Media’s Blow on Anorexia

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Media’s Blow on Anorexia About one in 200 persons in the United States will develop anorexia nervosa at some time. Ninety Percent are women (Anorexia Nervosa—Part 1 1). Anorexia is defined as an emotional disorder characterized by refusing to diet or eat. This is targeting young girls all across the world! This calamity is struck by something every person loves, social media. The media realm needs to be ceased from the websites that support dieting, celebrities displaying perfectionist bodies, and the social media world: their main victim to such disease are young teens. In particular media plays a role in anorexia in young teens because of social media and celebrities, the model industry, and the “thigh gap”. The first stance that media plays a role in anorexia in young teens is because of the social media realm and celebrities. Experts blame a “toxic combination” of pressures including social media and celebrity culture for an alarming number of children becoming body-conscious in their early teens. (Dixon 1). This is stating that young teens are visually seeing, on social media, celebrities that look as if they are perfect. It causes young teens to become conscious about their own bodies. “Starving for perfection” features pictures of celebrities . . . Advocate “thinspiration” backed by images of thin bodies (Laurance 1). Young teens cross sites like this on the Internet and dig into it and want to become thin or lose weight. This is a large trigger to anorexia, websites are brainwashing these children into believe that they must be skinny. The next role that media plays in anorexia in young teens is the model industry. “The numbers are increasing, I think because of the influence of [fashion] models’’ (“Eating... ... middle of paper ... ... Daily Telegraph. 17 Dec. 2013: 4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. "Eating Disorders Among Young Girls Are on the Rise." Daily Star (Beirut, Lebanon). 01 Jun. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Laurance, Jeremy. "Hundreds of Websites Urging Girls to 'Starve for Perfection'." The Independent. 28 Nov. 2012: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Le Marquand, Sarrah. "The Great Weight Debate: Are Celebs Really to Blame?." Daily Telegraph (Surry Hills). 14 Jul. 2012: 34. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Salter, Jim. "Social Media Fuel Dangerous Weight-Loss Goal." Independence Examiner. 04 Oct. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Zanker, C. "Anorexia Nervosa And The Body Image Myth." European Eating Disorders Review 17.5 (2009): 327-330. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

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