MEDIA INFLUENCES ON EATING DISORDER

ABSTRACT:

The media as well as the eating disorders are commonly at odds because much frequently than never, we view various photographs of anorexic masses that are somehow galmourised as well as depicted the ideal beauty. The question now arises that whether does the media have an influence over eating disorders?

What is it the most about the media is that it makes female fatally overwhelmed to the unrealistic and serious pressure towards slenderness?

The affect of the media on the development of the eating disorders like Anorexia, Bulimia or Compulsive Overeating can’t be disproved.Since from the very early age the people are pelted with the images along with the messages that reinforce the idea to be pleased and successful that the individual must be lean. Now, as seen in daily day to day life that it is notified as a message that fat is bad, whether it is a television, a magazine, or a newspaper, or listening to the radio, or whether shopping in the mall. The most fearsome part is that the destructive message it conveys is somehow reaching towards children. Adolescents sometimes really feel like fatally blemished if their hips, weight etc. doesn’t match up I comparison to those of famous models and actors. Today even the children of the elementary school aged are also obsessed in respect to their weight. Even if the contention is also made that the media’s depiction of women is just only a mirror of the society and not as an instigator, the media will still need to consider for the fact for at least upholding the dysfunction.

MEDIA INFLUENCE

As seen today the media is almost an important part of about most of the individual in the society. Most of the people living in the society either have a radio transmitter or a television set. Magazines and the newspapers are also used by majority of people in the society. Thus it can be said that media has become an important aspect of one’s daily life. It entertains, educates and informs but at that time on the other hands the media can also have the negative effects to the society. For example media is criminated for the rising of eating disorders in society today. Media used for advertising, and with these adverts only the opinions of the people towards various consequences is affected. At the same time the media also creates an issue about beauty through create an opinion over certain issues such a beauty through slim and thin figures and models in a way. By having a look at certain models and its personalities, most of the women have developed poor eating habits that could lead them in severe health hazards.

The appearance, look and the personality of the lean, thin and slim models in the media usually conveys a bad and dangerous toward sensing of the beauty. At the same time some of the the fashion and general fitness magazine produce feeling of what is beautiful and acceptable and it also plays a big role in encouraging the irregular and insalubrious eating concepts in women especially the youngsters. It has been found in a research done on 232 young women it’s been observed that around15 percent of the total women met the standards for being classified for the disordered eating symptoms like drive for being thin, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism and upset or disorder. The analysis also demonstrated some of the correlation of disordered eating habit with the intake of certain media products (Harrison, 1997). The drive for the flawlessness and beauty is learnt. The society developed the habits out of the social definitions created through the media. The Beauty of images that are depicted on the media are usually unrealistic and couldn’t be attained naturally sometimes. The media however does admonishing the jury on the perfect beauty and in result this unrealistic beauty turns into a reason for disordered eating habits. There are many effects of the eating disorders which varies from group to group affected. As a general the eating disorder also leads to some of the health issues like tooth enamel erosion, dehydration, effects of body immunity and so on.

Although besides this there are most of the reasons that why an individual develops the poor eating habits, it’s all because of the appearance or look of an individual play a vital role. The visual aspect of the body that are showed in the media is usually responsible for the major eating disorder. The magazines, movies and the TV shows followed by the women usually affect their attitudes and behaviors on the eating habits. So, it can be concluded that the various products of the media leads to disintegrate people from their proper food eating habits, it’s all just because that these products contains some of the marvelous images of either a model or any actor which may not be real. Thus people are wasting their precious time and lack of proper health care for nothing. The images that are constructed in reality is to hide the blemishes and demonstrate complete and perfect nature of the beauty that may not be realistic (Muehlenkamp, Jennifer, Renee, 2002). The model and the beauty images that are depicted by media are unremarkably universal and thus it creates an illusion over beauty. Many of the women who are too much attracted towards the beauty are willing to spend a lot on their beauty. As seen most of the model is of skinny type, seeing them most of the women try to become like them or try to associate them with the images they view in many media forms and so poor eating habits is adopted so as to attain such perfection of beauty.

Most of the eating disorders are observed with young women and adolescent girls. During adolescent age and the early adult hood a woman is very much concerned with beauty. It is at this stage of human development that most women go for beauty product so as to enhance their beauty (Bissell, Kimberly, Peiqin, 2004). In the media at least one out of the ten advertisements are for beauty products. These beauty advertisements are associated with a model. These models are usually skinny thin and have enhanced beauty perfection. The young women are not informed by the media that models presented usually had undertaken plastic surgery in order to attain their perfection. In addition the images presented in the media are manufactured and do not represent the real person. By trying to associate with the models used in advertising the beauty products they use, young women adopt disordered eating habit.

Each advertisement that are showed in the media is a part of human construction whose main aim and objective is to convey a certain message to the audience for the product market growth. Thus the advertiser uses any mode and means to send his or her subject matter. The changing magnitude of the competition in the market, beauty products asks the company to run very aggressive advertisement. These advertisements are thus so structured so that they will pull the attention of the majority of audience towards it (Kubersky, Rachel, 1992). Due to this reason extreme and aggressive images of beauty are depicted and demonstrated by the media. These images are betraying and may lead most of the women to develop the poor eating habits in order to achieve the beauty demonstrated in the media. Frustrated of trying to achieve the beauty the child may be tempted to adopting unhealthy eating habits that would lead eating disorders.

Moreover, it is being seen that people also does dieting in order to achieve the beauty by adopting the poor eating habits. Besides this most of the women also use slimming pills for being liner and thinner and finally developing the unhealthy eating habits that may lead to eating disorder.

As previously stated that the reality of genuine beauty and the beauty that is shown in the media is totally different. The models that are used in the media usually undergo through the plastic surgery and many other beauty enhancements. In addition to it, the images that are depicted in the media are constructed so as to create the unrealistic perfection of the beauty. These images then are betraying to the women audience. The real beauty is natural and healthy. Extremely skinny thin models that can be watched in the media are unhealthiness but the media does not tell the audience about them in order to promote the product advertisements.

Eating disorder can lead to very dangerous health hazards burdens to a woman. The eating disorder make the body to refuse the various nutrients and proteins that are too essential for the body development. Denying the body these nutrients may affect the person to very severe health risks. Inspite of this, it can also lead to failure of some of the body parts too. For pregnant women the health risk if not only to the woman but also to the child. The woman could be at the risk of losing her life and her child too by refusing herself from having enough calories and nutrients which are necessary during the pregnancy stage.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Eating disorder can affects a woman to a very severe health care risks. The foremost cause that are leading women to adopt the unhealthy eating habits have been viewed to be quest of the beauty. The beauty quest by the women is not the natural beauty instead the sensing of the beauty that are being demonstrated in the media. The media also plays a vital role for developing the unrealistic and the extreme beliefs of beauty. These unrealistic sensing of the beauty are associated with the models who are used in the advertisements and artist depicted through the media. These sensing of beauty becomes a reality in the women minds and they use the particular images as a parameter for evaluating their beauty. Unable to achieve the perception through the natural ways, then, the women adopts unhealthy eating habits.

The first priority of any women should be her health. The women can make their own initiative by finding out data of the proper way for following the beauty. In a measure to protect the women from various health hazards which can be done by educating them about the health hazards that can be caused by eating disorder. All the stake holders should form a unit in educating the women about the risks of eating disorder. The Beauty products company should prevent from using extremely skinny thin model that can create a bad impression of beauty to the user of their products.

Besides this the modeling agencies should also take more responsibility for the risk they pose their model to by using the utmost standards. The agencies should however step in and put standard on weight so that a model should achieve.

On the other hands the family should also create a better environment for the evolution of their children. For example the taking of long hours for viewing the television should be banned and instead the children should be motivated towards any other ways of passing the time.

Without all the stake holders interfering, many women is going to suffer unnecessarily for the flawlessness that cannot be reached. Thus more combined attempt should also be made to compensate the situation and lead to healthy women in the society.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

• Anderson AE, DiDomenico L. Diet versus shape content of popular male and female magazines: A dose-response relationship to the incidence of eating disorders? International Journal of Eating Disorders. 1992;11:283–287.

• Arnett JJ. Adolescent’s use of media for self-socialization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 1995;24(5):511–518.

• Becker AE, Burwell RA, Herzog DB, Hamburg P, Gilman S. Eating behaviours and attitudes following prolonged exposure to television among ethnic Fijian adolescent girls. British Journal of Psychiatry. 2002;180(6):509–514

• Kilbourne J. Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes The Way We Think and Feel. New York, N.Y: Touchstone; 2000.

• Levine MP, Piran N, Stoddard C. Mission more probable: Media literacy, activism, and advocacy as primary prevention. In: Piran N, Levine MP, Steiner-Adair C, editors. Preventing Eating Disorders: A Handbook of Inteventions and Special Challenges. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel; 1999.

• Levine MP, Smolak L. Media as a context for the development of disordered eating. In: Smolak L, Levine M, editors. The Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders: Implications for Research, Prevention, and Treatment. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc; 1996.

REFERENCES WEB SITES:

http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/30/3/257

http://influence.bafree.net/media-influences-society-by-promoting-teenage-eating-disorders.php

http://www.raderprograms.com/causes-statistics/media-eating-disorders.html

http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/themedia.php