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Eating disorders and the media essays
How socio cultural factors are related to eating disorder
Eating disorders and the media essays
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Certain family cultural dynamics and poor nutritional education can be a major factor in aiding in or causing the progress of eating disorders. Research has shown that socio-cultural influences play a prominent role in the progression of many eating disorders. There are many people who internalize and strive for the western idea of beauty. Those internalized ideas stim from the many images that are communicated through magazines, television and advertisement which gives the one viewing it a false idea of what is the perfect body image which doesn’t exist. The images communicated on a daily bases in the western culture is that you are only beautiful if you are thin for females and strong thin muscularity for males. Internalizing these false
ideas can cause body image disappointment which can lead to eating disorders.
It looks like looks are here to stay” (Akst 331). Akst’s degenerate remarks about beauty revolves around self-centered and arrogant values. He mentioned so many scientific statements about how humans should focus on maintaining an attractive appearance for society, and not for themselves. If Mairs and Walker read Akst’s essay, they would both disagree with his opinion about beauty. Both women would convey a message of accepting and embracing one’s beauty, despite the society’s view. Akst limits differences in a degrading way by mentioning “overweight” individuals are worthless and they send a negative message to society. The reader and the women can disagree with Akst’s statement because size, appearance, height, ethnicity, gender, and other abnormalities does not send a negative message, it is the comments made by a bias hypocrite who sees beauty as the aspiration to an individual’s
“The Globalization of Eating Disorders.” The McGraw-Hill Reader. Muller, Gilbert H. 12th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014. 639-642. Print.
In the passage, “The Globalization Of Eating Disorders” Susan Bordo makes it clear that eating and body image problems are changing no mater race, gender, or nationality. The reader can determine Bordo’s point and position through her thesis statement in paragraph three; “Eating and body image problems are now not only crossing racial and class lines but gender lines. They have also become a global phenomenon. (Bordo 3)
From this information it is clear that more research should be done on eating disorders in non-Western societies because women in those cultures do, in fact, suffer from poor body image and low self-esteem. Special focus could be placed on binge-eating in cultures where overeating is a natural part of life and overweight women are viewed as attractive. It is in these cultures that women feel torn between their traditions and the Westernized perception of beauty they are experience more.
The complications that accompany body image have long been an issue in society. Body image is the sense of how an individual views his or her own body as compared to others in society, or what is considered to be the ideal body image. There are many different factors that effect ones body image, but a major influence is the media. The media has long been associated with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where an individual participates in self-starvation, and bulimia is an eating disorder where an individual will eat as much as he or she wishes and then purges the previously eaten food. These are two destructive eating disorders that are associated with a negative body image. This comes to question, does media have an influence on creating a negative body image, which may inherently lead to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia? Anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect various age groups but is extremely common in adolescence and emerging adulthood. During this stage in an individual’s lifespan there is a lot going on with ones psychological development as well as body. How an adolescent views his or her body image be highly impacted by how the media portrays what the ideal body image is. According to Berger (2015), “as might be expected from a developmental perspective, healthy eating begins with childhood habits and family routines” (p.415). If proper eating habits are not implemented negative body image and eating disorders that are associated with media becomes further predominant in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
1. Eating disorders in our present society can be viewed as a multi-determined disorder for various reasons. The current definition of a multi-determined disorder is when there is more than one factor with a wide range of causes that creates the disorder to form. Negative influences from family members, friends, the western culture, or even a specific cultural may harshly impact a person and influence how he or she should live their life. Anorexia and Bulimia are both to be considered as a multi-determined disorder that is influenced greatly by socio-cultural, biological and psychological factors. Subcultures create large pressures and restraints to diet and become thin. For instance, the Asian culture, if a person is overweight, they are frowned upon and considered almost as a disgrace to the community. Studies have also proven that family histories that have a weight loss disorder are more likely to also develop depression and anxiety disorders and are more likely found in women. Daily habits in a household also greatly impact the way a child is raised. Factors such as being over protective or having excessive control may also lead to forming an eating disorder, which anorexia becomes more susceptible for children. Psychological factors are most commonly formed when other views and living habits become more influential than our own. The way others perceive a person is defined as a schema. Once schemas are formed they may store in a person’s long-term memory and create self-schemas. Negative self-schemas will change an individual’s personality to become unstable and believe they are constantly being judged. Self-concept then forms leading to more harmful disorders such as poor self-esteem, depression and inability ...
All over the world, especially in the U.S. young women are trying to build new self image. They want to feel good about themselves, but are always dissatisfied with the way they look just because they don't have the body of a model .
“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it is clear that, although virtually all women are exposed to these socio-cultural influences, only a very small proportion develop clinical eating disorders (Mazzeo and Bulik). Every article believes that socio-culture have an impact on eating disorders. Although, researchers believe that is not the only reason, and the easiest statement to make. Eating disorders are far more complicated than it just being blamed on the media. Bagley, Mazzeo and Bulik all state that media play a role in the development but are not the main reason to developing an eating disorder. In all of the research done thus far media is a part of eating disorders, but not the only culprit.
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
That is a statement that is commonly heard in the United States today. It is true that the evidence supports that theory very often. The problem with this generalization is that it puts pressure on people to break this stereotype. Eating disorders are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They are what happens when there is too much focus in the culture on being skinny. Eating disorders can be just as dangerous as the obesity problem. (Sanders, 2015)
What would your definition of an epidemic be? Do you think of epidemics to automatically be bad? Or do you think epidemics are good? The main issue is that the media, which surrounds our culture today, creates several epidemics and some being bad as expressed in the article Globalization of Eating Disorders by Susan Bordo. Bordo explains how television and other media outlets increased the percentage rate of eating disorders in countries that before were not reported until after television, and other forms of media were introduced to the country.
Miller, M., & Pumariega, A. (2001). Culture and eating disorders: A historical and cross-cultural review. Psychiatry, 64(2), 93-110.
Shapiro, C. M. (2012). Eating disorders: Causes, diagnosis, and treatments [Ebrary version]. Retrieved from http://libproxy.utdallas.edu/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/utdallas/Doc?id=10683384&ppg=3
Studies have demonstrated the important involvement of Western culture in regard to anorexia nervosa. There is a continuous changing trend for female body shape, and beauty is associated with thinness in Western culture. According to Simpson (2002), the concept of thinness and delicateness were main ideas in the
Susan Bordo states in her article “Never Just Pictures”, that children grow up knowing that they can never be thin enough. They are thought that being fat is the worst thing ever. The ones responsible for this are the media, celebrities, models, and fashion designers. All of these factors play a big role on the development of the standard and how people view themselves. Everyone at one dreams about being the best they can in any aspect. But to achieve that most believe that one of the big factors is outer beauty. So people look at celebrities and fashion designers, and believe that to be accepted they have to look like them. That’s when they take drastic measures to change their appearance because they’ve been influenced by the Medias idea of “beautiful.” This feeling mostly happens in women but in recent years the gender gap has become smaller. Now men also feel the need to look good because of the media. On the TV, instead of having infomercials ...