How the Media Affects Eating Disorders

Poor Body Image

One's idea of what a perfect body should be can often lead to an eating disorder. Poor body image can lead to body dysmorphic disorder (i.e when a person becomes obsessive about imagined or minor "flaws" with their body). With media influence, whether through TV or magazines, such ideas of perfection are proliferated through photographs, the cult of celebrity and more, thus leaving many a young child or adult dissatisfied with their own body perception.

Learned Behavior

When a person strives to be thin, and sometimes with the influence of the media's perception of what an "ideal" beauty should be, such expectations to be thin can become a learned behavior. By constantly becoming bombarded with unrealistic images of what a woman should look like, young people are presented with false hopes of trying to achieve an image that they might not be able to become.

TV

When a child becomes aware of her own body, she will continue to develop an idea for body image into pre-adolescence, and later into adulthood. Most women in TV are presented as attractive, or "pretty." In a 2000 study conducted by Fouts and Burgraff, overweight women were demeaned in programs, whereas women who were considered to be thin and attractive were more than likely to be glorified. Commercials often depict model-like women. Videos depict ultra-thin singers and dancers, and feature them to young children like candy. In a study done on 10-year-old girls (Mundell, 2002), the children were largely unsatisfied with their own body image after having watched a Britney Spears video. At the same time, teenage girls who watched commercials with women who were extremely thin became angry with their own bodies and weight.

TV and Magazines

Since TV has become a predominant factor in many family's households, the daily intake of commercials, videos and programs oriented for adults has become a major role in our lives. If a person is already predisposed to an eating disorder, such TV influence will have a major impact on one's body image or body dissatisfaction. Many women who already have an eating disorder will buy magazines, such as health magazines or fitness magazines. The idea of obtaining "perfection" is seen through an image, and therefore gives an individual with an eating disorder an image to become.

Relationship of Media to Eating Disorders

How a girl identifies herself is how she'll associate herself to media consumption. In other words, if a girl associates herself with a particular icon, she may be more inclined to emulate that person (i.e. by becoming thin). The need may become stronger if she is unsatisfied with her own body. Being constantly influenced by images of thin-looking women may make the drive to become thin more excessive for some girls.

Is the Media to Blame

People who are already predisposed to an eating disorder will be more susceptible to the influence of images of thin people. Many women depicted in magazines and commercials have a body weight that is 25 percent less than her ideal body weight according to some studies. Images of models are often airbrushed. Actors and actresses many times get plastic surgery to retain their youth and looks. Onlookers can be an easily impressionable group, so the media does play some role in their perception of body image, but is not entirely to blame. One also has to take into account that if a person is already suffering from an eating disorder, they will be more inclined to continue that behavior, regardless the influence.

Resources

• Media
• Media and Eating Disorders
• Media's Influence on Eating Disorders