorders is a very sad thing, but the fact that some female collegiate athletes are suffering from eating disorders not only puts themselves at danger but the good of their team, their athletic department and their university/college. The purpose of this paper to examine female athletes decisions to turn to eating disorders in order to maintain this “perfect figure” that they think is the ideal body they should possess. The thought of eating disorders reminded me of when we learned about violence and deviance in sport. People with eating disorders are seeking to feel accepted within the public. Spitting up food in order to have a nice looking body is against the social norms. Not only are eating disorders against the social norms, but also they are seen a self-destructive behavior. In the world we liv... ... middle of paper ... ... cross country), non-lean sport athletes (basketball, softball, soccer) and nonathletes (Reinking and Alexander, 2005). According to the results athletes who participate in lean sports had a higher dissatisfaction rating than to those athletes who participate in non-lean athletes; also another interesting statistic showed the nonathletes were showed greater dissatisfaction compared to the nonathletes that participated in the study (2005). Since female athletes are used to having their bodies on display during their sport competitions and such, they’ve grown accustomed to being comfortable in their bodies. Regardless if they are an athlete or not, women (according to the research) want to look skinner than they usually do and they think other than exercising and dieting, food disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa will get them to the body they so desire.

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