DAY, APRIL 25, 2006

Argumentative Essay
Eating Disorders Do Not Occur Over Night
The number of televisions in American homes has increased since the first television set was introduced
to the American public which was in the 1950’s. “Today, 98% of American homes have a TV set, and 40%
have three or more” (Judith, 2006). Therefore, most of all Americans have access to a television and the
images and attitudes it portrays to its viewers. “The television is a major influence in American culture, it is
a technological device present in nearly all American homes and the center of our most common
recreational activities” (Nichter, 269). It can change the way people think and act towards different people,
places, topics, etc. The way the media portrays certain events can sometimes change the way we think
and view those events.
The way the wars are covered is an example of how the media tries to portray different events in our
history. During the Gulf War, the images that were shown on the news were quite different than the ones
we all see today about the war in Iraq. The images from the Gulf War were of happy soldiers and positive
events. It was giving society the idea that that war was a good idea and that we were winning. But now
the images we see of the war in Iraq are different. Now we see soldiers fighting, shooting guns, and we
see dead bodies laying on the ground. Therefore, these images are giving citizens the idea that the war is
not going too well, and that it is not positive as it was during the Gulf War. A lot of the time the media is
our only way of viewing things, like war, a lot of Americans are unable to be over in Iraq fighting therefore
the news is our only way in.
Our society values the media for what and how it portrays images, people and places. The media can be
a powerful tool (Effects of the Media). It bombards people with extreme and sometimes unattainable
images of the “beautiful body”. This is why the media is responsible for the increase in eating disorders.
“The influence of the mass media has long been theoretically implicated in the development of eating
disorders” (Atabe 1999).
The media gives off the message that what is on the outside is what counts instead of what is on the
inside that counts (Cash, Strachan 1999). Just watch television or flip through the channels or watch a
few commercials, they are all showing their audience that how people look and their appearances are
what everyone looks at and sets standards and impressions on. Whether it is showing kids at school
being dressed up with prefect hair and make up or it’s adults at their job looking flawless. Also, glance at
the covers and the contents of most women’s magazines, most of them are telling their readers how to
get that perfect body in a short time, or there are advertisements for diet pills. The ads that are selling diet
pills or formulas are saying, if you are “fat” this is an easy way to become thin again and that all your
problems will go away once you lose those unwanted pounds. There are also many ads promoting
cosmetic surgery, these are also giving out the idea that if you had that tiny waist, or thinner thighs you
would be happy and successful. These are also short cuts, or the easy way out when trying to get the
perfect body.
A significant body of research suggests that television, like the print media, promotes the thin ideal (Atabe
1999). And with such a large amount of attention that is given to the media, many girls and woman strive
to be like those woman that are portrayed. However, “the vast majority of female characters are thinner
than the average American woman” (Atabe 1999). Therefore, trying to be like those woman is very
difficult. In fact, if you were to have Barbie be life size, she would be more than seven feet tall, and her
measurements would be 40-22-36 (Calanaugh and Lemberg 1999).
“Mass media is omnipresent in American and most Western societies but has been blamed for playing a
powerful role in communicating the thin standard to the overall woman” (Atabe 1999). With all the
attention our society gives the different types of media, there is no doubt that woman would perceive that
the woman on TV programs and in magazines are the woman that are successful and adored by others.
So of course woman would look up to these woman as role models, and they also try to be like these
women they see through out the media. If you look at most of the overweight people on television, most of
the time they are perceived as the funny characters that are there to make people laugh, and they are
sometimes the punch-line to other characters jokes or they are the characters that people are made to
feel sorry for because of the fact that they are overweight. This tells our society that it is better to be the
thin attractive character rather than the overweight character that is there to be funny.
The media has established for our society different standards of attractiveness (Rothblum 1999). On a
few television stations, like MTV and VH1, there are episodes that are made to directly pick out beautiful,
popular, gorgeous celebrities. Some of the programs are called Hottest Stars Under 25, or Hollywood’s
top 25 Hot list, etc. These type of shows are basically saying that these people are the ideal people who
have perfect bodies and they are people who are successful, happy, and adored by others. Most of the
celebrities that are revealed in these programs are the people that are looked up to and many people
strive to look and act like them.
The messages from the media stress how desirable it is for woman to be young and to be or to become
thin. These messages particularly influence teenage women at a period when they are undergoing
emotional stress as they seek to achieve independence from their parents, to compete with their peers
and to find their identity (Abraham 1984). At the times when young women are growing up, are usually the
times when they are trying to find what kind of person they are. With the influence in the media, many of
the young women think the women shown throughout the media are the ones they want to be.
Sometimes, girls look at their bodies and compare them to the girls they want to be like on TV, this is
when eating disorders are influenced as well. The girls think if people on TV are capable of looking that
great, then they are too. And when the girls find that they are un able to get those type of bodies by
exercising, they resort to starving themselves or throwing up what they eat, because this way they are
able to get the results they want faster.
Media images of the beauty ideal are particularly damaging to woman who are highly invested in their
looks or who view their bodies negatively. There have been a number of studies that have examined body
satisfaction, eating disorders and negative effects as correlations of using mass media (Groesz, Levine,
Murnen 2006). Participants with significant body images were more adversely effected by thin media
stimuli then participants without body dissatisfaction issues. And participants not yet in college were more
adversely affected by the presentation of thin media stimuli then participants aged nineteen years and
older (Groesz, Levine, Murnen 2006).
Infomercials and commercials for weight loss are consistently on TV and in magazines. What the
commercials and infomercials are trying to sell to their audience are products to get you to that ideal
body. Our society values the perfect body, and many people are thieving to achieve it. Therefore, having
the advertisements for these products are saying here’s an easy way to lose those unwanted pounds
because being overweight is unacceptable. But many people who have eating disorders sometime abuse
these products while trying to have the “perfect body”. A proportion of young women choose a method or
more than one method of weight control. This can increase health risks to women. These are some “fad”
diets, striation, self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse and smoking (Abraham 1984). To a person who has
an eating disorder, if there is a way to lose more weight, whether it be safe or not, they will do it.
Teen and women’s magazines do endorse societal standards emphasizing thinness and beauty. The
magazines feature articles of how to achieve certain things like best butt, a flat stomach, toned legs, etc. It
has been suggested that the mass media, particularly woman’s magazines, contribute to the developing
of body image disturbance and eating disorders (Atabe 1999). The magazines emphasize the importance
of beauty of external appearance in girls and women identity and independence (Atabe 1999).
Women of all ages in Western society, but especially those under the age of forty, are subjected to
enormous pressures to be slim and look good (Abraham 1984). A message that is depicted through the
media is that a slim woman is successful, attractive, healthy, happy, fit and well liked by others. Most
people want to be liked, successful, and attractive, therefore people try to be more like the people they
see that are like this in the media. Even if it means losing some weight to obtain their kind of body. This is
a time when eating disorders are developed.
With so much attention given towards the media and with the amount of television sets in American
homes, many tend to be educated through reading magazines and watching television programs. Most
people living in developed nations also receive a constant stream of impressions from TV commercials
(Abraham 1984). The TV commercials in the developed nations use young, attractive and slim women to
advertise products as diverse as soft drinks, security investments, cars, computers, fast food, etc. As a
result, this is telling the viewing audience that if you buy this product, you too could be as attractive and
established as the person shown in the ad. That is one main thing that is promote in ad, good looks and a
slim, toned body.
In many TV sitcoms and soap operas, the heroines are portrayed as slim, young, beautiful people
(Abraham 1984). It is part of the entertainment value of TV programs, its more fun, exciting and
entertaining to watch an attractive person save someone else. But this idea of having a hero be attractive
is that, if you are ever in trouble and need someone to help you, there will be an attractive person there to
help you and this is not very realistic. It is just like how having that prefect slim body is sometimes not
realistic.
Achieving the ideal body is thought to ensure success and happiness (Abraham 1984). The media shows
slim and in shape people being thriving and happy while sometimes showing overweight people being
lazy and unhappy. This is not always true, because there are some thin people who are unhappy and who
have failed while there are overweight people who are very successful and happy. But the media likes to
show the young, thin, beautiful people being happy.
Most teenagers believe that slim will help them to be chosen for a good job, find a boyfriend, be popular
with their peers, be and look fit and healthy and get along well with their family (Abraham 1984). When
growing up, it seems very crucial to be liked by others and to be able to get along with people and to be
popular. As a teenager, its seems to be important to be doing everything that everyone else is doing,
otherwise they seem to be an outcast. A young girl may say to herself, “if I only lost a few pounds that guy
would have liked me” or “if I was in shape and thin, I would feel better about myself.” Eating disorder
patients have a distorted image not only of their body size and frame but of their happiness (Kahm 1999).
This tells us, that many people develop eating disorders because they believe that if they were thinner,
then they would be happy.
People learn at a very young age the importance of appearance, what is valued and what is stigmatized
(Cash 1999). When getting ready for the day, young children are usually put into outfits that matched and
have their faced washed and hair brushed. This tells children that when going out in public, you should
look nice and presentable. Young children also watch TV programs throughout the day so they compare
what they see on TV to what they see in their surrounding environment. Consider how characters are
portrayed in cartoon movies, for example the princess’ in Disney movies are always young and beautiful.
Many young girls look up to the Disney princess and want to be just like them.
Girls reported a comparison to models seen in magazines and their initial dieting experience were
triggered by diets found in magazines (Atabe 1999). Many young teen magazines include: Cosmo Girl,
Teen People, YM, etc. and all those magazines display beautiful girls being happy and carefree and of
course thin. They also contain articles on how to get into shape, whether it be on what kind of foods to eat
or not to eat or it tells different exercises you can do to lose weight or tone your body.
Many companies target markets to sell products such as diet, cosmetics and exercise gear. Which the
media than constructs a dream world of hopes and high standards that incorporates the glorification of
slenderness and weight loss (Groesz , Levine, Murnen 2006). This implies that these products make
exercise fun, and more glamorous. Cosmetics advertisements are done with young beautiful girls with
flawless skin, showing how great the product works. By using gorgeous models to show off their
cosmetics, it tells its viewers that they can also be glamorous like them if they buy and use their product.
The results from a study show that society’s culture perspective that mass media, such as fashion
magazines and TV, promote a standard of slender beauty that leads many females to feel bad about their
weight and shape (Groesz, Levine, Murnen 2006). When females feel bad about their appearance they
tend to do whatever it takes to fix their flaws which can lead to eating disorders, this happens frequently
because the female body is reflected and portrayed in the media as an object of desire (Groesz, Levine,
Murnen 2006). The media shows their audience beautiful women who are what every man wants and
what every girls wants to be like.
The media gives young, thin, beautiful people a lot of attention which makes the viewing audience an idea
that they must give the young, thin and beautiful ideal attention as well. The popularity and pervasiveness
of TV, movies, and magazines leads the media to be among those most influential and efficacious
communications of the thin ideal” (Atable 1999). With so much attention on being thin, many people,
young and old, turn to eating disorders as their only way of achieving that same kind of body portrayed in
the media.