Preview

Summary Of The Globalization Of Eating Disorders By Susan Bordo

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
543 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of The Globalization Of Eating Disorders By Susan Bordo
“The Globalization of Eating Disorders” by Susan Bordo

Nowadays everyone seems to be infatuated not only with medicine and health but also with perfect body images. In this essay, Bordo provides several claims and evidence that give you an introspection of how eating and body disorders are becoming an epidemic in society for both woman and men today. She begins with an imaginary scenario of a young girl who is standing in front of the mirror; a young woman who’s been on the latest fad diet. She’s reached her goal weight of 115 lbs., yet she’s still not satisfied with the image she sees. This young girl wants to resemble Hollywood celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Pink and Mya. This scene quickly gives you a candid look of how a person’s self-esteem can be shaped by the media. …show more content…
Fiji is a remote location that did not have access to television until 1995. The first programs that began broadcasting in Fiji were from the United States, Great Britain and Australia. Up until 1995, Fiji had no reported cases of eating disorders. A study was conducted by an anthropologist Anne Becker; Fijian woman and girls were comfortable with their bodies and didn’t have concerns of body image. Fijian cultures praise eating and admire woman with a little more flesh and curves. In Central Africa, traditional cultures still celebrate voluptuous woman. “An African girl must have hips,” says designer Frank Osodi, “We have hips. We have bums. We have flesh in Africa.” (Bordo 640) Bordo did a great job at providing us the cultural traditions of each group of individuals and the countries they live
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Summary Of The Culture Of Thin Bites Fiji
    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Summary Of The Culture Of Thin Bites Fiji

    Kelly Galicia Waxham ENG III H-1 February 26th, 2024. Body Image has always been a very controversial topic for most people. Some people think there is a certain look or size that will bring infinite success. The truth is, everyone has different opinions on what is and isn’t good enough. The author does a great job at explaining this and showing the bad side of this mindset by using many different rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Unbearable Weight By Susan Bordo Summary
    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Unbearable Weight By Susan Bordo Summary

    Susan Bordo examines Western culture as it relates to the body, specifically the slender body in this chapter of her book, Unbearable Weight. Diets have been important since the Ancient Greek and Middle Ages, where the Greeks mastered their “public” selves by regulating “food intake… as a road to self-mastery” and the Christians fasted for their “inner” selves to achieve “spiritual purification and domination of the flesh” (page 185). By the nineteenth century, diet became associated with the aesthetics of the physical body and “fat, not appetite or desire, became the declared enemy” (page 185). The ideal body has no excess “bulge, fat, or flab” (page 189); this is a simply impossible standard for women to achieve due to their given biological…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hunger By Maggie Helwig Analysis
    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hunger By Maggie Helwig Analysis

    Maggie Helwig’s short essay Hunger explores the idea of negative body imaging and how media within today’s society promotes an unhealthy view of one’s body through the use of models and celebrities. Helwig argues that if the world would learn how to approach women with issues before they have reached the point of potentially harming themselves than eating disorders would not be as common as they are. She has provided the reader with an overall convincing argument involving women and body image through the use of an intelligent voice, first-hand experiences, and information on the focus of industries.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Name Brandyn HansenInstructor Maureen SmithCourse ENGL
    • 1197 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Name Brandyn HansenInstructor Maureen SmithCourse ENGL

    Women today are constantly bombarded by media in one form or another. It could take the form of a fashion magazine, a favourite blog, a TV commercial, or a myriad of other sources. When in any public commercial setting such as a grocery store, a clothing store, or a hair salon, one is bound to see a plethora of magazines and various advertisements; most of them adorned by thin, happy models. Women see fashion models as the pinnacle of health and beauty, often feeling inadequate in comparison. They may strive to become like these women by radically changing their eating habits without fully understanding the potential risks and consequences. The inability to measure up to this idealistic body standard has also been linked to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. The evolution, expansion, and ubiquity of technology has played a role in perpetuating an idealistic body image and bringing forth new methods to pursue it. An unrealistic body image has become an object of obsession for many women and this obsession is aiding in the development of physical and psychological disease among women.…

    • 1197 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Annotated Bibliography On Glassmeyer
    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Annotated Bibliography On Glassmeyer

    Thompson addresses how “thin-ideal-internalization,” the internalization of society’s definition of attractiveness (not just thinness), gravely affects women in Western culture. Thompson explains how this glorification of an ideal body image is unhealthy and unachievable for most women. This definition of a desirable body, Thomas illustrates, is encouraged by social reinforcement or approval of this definition by family, peers, and media. Despite these body types serving as a distorted reality, Thompson elaborates on how women engage in extreme dieting in attempt to satisfy media’s perception of a desirable body. Thompson continues by showing how these attempts to attain the nearly unattainable result in eating disorders such as…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Culture of the Thin Bites Fiji
    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Culture of the Thin Bites Fiji

    In this article, Goodman discusses how the Fijian culture’s thoughts of being large turned around entirely. Goodman writes that in the years before 1995, “food was not only love, it was a cultural imperative.” (Goodman 608-610). This means eating was a sign of common hospitality. The appearance of being a big woman meant she was beautiful, and the bigger the women the more beautiful she looked. In this time, women were also prescribed to herbs that stimulated their appetites, resulting in them eating more food and gaining more weight. A common compliment many women received was, “You look wonderful! You’ve put on weight!”(Goodman 608-610). This statement shows the complete opposite view Americans have for their bodies, which is being slim is the ideal image for a woman. Americans often see being fat as an unpleasant image, so we try to stay in shape and maintain a slender body. The image American’s put forth drastically changed the way Fijian woman treated and viewed their bodies.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Distorted Images Susan Mcclelland Analysis
    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Distorted Images Susan Mcclelland Analysis

    In the article Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness, author Susan McClelland addresses the negative effect that western culture, especially western media, has had upon women in other parts of the world and how it relates to body image, thinness, racial features and even skin color. She interviewed several women who felt pressure to change their appearance to fit into the portrayed standards of Americanized beauty; white and thin. Experts say “cultures that used to regard bulk as a sign of wealth and success are now succumbing to a narrow western standard of beauty” (pg. 431) There is an increase of eating disorders in areas that have never had that problem until recently.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ethos Pathos Logos
    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ethos Pathos Logos

    In the article “Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness,” author Susan McClelland’s mainly focuses on how many young women idolize the women they see on T.V. The media is making many women feel as if they need to look a certain way to fit in with the world. Also the fact the western culture is spreading to other countries is a big issue because sicknesses, like bulimia, were not an issue before. Many women in other countries are starting to look at the women in the United States and want to be just like them. In this article, the author says that television, magazines, and media show young women that they need to be tall, skinny, and white to be successful in finding a job or even a love life. Throughout the essay, the author showed professional knowledge on the topic she was writing about, evidence from other sources, and the use of emotion; this article was strong and persuasive toward McClelland’s argument.…

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sociological Imagination Essay
    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sociological Imagination Essay

    In an article written by Colleen Thompson and Dr. Lauren Muhlheim, it is emphasized that more than just a few individuals in society struggle with the same issue of not being able to fit the ‘ideal figure’: “In North America, men and women are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin and fit... Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves trying to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure.” An individual person with an eating disorder could be singled out and their specific case could be thought has a person problem but with applied sociological imagination, society would realize that it's the obsession for the fair skin and thin body, creating a widespread public issue, that has indirectly affected thousands of boys and girls in the United States alone. Cultural structures such as the media are not the only structures in society that have an influence on what constitutes the idea body size and figure. The sociological approach to what can be considered as the “ideal figure” is respected because it can explain how social and cultural values affect the individual's attitudes towards eating. Furthermore, a sociological approach is useful for understanding eating behavior because it can explain why eating disorders appear in…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    Every day, thousands of teenage and college-aged girls flip through the pages of tabloids and fashion magazines, admiring the glossy images of models and celebrities. While this habit is seemingly casual and innocent, for many it becomes an obsession that is interlinked with a struggle to attain an ideal yet unrealistic body image. In their articles, Meredith Baker and Walter Vandereycken discuss the media’s influence on young women, agreeing that media exposure has a strong negative impact on young women’s self-esteem.…

    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Media's Influence On Body Image And The Media
    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Media's Influence On Body Image And The Media

    According to these critiques the combination of two trends,the technology enabled media saturation of the american public and the promotion by this media of highly unattainable body types (Gerald Wagner ). “While mass media has been subject to the strongest social critique about factors leading to eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders. Clinical researchers have begun to document the consequences of relentless exposure to such imagery of different stereotypes of body images. The american…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Eating Disorders
    • 2012 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Eating Disorders

    Have you ever looked in the mirror and wish you could do something about your weight? After all, what hamburger loving American can 't afford to shed 5–10 extra pounds? In 1970 when slim became the new curvy, woman—and men alike, became more concerned about their appearance. Gone are the days when a woman could be proud of her perfect hour glass figure. With the invention of a slim waist line, there also came the birth of eating disorders. From anorexia to bulimia, men and women seem willing to do what ever it takes to follow the newest fad. Eating disorders have an unhealthy effect on the human body, and the consequences are deadly.…

    • 2012 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    eating disorders
    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages

    eating disorders

    What has the world come to when women are given the message at a very young age, that in order to be happy or successful they must be thin. Our society repeatedly sends the message that thin is beautiful. Today every time we walk into a store we are surrounded by images of skinny, beautiful models that appear on the front cover of all fashion magazines. In the media, we daily see weight-loss programs advertisements featuring young underweight women. Diet commercials are constantly appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose weight will be happier. This shows that the American culture tends to value people on their physical appearance rather than other important qualities. As a result, eating disorders have been on the increase because of the value society places on being thin. Media is brainwashing society into believing that being thin is important and necessary. Eating disorders are a common problem in our society but have not been acknowledged as much as they should. There are three subtypes of eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa and Binge eating. However, society is not the only contributing factor to eating disorders. Women with eating disorders have a difficultly controlling their actions. They suffer from low self-esteem which drives them toward perfectionism. Women set themselves standards that are unhealthy, physically and emotionally. These eating disorders can be life threatening if not treated on time. An examination of our society reveals that they are one of the major contributing factors to the three eating disorders among women.…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    the globalization of eating disorders
    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages

    the globalization of eating disorders

    In the essay, “The Globalization of Eating Disorders,” Susan Bordo says images in magazines and other media influence young men and women. In order to be admired by their peers they would have to look like the fashion models in magazines and other media sources. I agree in today’s society these images do influence men and women because men and women are always in competition with one another to be respected, accepted, and admired by their peers. I know this from experience.…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    media on beauty
    • 1357 Words
    • 6 Pages

    media on beauty

    In the world today, the media makes it hard for a girl to be comfortable with her body. Society, in general, persuades young women to feel that any size above a two is too big. “In 1950, when televisions were first finding their way into homes, the media’s portrayal of “the ideal” female figure was drastically different than it is today. At that time, mannequins and models more or less reflected the average woman’s size. Mannequins and models have grown thinner by the year, increasingly desperate with the average women’s physical form (Radar).” Actresses and other famous women do not help with this belief that society has. This problem causes many young women to starve themselves to get to the perfect image we have created for them today. One in two hundred American women suffer from anorexia; two to three in one hundred American women suffer from bulimia. The media is the leading cause of eating disorders in young women today.…

    • 1357 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics