The Media's Affect on Eating Disorders - Comments

Amazing article.

@the sea, they don't have to use the word 'healthy'. Calling them beautiful or sexy is enough to validate that sort of body image to some people.

@kafka, the media is a huge way that young boys and girls decide about what the outside world is supposed to look like. We idolize the culture and all our friends talk about it. Even if none of the people in that group may be like those on tv, there's a need to find a way to be 'accepted'. The easiest route always seems to be through something that's already popular. I've also been having trouble verifying more than Spain banning the underweight models.

All in all it was a good article. It was filled with useful information and it's a point that needs to keep being brought up.

"It’s completely outrageous how people think that being that underweight is healthy! "

I've never heard anyone say these underweight models you are referring to look healthy......

I agree and disagree. I agree that the media is a weight whore who tries to convince people that they are awesome and we suck, howEVER, being overweight isn't exactly healthy either. My younger sister (ten) is slightly overweight, and decided that she wanted to do push ups every night. Her reasons are private, but it's obvious to me that she wants to be skinny 'too'. As in, in addition to the perfect girls she sees on television. There's nothing wrong with trying to be healthier, even if you have the wrong motivations- I'm not going to stop her because she's not doing it for the right reasons- being thinner is healthier for her with her body weight being what it is. I'm going to help her so she won't be hurt in the future.

wow, it so true and scary.
the picture of the girl was so amazing, it shows exactly what girls and sometimes boy think which i can totally emphasize with

Good article! When I was reading this I was basically nodding my head the entire time. It's true! How many times I've opened Seventeen Magazine and envied the girls on the pages with their perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect tan, and perfect body. I could be having the best day but when an image is thrown in front of me it basically stomp and murders my ego. It's even worse when you walk into stores and glance at all the photos they have of their skinny perfect models, and their perfect manequeins, and when you try on clothing you wish you could look like them! It's pretty disgusting actually that the media already at such a young age is trying to input useless opinions that being good looking will get you far in life. This has become like a world wide pandemic that no kid can avoid anymore.

I like that you had facts, but they seemed dated/overused (facts from 2002 arent necisarly relevant now)

This is why i turn down the volume when commercials come on.I just think "HAHAHAHAH right...."When people try to say "IF YOU DRINK THIS YOULL BE THIN AND EVERYONE WILL LOVE YOU!!" For one thing,no you dont.People dont become thin from sugar filled water,and second the models always look slutty and like they sleep around to be a model.And the if you dont turn out like the model,you think something is wrong with you (which is idiotic).

Great article.

Models who have a BMI of under 16 are no longer allowed to participate in runway shows almost everywhere and in some countries (Spain is an example, I believe) they have to have it over 18. That being said, I think the idea that the media causes eating disorders is very far fetched and generally shows a misunderstand of the mechanism of mental disorders. Yes, the media makes people want to lose weight. There are 25 girls in my class, I know for certain that at least 10 of them have tried more or less crazy diets at one point during the last two or three years. But only one girl in our class was crazily underweight. Why? Because skipping breakfast twice a week is not anorexia. Eating disorders take an enormous amount of obsession and a natural inclination towards perfectionism and overachieving. They also usually take a major event/stress factor in the life of the sufferer to make them feel inadequate and hurt enough to refuse to eat even when they can barely stand up.

That's okay. I know it's long, i wrote it for my AP English class. I like the picture, I've never seen it as a picture before, but I saw that in a movie I watched in my advances pyschology class. Glad you liked it!

Awesome article, very informative and well researched. By the way, when I was approving this, I added in another picture for you because it was so lengthy. If you don't like the picture I picked, you can send me a link to a different one and I can change it for you =]