This is a controversial topic in today's culture. I have an eating disorder that I have struggled with for many years. The direct cause is unknown for most women, and yes, men. There are several contributing factors, both personal and cultural. Are the media playing some hand in the development of eating disorders?

I certainly think the media has some role in this, with the image of the beautiful, sexy, thin model held up as an ideal. I suspect there are also biological and psychological factors as well. The media can also play a positive role by offering accurate information about these disorders. What disturbs me are the pro-anorexia web sites that exist out there.

Food, especially fast food, commercials do appeal to our desire for immediate gratification/a minimum of preparation.

Isn't it amazing how the media can make things look so much better than they really are?

No, can't blame it all on television or radio (DARN!).

Nope, the spirit is willing (to resist) but the flesh is WEAK!

The media (particulary advertisers) have a HUGE role in the cause of eating disorders. Advertisers have these sexy, thin girls in their advertisments and this is a subliminal message (not exactly a subliminal message, but a message that psyche) to ladies that to get high in the world, you need to be thin

Yes. All punctuated with advertisements for fast food. I highly recommend unplugging the television.

Some of you have brought up the prevalence of fast food commercials while others have brought up the use of thin models to seemingly advocate to women that "to get high in the world, you need to be thin." I haven't yet, I don't think, seen anybody combine the two.

How often do you see an overweight person in a McDonalds commercial? Not very often. Beyond appealing to our on the go philosophy they mislead us depicting healthy, beautiful people consuming their food.

The average television show and summer movie is guilty also. Actors and actresses are depicted eating anything and everything they could ever want on the shows! Without research you would never know that, aside from those who seek cosmetic surgery, they are dieting and exercising all the time.

They create an illusion for us. We saw a skinny person eating McDonalds in the commercial or we saw Will and Grace eating McDonalds on NBC... none of these people are fat so what's the difference if I eat some? But then we never see these people working out or eating the foods they likely eat away from the camera, so we're at a loss as to how our bodies converted so much of it into fat...

Enter stage right: doubt, self-loathing, low self-esteem, anorexia and bulemia.

The media allows us and encourages us to lose sight of reality. It blurs the line until we are no longer sure of how we should act, or what's in our best interest, in the real world. I absolutely believe the media has a hand in the development of eating disorders.

Shelly. I feel bad for you that you have an eating disorder, as one of my cousins suffered from one as well.

But... We must learn to take responsibility for our actions. If you think you need help their are free organizations to help with eating disorders, they helped my cousin and they may help you.

As a Green Party member I am sure you take responsibility for your actions in that you pollute the environment just by merely existing, but I bet you recycle, drive a fuel efficient car(or even bike or walk), and are conscious about the decisions you can make to have a cleaner environment.

In my eyes the blame game is getting old. The media made me do it, this song made me kill them, I robbed that bank because I watched a movie about bank robbers and their lavish life style, my kids are bad because of a video game.... It goes on and on.

And for those that want to twist my argument: Sure there are those you can blame: A company that dumps their waste into a river can be blamed for harming the environment, a cop that beats a person can be blamed for brutality. But blaming the media or society as a whole for using attractive people to advertise.. Give me a break...

What about in the Renaissance period, in Michaelangelo's paintings they depicted large women because in those times a 'healthy' woman was considered attractive because she came from wealth and was able to eat well in hard times, and skinny was frowned upon. Times have changed and so have the trends,,

I don't think anybody here is asking the media to shoulder all of the blame, but that isn't to say they haven't played a hand. Ultimately people are responsible for their actions. By depicting robbers living lavish lifestyles or healthy people eating unhealthy foods, though, the media directly contributes to the factors a person considers before acting.

A movie about successful robbers may not force a person to rob a bank, but it did perhaps give them the impression that if successful they too could live a lavish lifestyle. A McDonalds commercial with Kobe Bryant may not force a person to rob a bank, but it does perhaps give people the impression that McDonalds isn't unhealthy.

While the media is not solely to blame, they do have their hand in the cookie jar.

Sleeper--
Thanks, and believe me, I have been in counseling for years. Quite frankly, I don't blame anyone. Yes, there are contributing factors, but I did this to myself. And I take full responsibility for my disorder, as well as my treatment. But, it seems as though everyone is blaming the media for various things, eating disorders included. That's why I posted this topic: to start a debate, and to get other people's opinions.

Sure, and I agree with that. But ultimately these people made a conscious decision to rob that bank or eat those hamburgers. What I am getting at is taking responsibility for your own actions. Do you agree?

I think some mothers are to blame. I think they pressure little girls all their lives to be this certain image, sort of reliving their lives through their daughter's mentality. Look at these poor little girls that are entered into beauty contests like pet dogs at the age of 3 or 4!!! THAT is not healthy.

I think it's also a cultural thing. One decade, being vuluptyious is in, Like marilyn Monroe and then a few decades later you have Calista Flockhart(sp?), who a strong breeze could blow away.... but I tend to lead more towards parents, mothers in particular. MAJOR GUILT TRIPS.

I agree with you entirely Billy. Parents are a 'HUGE' influence on their children and should be responsible for their childs actions as well. But we also must ask ourselves. How long should a parent be responsible for their childs actions? 12, 15, 18 years old. It becomes more difficult as they get older and are able to make their own conscious decisions.

I happened to have done a Psychology project on Body Image, Eating Disorders and Media. I would say that Media definitely contributes to the body image concepts that people possess nowadays. If you have ever browsed through a woman's magazine you'll note the fact that most of the women in such magazines are unhealthily thin. There has been some effort to rectify this in the last year or two, as issues such as media influence on body have begun to be addressed. Also in recent years there has been a growing pressure on men to be buff and strong looking. If you've ever browsed through a fitness magazine you'll notice all the "get thin" ads in the women's and the "supplements" sold in the men's. All of these products are aimed at achieving what society (particularly the media) has put forth as the "perfect body."

I did a survey of 200 females and 200 males in my HS (this was during my senior year in late 2000/early 2001). The survey had 2 charts on it of male and female bodies from exceedingly skinny to obese. We had males pick out what body type they most liked in females and what they thought women wanted in men. We also had females do the opposite. On the whole women thought that men wanted skinnier/starved bodies than they actual reported and Men thought that women wanted slightly bigger men than was reported. The study also asked about dieting and a number of other things. 3% of the females surveyed admitted to bulimia. Most listed disordered eating habits when asked about diets they had tried.

*I'll look and see if I can find any of the links I used for the media part of that project, I fear they're long gone.

Oh and to the pro-anorexia websites, yeah definitely sickening.

My bet is if magazines, TV and Movies pushed a healthy body type over the ultra skinny gradually there would be a change in body image concepts.

I think that the increased focus on females in sports has been generally positive for the national body image although I've found conflicting evidence as to whether female athletes have in general a better or worse body image concept. Here's a link that sort of attempts to show both sides of that.
http://www.geocities.com/rt_thrower/sifww99.html

Some people have noted family influence or peer influence and I agree that's certainly valid. Media is not the only body image influence, it just happens to be a large one.

Yes and no. If you are the reason your child has this disorder (if your aware of it at all, some girls hide it fairly well) I think you're obligated as a parent to do what ever possible to get your child healthy.

But then again, in order for that child to become a healthy adult, they need to WANT to get help and stick to a program.

It's really hard, because I live with Shelleyfanatic (my partner) and I see this disorder from a third party point of view, in away.

I have to say that Billy Jean is right. My mother played a huge role in the development of my eating disorder. I won't go into it, but she certainly harped on me to become perfect, in every way. But, like I said earlier, I don't blame anyone for the disorder, and that includes my mother. I know that she blames herself, and I have repeatedly told her not to do so. And I don't mean to point a finger at the media by posting this topic. Yes, we have our Calista Flockharts (you spelled it right, baby ), and yes, we have our runway models. But, I can honestly say--thousands of dollars for therapy later --that it is a combiantion of several differnet factors, and it is different for every person. That is one of the reasons that eating disorders are so difficult to treat.

As I understand it, the eating disorder is a symptom of underlying problems, not the problem itself. Whether you are an over-eater or under-eater, if you are abusing your body, there is a reason.
The super thin woman, or the young man with a set of six pack abs are not real people, at least not for very long. It is natural to put on weight as we get older.
I can remember just barely passing the running/situps part of the annual physical fitness test in the military one year, while a friend nearly failed but not because he couldn't run, do sit-ups, etc. It was because his "body fat ratio" was too close to the limit. He was a bulky kind of guy, of Samoan ancestry. Under a normal layer of fat, he had a lot of muscle. The charts do not take into account your ethnic background. He was far healthier and more athletic than me, but I got the better overall score.
Hollywood and the TV shows are not portraying real people. There is no way a normal, average, 40 year old man with a job that takes most of his time and a family that takes up the rest of it will have 6 pack abs. His abs have turned into a full keg by then. And of all the women I have known over the years, it is an extremely rare one that still has her high school figure after 2 or 3 kids and 20 years of marriage.
The sole purpose of throwing those young, skinny kids in our face all the time is to make us feel inadequate, old, undesirable, etc. which is meant to entice us to buy all the crap that Madison Avenue tells us will allow us to look and feel young again.
What fools we mortals be....