The Media and Eating Disorders Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Topic

The Media and Eating Disorders It is funny how so many girls and women today are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and be beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. Women are dieting more today then they have always been before. They are seek for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for todays women. It gets worse. Not only are women dieting unlike ever before, but they will ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve these inaccessible standards. This ruthless harm that haunts so many women today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating disorders. Who is to blame for this daunting occurrence? In virtually cases, the media is either some or all to blame for the eating disorder and standards placed for women. Commercials, billboards, womens magazine ads, etc. are all forms of the media tha t portray negative images of women. When the women in todays society sees what is being advertised (which happens hundreds, if not thousands of times a day) it is not so shocking that many of them strive for these impossible body images. It is when the want and bank becomes so strong that these women drive themselves to starvation and other forms of eating disorders. In order to realize the effect that advertising is having on girls and women in society today, it is Copernican for people to know the facts and statistics that are current about eating disorders. Eight million girls and women are affected with eating disorders (Wilson and Blackhurst 111). Among college-aged women, bulimia affects nearly one in every five (Wilson and Blackhurst 1... ...than the media. It is important, though, to recognize the kind of effect media and advertising has on women. It is important to realize that because of what is portrayed in Western society, many women will go to great lengths (sometim es deadly lengths) just to meet these portrayals. If society wants to change what women are doing to themselves every day, than it is up to the media to start showing women today that it is okay to be who you are, broad or small. Works Cited Key, Sandra W. Lindgren, Maryclaire. Skinny Models in Ads Cause Immediate Anger, Depression in Women. Womens Health Weekly (5/11/99) 11. Wilson, Nona L. Blackhurst, Anne E. Food Advertising and Eating Disorders trade Body Dissatisfaction, the Drive for Thinness, and Dieting in Womens Magazines. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development 38 (99) 111-122.