The Media and Distortion of Body Image

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Demi Lovato, one of today's most influential and inspiring women that is seen in the media spot light opened up about having an eating disorder. This Disney star told Robin Roberts, and ABC News reporter, that she had been bulimic and ultimately had to check into Timberline Knolls, a rehab center that focuses on eating disorders and addictions. At a young age she had been bullied because she was told she was too fat. For Demi, this caused her to begin overeating extremely and limiting her eating to a few times a day. While on a concert tour for “Camp Rock 2” she would perform without having anything to eat and would lose her voice by making herself vomit. After her treatment she said she wanted to get her story out so other young girls know they don’t need to suffer through what she did. Demi’s younger sister Madison, is one of those girls who look up to her and she knew that she had to stay strong and overcome her problems for her sister and set a good example for her ("Demi Lovato Interview: Teen," n.d.). In today’s society, more than ever, the way people view themselves and others has become a focus. Modern society now has preconceived concepts of what people should look like in order to be beautiful, like what size they are, the color of their hair, the color of their skin, and even their race are factors that are considered. Most problems with body image issues come from what is put in the media. What once was considered beautiful in magazines years ago, such as curves in women, have now changed to rail thin bodies, like those of runway models which are constantly seen on television. Because the ideal of human beauty changes throughout time, trends in body type, fashion, and race negatively impact society.
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... type can have damaging effects on children and young adults, many of which make themselves sick either by starving their bodies or making themselves vomit. These body image issues that are seen in todays society can have both permanent physical and psychological effects that these people will carry with them for the rest of their lives. There are many factors that contribute to body image
BODY IMAGE 11 issues but some main ones are, the growing trends of having the best body type, and those in fashion, and another key issue is the way race is seen in accordance to beauty, all of which negatively impact society and the views of what constitutes one being beautiful.People as a society need to realize what damaging effects they are having on young generations and those growing up thinking they need to meet certain standards in order to considered beautiful.

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