Anorexia, Media, and It's Affect on Women

     Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. It's usually associated with distorted body image. People who are anorexic usually deny themselves food or only allow themselves small portions of food when they are hungry. They monitor their weight constantly and never feel satisfied with the scale. They consider themselves fat and just want to loose more and more weight. According to South Carolina Department of Mental Health, it is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men. Which means 1 of every 200 women suffers from anorexia or other eating disorder. People don't realize that anorexia is a disorder that is killing people.

     According to Wikipedia, the average caloric intake of a person with anorexia nervosa is 600-800 calories per day,but the FDA recommends that women eat between 1500 to 2000 calories a day, depending on activity, height, weight and the health of the woman. Anorexic women are malnourished and are often weak. People with anorexia also take diet pills and laxatives to maintain their weight. Anorexics may even go through depression because they are not happy with their weight. 

      Does media share the blame for society's artificial standard of beauty? We know the cause of anorexia can be biological, but is there a link with media too? Sociocultural studies have highlighted the role of cultural factors, such as the promotion of thinness as the ideal female form in Western industrialized nations, particularly through the media. Girls are surrounded by such media on a daily basis. Celebrities and models are everywhere from the cover of magazines to billboards to commercials. Girls can't help but compare themselves to the thin models and celebrities they see. I mean, they are the ones on the cover of the magazine right? They must be considered beautiful to be placed on the cover for millions of people to see. A report by the Media Awareness Network states that "over three-quarters of the female characters in TV situation comedies are underweight, and only one in 20 are above average in size. Heavier actresses tend to receive negative comments from male characters about their bodies ("How about wearing a sack?"), and 80% of these negative comments are followed by canned audience laughter." Young girls and women are pressured to keep up with societies perception of beauty, or they feel they will be laughed at just like the heavier actresses are on their favorite TV shows. Girls are so consumed with the idea of being "perfect" that weight loss and being skinny becomes an obsession.