Anorexia - Illness or influence?

Question

What are your thoughts on the media's influence on body image? Do you think it contributes to eating disorders? Thoughtful answers please; this is for a research paper.
Thank you

As I said above, answers with LOGIC and sense please.

Answer 1

Wow, thats a really good question. Personally I think its a bit of both. I do believe that it is an illness. But I know from experience, that a bit of curiosity can defintly lead to, if not worsen the problem.

Being overweight, or even just having a few extra pounds can be seen as a weakness. Not just because of your looks, but many ppl will assume you are just lazy and un motivated. Plus, in todays society, we want things done ASAP, and starvation is seen as a quick way to lose weight.


On the flip side, I do think, that many ppl see there friends doing it, or watch stories about it and get curious. I know personally I dabbled with bulimia, more out of curiosity then anything else. I knew logically it was bad for me, I even looked into all the possible problems it could cause. Yet I had heard about it so much, that I wanted to try it. I think many ppl, whether they know it or not start something like this for those reasons. It does become an addiction though.

Alot of times its about control. It is hard to control alot of things in our lives. We can't control what happens around us, but we can take control of what goes into our bodies.

Media does have alot to do with our obsessions in my opion. Everytime a celebrity, especialy a female celbrity gains weight its big news. Think about this, if every time you gained an extra 5 pounds there were pictures all over the place wondering if your pregnant, or if you'd gotten lazy, or whatever. Or they'll do shows on "healthy" looking celebs, and how great they look, and what role models they are, yet irl, they are maybe a size 5 at most.


I think another thing that stumbles the "normal" ppl, is they see celebs after they've gained weight for whatever reason, or had a baby loose there weight quickly. Even if they did it in a healthy way, ppl forget that they have lots of money, so they can hire trainers, nutritionists, and they can afford very expensive gym equitment. Something most ordinary ppl can't afford. Even if they can, many "normal" ppl don't know how to find this type of help. The celebs have ppl to help them find the ppl that will help them lose the weight.


One other thing that gets to me, is the celebs that lose a bunch of weight (ex. star jones) yet won't share exactly how they did it. Granted they are really ppl, and deserve privacy. But if they do go to extreme measures, such as surgery, to help them lose weight, yet deny it, that can send a bad message to the rest of the public. All we see is that they lost weight quickly, not that they actualy did something to make it happen.

Another problem I see, has nothing to do with celebrities. We are always trying to just be like everybody else. And young ppl especially have a problem realizing that some ppls bodies are just built differently. Some ppl are just naturally skinny. But all we see is our friend is smaller then us, and will stop at nothing to meet, or beat there weight. It also about competition. We are in a very competivie culture. If we see that our friend lost 5 pounds, we want to lose 6.


The bottom line is, this is a really complex issue. I really don't bevieve there is one right or wrong answer. It depends on the person, and there cirucumstances. Everybody does things for different reasons. As an overweight person, I had a dr actualy suggest that I try not eating for a week to see if I can loose weight. He said it was a real health issue, and even though starvation had health risks, I would die an early death if I didn't try it. And before you ask, yes I did stop seeing that dr ASAP, and he has since quite practicing.


Good luck with your paper. This is actualy a topic I think about often, and am fairly passionate about. So on the off chance that you would like to talk further about this, I am open. Just contact me. Take care.

Answer 2

First off, Anorexia is more a control thing than anything else. I was anorexic for a few years and I finally figured out why. I felt that everybody could control me to do what they wanted, but they couldn't control what I did and did not eat. Everyplace you look there's these waiflike people that we are told is the ideal for all women and so we starve ourselves, or become Bulimic to become just thin little waifs like the models. Of course, those eating disorders that were caused by us starving or purging is causing a real bad toll on our bodies. What could it be doing to us? Bulimia does hurt the teeth, starving ourselves can lead us to death or at the very least brain damage.It's so sad--all for the ideal of beauty which is false.

Answer 3

yes..it is all influence. The media contributes to it, certainly. But there are many other influences as well. A person's need to control their environment is one also. Controlling your weight is the ultimate self control. And then there is peer pressure. With young people this can be the greatest influence.

Answer 4

I think so but a lot of times it is just people's comments, insecurities, depression, etc. Like I was almost anorexic at one point because my dad to this day makes comments that i'm overweight and I go to the gym every day but its just not in my genes to be too small and its so hard when your under a microscope. I know this one girl who loved this guy with all she had but he cheated on her and he said cuz she didnt have the right body type so she felt like she needed to be smaller, some ppl cant control how they look but since they can control what they eat that makes them think its better, some ppl just lose interest in food like if something really tragic happens they dont care about eating....a lot of younger girls now talk about their weight with friends so its a peer pressure thing

Answer 5

I think it can contribute to one's body image especially that of a young person who is very impressionable and is feeling awkward with their own changing body. My sister is a model she is 16 and was looking really good and her agency told her to lose weight, she lost about ten kilos, now they are telling her she is too thin. She has put some weight back on but at 5'10" and 54kg she is still way too thin and she is very emotional and sensitive about her weight.
Also I think mothers have some influence in how their daughters view themselves. Our mother was always going on about her weight and I think that has also manifested in us by always being concerned about our weight and how we look. I don't think I will ever be happy with my weight. and I wonder if it would be different if my mother had a better self image of herself

Answer 6

No, i think Hollyoaks successfully highlighted something which is an increasing problem. In doing so, naturally some people may be influenced or find out new ways to avoid eating food etc, but i think the storyline will have done more good than harm. x

Answer 7

I think influence starts it but then if they can't stop and still think their body is gross when they weigh only 80 pounds then it switches to illness. But I still don't think it's a good excuse. We don't feel nearly as bad for the people who eat truck loads of food a day.

Answer 8

Unless part of your research is supposed to involve a poll we can't help you.

Answer 9

neither i blame it on good old stupidity