What the experts say I. - Media and its impact on eating disorders

Magazine covers, television advertisements, magazine advertisements, music video clips; they all have something common. Beautiful looking, slim people! How many times you could find yourself staring at the advertisement of brand new summer swimsuit collection and dreaming about the same body as the models has? I think that every girl did it at least once. However, they do not realize, that even the models and celebrities are not owners of those bodies, that several programs, which can make from the ordinary girl a supermodel, modify the photographs. But, what girls, especially in the period of adolescence, are able to do for their dream body? The answer is: almost everything. They are able to try several diets, even to starve; those cases often end with eating disorders and mental diseases such as anorexia or bulimia. According to Garfinkel and Garner, “historical trends, content analyses, and effects studies all suggest that media trends may indeed be linked to the idealization of thinness and, thus, to the development of eating disorders in media consumers” (Harrison, Cantor, 1997, p. 40)

Further, the article claims that the media often expose thin people and due to this fact, people started to associate all those successful and beautiful human beings with thinness. The thin ideal of beauty is with us for decades and we, as media consumers, have to be more resistant towards its impact, because it costs a life sometimes. For the further information read the article http://www.rcbsam.com/uploads/4/1/9/6/41960/harrison_1997_media_ed.pdf

Harrison,K. Cantor, J. (1997). "The Relationship Between Media Consumption and Eating Disorders". University of Wisconsin-Madison, Journal of Communication 47 (1) < http://www.rcbsam.com/uploads/4/1/9/6/41960/harrison_1997_media_ed.pdf >

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