Eating Disorders and The Media

               There are many different types of eating disorders and reasons why people adopt them. The two most common disorders are anorexia nervousa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa causes people to have a distorted body image where they think they're overweight when in reality they're dangerously thin. People with this disorder often refuse to eat, exercise compulsively, and develop unusual habits such as refusing to eat in front of other people. Individuals with bulimia nervosa eat excessive quantities, then purge their bodies of the food and calories they fear by using laxatives, enemas, vomiting, or exercising.

               Women are much more likely than men to develop an eating disorder. Only an estimated 5 to 15 percent of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia in their lifetime. An estimated 1.1 to 4.2 percent of women have bulimia in their lifetime. Teens and young adults between the ages of 12 and 26 make up 95 percent of those who have an eating disorder. Anorexia is the most common cause of death among young women ages 15 to 24. 

          The media is one of the largest culprits for eating disorders.  Mass media provides a significantly influential context for people to learn about body ideals and the value placed on being attractive. The effect of media on women's body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and disordered eating appears to be stronger among young adults than children and adolescents. Pressure from mass media to be muscular also appears to be related to body dissatisfaction among men. Magazine covers like the image above display unrealistic bodies and give off the illusion that if you don't have a body like this you're not considered beautiful. Magazine covers like this give the wrong impression to young children, because contrary to popular belief you can still be beautiful without being as skinny as the women on the covers. 47% of girls in the 5th-12th grade reported wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures. 69% of girls in the 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape. 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner. 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat. These statistics are extremely concerning. Due to the exposure at a young age to such unrealistic ideals girls as young as the age of 10 fear weight problems. 

          Although not all media contributes to unrealistic ideal of how a women should look. The video above is a campaign from the skin care company, Dove. The campaign, Real Beauty, was launched in 2004 in response to the findings of a major global study that revealed that only 2% of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful. The main goal of the campaign is to "change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty." In this specific video Dove is trying to send a message to the artists that manipulate photos by releasing a Photoshop action called "Beautify" that reverts images to their original state and overlays a banner proclaiming "don't manipulate our perceptions of real beauty." More companies should follow in the footsteps of Dove and work toward ending eating disorders instead of contribute to them.