How Does Media Cause Eating Disorders?
Laura Rivera
ENG3U
Mrs.Azzoparti
1 in 5 women suffer with an eating disorder, 90% of which are between the ages of 12-25. Eating disorders affect more than 14 million Americans and 70 million people worldwide. 4 out of ten people have either had an eating disorder, or know someone who has. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness. Many people often blame the media for causing eating disorders; it is easy to make this accusation because the media has a way of convincing us how we should view our bodies, beauty and even ourselves. Eating disorders are a mental illness, but aren’t caused by the media.
How can people blame the media for eating disorders when they have a large biological nature? The risk of developing an eating disorder is 50-80% determined by genetics. Dr. Julie O’Toole the author of “Give Food a Chance” wrote “Without a genetic predisposition, no environmental trigger or stressor …show more content…
Just like an abstract painting we might get a different message than the artist was trying to send. When a company puts out and ad all they are trying to do is to sell their product, it’s the way we interpret the message of the ad that is the cause of our own insecurities.
When I look at some of the runway models I don’t wish for their bodies, in fact it repulses me when I can count the number of ribs that are visible; when I see a makeup ad on TV I don’t wish for their skin, I wonder how much makeup and airbrushing that has gone into it. How we react to ideas portrayed in the media is a matter of choice.
Media is media; it doesn’t force people to shove their fingers down their throat causing them to throw up the contents of their stomach. I mean, where is their backbone? Where’s their sense of self? We are all surrounded by advertisements, and if the media was really to blame, then heck, we would all be walking around with eating
ENG3U
Mrs.Azzoparti
1 in 5 women suffer with an eating disorder, 90% of which are between the ages of 12-25. Eating disorders affect more than 14 million Americans and 70 million people worldwide. 4 out of ten people have either had an eating disorder, or know someone who has. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness. Many people often blame the media for causing eating disorders; it is easy to make this accusation because the media has a way of convincing us how we should view our bodies, beauty and even ourselves. Eating disorders are a mental illness, but aren’t caused by the media.
How can people blame the media for eating disorders when they have a large biological nature? The risk of developing an eating disorder is 50-80% determined by genetics. Dr. Julie O’Toole the author of “Give Food a Chance” wrote “Without a genetic predisposition, no environmental trigger or stressor …show more content…
Just like an abstract painting we might get a different message than the artist was trying to send. When a company puts out and ad all they are trying to do is to sell their product, it’s the way we interpret the message of the ad that is the cause of our own insecurities.
When I look at some of the runway models I don’t wish for their bodies, in fact it repulses me when I can count the number of ribs that are visible; when I see a makeup ad on TV I don’t wish for their skin, I wonder how much makeup and airbrushing that has gone into it. How we react to ideas portrayed in the media is a matter of choice.
Media is media; it doesn’t force people to shove their fingers down their throat causing them to throw up the contents of their stomach. I mean, where is their backbone? Where’s their sense of self? We are all surrounded by advertisements, and if the media was really to blame, then heck, we would all be walking around with eating