Eating Disorders: Mass Media and Its Influence on Body Image Essay

The influence and power of mass media in shaping perceptions about issues is uncontested. In the recent years however, there are questions being raised about the kind of information media, especially the commercial mass media, is feeding its viewers particularly those in their adolescence. More and more cases of eating disorders have surfaced in the latter years. More often than not, the victims of such disorders report that it was exposure and desire to be like the skinny models and celebrities that influenced them to diet, binge, purge and apply drastic measures such as surgery and starvation diets in order to lose weight. Just recently, Jennifer Love Hewitt made headlines when she hit out at criticisms of her weight after a not-so-flattering photo of her in a bikini surfaced on magazines and the Internet. Her statement â€Å"Size 2 is not fat! † has been welcomed and praised by other celebrities who feel that the media has been exerting undue pressure on women to be slim according to what are often unattainable standards (Slonim & Chiu, 2007). There are researchers who claim that the rising numbers of eating disorders among pre-teens and adolescents are caused by the continued portrayal of beauty as â€Å"thin† in media. It is according to researchers, this very portrayal of â€Å"thin† that fosters a trend of body dissatisfaction among women particularly those in their adolescence (Forbes, Doroszewicz, Card & Adams-Curtis, 2004). What is body image and why does it seem so important to people? Body image is defined as how individuals view and judge their own personal appearance (Morrison, Kalin & Morrison, 2004). This includes personal thoughts, feelings and behaviors directed towards one’s own body (Botta, 2003). This perception is further broken down into two types: the â€Å"body image evaluation† or the way a person critically evaluates his or her own physical appearance, and the â€Å"body image investment,† or the things that people do â€Å"to manage or enhance the way they look†(Morrison, Kalin & Morrison, 2004). People’s body images today run alongside perceptions of self-worth. If one doesn’t fit the stereotypical standard of beauty, it automatically makes an individual feel outcast and ugly. There are two ways by which media may affect a person’s perception of physical appearances in terms of weight: the first is by featuring thin and â€Å"beautiful† people/celebrities while the other is to feature conspicuously fat people who are often represented in comical situations (Harrison, 2000, p. 125). In the study conducted by Harrison in 2000, it was revealed that young adolescent girls who were exposed to media featuring stick thin celebrities experienced dissatisfaction with their own personal appearances. Those who were exposed to shows featuring conspicuously fat people showed an increased tendency toward eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia (pp137-138). What are eating disorders? Eating disorders refer to conditions describing a person’s food consumption behaviors that are considered â€Å"abnormal. † It covers whether people eat too much, or not at all including whether they practice purging after meals. The two most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa. The primary goal of people suffering from anorexia nervosa is to achieve maximum weight loss as possible (Palmer, 2003, p. ). It is important to take note that there is a difference between anorexia and anorexia nervosa. Anorexia pertains to a true reduction of hunger due to other factors such as illness or depression that thereby makes loss of appetite fairly normal and expected. The â€Å"nervosa† in anorexia nervosa is an indicator of a more complex relationship between a person’s eating behavior and the desire to lose weight (p. 6). People suffering from anorexia nervosa panic at any sign of weight gain and very often fail to realize just how abnormally skinny they are getting. Weight loss becomes compulsive. Each pound loss and food denied is a victory for people with anorexia nervosa. They are often given to obsessive dieting and exercise convinced that what little food they eat will turn them into obese slobs (Smith, 2004, p. 6) Bulimia Nervosa. Like Anorexia, the focus of Bulimia nervosa is as much weight loss as possible†¦the difference is that sufferers of Bulimia nervosa have discovered that they can lose more weight quickly if they immediately expel what food they have eaten. Bulimics also go through a series of â€Å"binge-and-purge† wherein they undergo periods of eating large amounts of food, then getting rid of it through purging (Farley, 1992). Purging is done through self-induced vomiting or the use of enemas and laxatives for forced evacuation. Often, bulimia nervosa comes soon after the onset of anorexia nervosa (p. 15). In contrast to the disorders associated with weight loss, there are also eating disorders where its sufferers do the opposite and eat compulsively. Binge Eating Disorder (BED). BED is demonstrated by a strong compulsion to eat without any restraint. Stress and strong emotions usually bring on these periods. Binge eaters usually feel dissatisfaction until they have answered the urge to eat. However, once having eaten, binge eaters often feel self-hate, shame and personal disgust leading to more depression (Palmer, 2003, p. 7). The integration of commerce, advertising and marketing in media also has its share of the blame in the way adolescents view their bodies. Famous actors and actresses have been employed in the promotion of various products from cigarettes to acne prevention treatments. Such move appeals to most adolescents who seek to emulate the image their â€Å"idols† project. While not all adolescents are susceptible to celebrity and body images projected by the media, those suffering from social and physical anxieties in addition to low self-esteem are often more vulnerable to being affected by body images present in the media. These people often end up having distorted views of their physical selves and are more prone to developing eating disorders (David & Johnson, 1998, p. 53). Emulation of a standard set by a beauty icon is not just limited to living and breathing celebrities. In fact one of the more famous icons that have been used to represent beauty and all the privileges that are perceived to come with it may be found in most young girls’ toy boxes. â€Å"Barbie,† the thin but curvaceous doll with the sparkling blue eyes, long blond hair, gorgeous tan and long legs so admired and desired by their human counter parts has always remained a favorite toy among young girls who often project their ambitions and life wishes onto Barbie as they play pretend. Little girls would brush Barbie’s silky blond hair and dress her up for her â€Å"dates† with the very handsome and muscular â€Å"Ken. † While â€Å"pretend play† is considered to be fairly normal and may even be considered â€Å"healthy† creativity-wise, there are times when the pretense is carried a bit far and extends beyond normal play to the point of crossing into real life. In December 2006, an article appeared in English newspaper the Daily Mail telling of an interview with â€Å"Human Barbie† Sarah Burge (â€Å"I’m the Human Barbie,† 2006, p. 22). In it, Sarah admitted to having had about 26 plastic surgery procedures within the twenty years costing approximately GBP 180,000, even candidly stating that in her whole body, only her feet remained in their â€Å"virgin† state. When asked what she thinks of the label â€Å"human Barbie† Sarah just beans with pride. â€Å"‘I find it extremely flattering,’ she says. ‘Barbie is very beautiful, glamorous and fun. What woman wouldn’t want to be all those things? ‘† (â€Å"p. 22) Burge also goes to point out the additional connection of her being born in the same year the Mattel Company launched the Barbie doll. Tom Knott (1997,p. 2) of the Washington Times probably best sums up the nice but mostly unrealistic and unattainable qualities of Barbie that have been the envy and ambition of females young and old alike: Barbie has had it all for 38 years: the great looks and body, plus the devotion of the equally flawless Ken. It has been a zit-free run. Nothing bad ever happened to Barbie. She did not develop complexion problems. She did not gain weight. She did not start to sag. She did not wake up to find facial hair on her upper lip. She looked as good in the morning as she did at night. Knott, 1997, p. 2) Botta (2003) explains that the problem lies in the fact that women are judged for thinness while men’s masculinity is measured against a rising cultural ideal stereotype of â€Å"V-shaped† muscularity. Botta further states that the connection between exposure to women’s and men’s â€Å"health and fitness† magazines to increasing body dissatisfaction and cases of eating disorders among its readers have already been proven by several studies (Andersen & DiDomenico, 1992; Nemeroff, Stein, Diehl, & Smilack, 1994, Levine, Smolak & Hayden, 1994). Botta, 2003) In addition to these, Botta decries the irony in all these studies was that of all the types of magazines used in the studies, it was the health magazines that presented more stimulus and inducements for their readers to do more body harm. For boys, reading was linked to increased muscularity, which means that the more time they spent reading health/fitness magazines, the more they intended to or took pills and supplements in order to gain muscle and the more committed they were to being muscular. For girls, health/fitness magazine reading was linked to a stronger drive to be thin and to increased anorexic and bulimic intentions and behaviors such as vomiting, abusing laxatives, and fasting. (Botta, 2003) Conclusion Adolescence is well known to be a fragile and confusing phase that everybody has to go through. In seeking to fit in with their peers as well as have an image that is acceptable to all, it is not unusual for young people to try and attain qualities that will make them attractive personally and socially to other people. The idea of beauty with all its accompanying privileges is not a new one. Neither is the fact that people will try to copy or emulate others whom they feel are everything they would want to be. It is a fact that marketers and advertisers are paid to make their wares attractive in whatever way possible. It is also another fact that media survives and makes money through the patronization of advertisers. However, there must and should be a point where the responsibility towards the audience especially those who do not sufficiently possess proper discernment must be factored into the equation. In the recent years, reports of fashion models that have died due to some eating disorder abound. There have been steps to ban stick thin models from the runway, a ban that is yet to be implemented by all the major fashion houses. Young and highly impressionable children are often plopped in front of the television often without any supervision. If adolescents can be so easily swayed by exposure to media, what more of these young kids? Already, news reports of children as young as seven being treated for eating disorders have surfaced (â€Å"Girl of Seven in Diet Danger,† 2006) It is frightening the way â€Å"0† can actually be considered a dress size. Even more frightening when media portrays thin celebrities as â€Å"beautiful† and leading glamorous, exciting lives. What person, young or old, would not want that? Currently however, the way that even celebrities who used to be the standard by which beauty is judged are now facing harsh criticism from their contemporaries is alarming in more ways than one. If celebrities who can afford high priced professional trainers, diets, gym memberships and plastic surgery can still be adjudged negatively, what more of those who do not have access or simply cannot afford all these â€Å"beauty aids†?