Anorexia: The Role of Media

Anorexia: The role of media

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Anorexia: The role of media

Anorexia is a mental or emotional illness caused by a variant of factors some of which include social, cultural, environmental and genetic predisposition. People suffering from anorexia have misperception about themselves. They live in the fear of gaining weight; have a disturbed body image whereby they think they are fat when in actual sense they are dangerously underweight. Media with its different forms has it all to blame as far as anorexia is concerned. Some of the forms of media include magazines, television, and social sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and social ads.

According to Strasburger et al (2008), magazines targeting female teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 have been on the rise in the recent past. These magazines have gained popularity and are easily accessible. The magazines contain information an images with strong emphasis on fashion, clothing and dating. The images found on these magazines portray how a woman should look like which is the unattainable ultra-thin body. Most messages on these magazines show that women with the ideal thin body receive more positive verbal comments from the male characters than those with huge body sizes. This has resulted to both young and adult women to try and attain the thin body which in turn has led to poor eating habits and exercises.

According to kampf (2013), interactive sites especially Facebook provide a platform where people can post pictures of themselves, compare themselves with others, comment on other peoples posts and even join and support various causes related to disordered eating habits. Here, people post real time updates of their promotions, pregnancies, college acceptances and engagements among others. These updates provide material for negative social comparisons. The internet and social media provide a platform for women to seek out images of what they want to look like, diet and exercise advice. These sites also provide an outlet through which women seek outward comparison with peers, celebrities and models, (Klein, 2013).

A research study carried out by Strasburger found out that there is a direct connection between advertisements and body image and disordered eating. The study found out that between the years 1973 _1991 there was an increment in commercial ads and television advertisements on diet food products and as a results eating disorders increased as well. Most of the advertisements put more emphasis on female beauty and thinness. These had a negative influence and dissatisfaction on the young viewers. According to Andersen and DiDomenico, (1993), the stereotype of the ideal beauty is not often accessible to most of the women. Therefore, the comparison and exposure to the beauty standards resulted in the immediate negative body satisfaction and self-esteem of the young viewers