Nothing Tastes As Good As Skinny Feels

On the front cover of magazines, in the fashion industry, on the television, and in movies, society surrounds women with a visual perception that the ideal woman is beautiful because of how thin they are. The media promote thin as sexy. People, especially women, strive to be sexy. This promotion of the concept of what women should be has led to a dissatisfaction of their bodies. The ideal to be sexy has created a disillusion of what women should look like. With such a need to be super skinny in order to achieve this sexiness, women’s dissatisfaction leads to an obsession which causes them to participate in unhealthy eating habits and behaviors to control or maintain their body image. If it were not for the constant portrayal of thin women, the pressure for women to be just as thin would not cause such a delusion on being skinny and controlling their eating habits through eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia. The role of the media affect women to the point that they would cause damage to themselves to fit in to the media presented image. Eating disorders are unhealthy eating habits and behaviors relating to a persons concern for their body weight. They may involve a severe reduction of food intake, purging of food intake, or even excessive eating. It involves a fixation about their body shape and size. According to a 2007 survey by McLean Hospital in Massachusetts over 9 million adults have suffered and struggled with eating disorders. (“Eating Disorders”). McLean shows that one of the major contributing factors to this is due to the cultural emphasis on physical appearance. The media set the standard as the to physical appearance with a constant portrayal of images of fashion models and celebrities, and many women compare themselves to these thin models and actors. This sends an overall message that “fat is ugly and thin is beautiful.” The media, including the fashion industry, has responsibility for the repeated exposure of unnaturally skinny models and