Anorexia And Body Image Analysis

Mass media plays a large part in our every day lives, and primes us to worry about our appearance. With countless advertisements promising age-defying creams, tighter abs, flawless skin, and a perfect body, it is not hard to see why so many women have become ashamed of the body they were given. The media reinforces this notion of thinness, and it is evident in the increase of eating disorders not only affecting models, but also celebrities, athletes and many women across the nation. Not only do we see emaciated models, but even mannequins are undersized, thus promoting a warped image of what the average woman looks like. The glorification and glamorization of this ultra-thin body pressures women to meet such standards even though achieving
And body image issues are an aspect of their lives which is causing them low self esteem and day-to-day suffering. Anorexia nervosa is a disorder that affects 2.5 million Americans and has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Anne Marie Cussins begins her writing by introducing her inspiration for this piece, the Body Image Summit which is organized by the UK government. This bringing up concerns of the increase of eating disorders among the female population. She argues that is true that more and more teenage girls are affected by this “compulsion to achieve for themselves a degree of thinness that they see every day in models and celebrities,” (Cussins 106). She also addresses this idea of mirroring, which she describes as the idea that women see the world as a mirror, projecting their fears and desires (Cussins 106). Similarly, this can be compared to Cohen’s idea that monsters can be desirable, thus meaning that this mirroring can potentially be harmful to the self-image and overall health of women. There is so much discussion about models being too skinny that it is so important to realize how much these models influence how teenagers and grown women, even senior citizens, perceive themselves, and how this can play a role in this particular mental
Rhona MacDonald introduces contrasting viewpoints between two psychologists, Kenneth Dunn and Melanie Katzman. Kenneth Dunn believes the media displays images that make women dissatisfied with their bodies, but “they are not responsible for eating disorders,” (MacDonald 1). In comparison, Melanie Katzman argues that the media is to blame. In this piece, MacDonald uses this debate between the two psychologists to show that the media does not think they are responsible for the increase in eating disorders in women. Katzman then again argued that if the media wasn’t to blame, why were they able to push 2% of the population “’over the edge’, you don’t get eating disorders without dissatisfaction,” (MacDonald 1). Celebrity Bodies is a magazine that has had articles like “How to get an ‘A-list body’” and “101 star shortcuts to a gorgeous new you”, that brought up much controversy between the public eye and the media. Like Anne Marie Cussins, MacDonald would agree with the fact the women all over the world look up to these celebrities and models that they are exposed to daily, and give women unrealistic expectations of what their bodies should look