From early-on children are taught by society that their looks matter. Images on T.V. spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful.(Mudgett) While doing my research for a few weeks now it's obvious that the media has a big affect on young peoples lives, but now I wanna know why we let it. Why do people believe everything in the media that says we have to look a certaion way to be beautiful, why can't people just be happy with themselves and not feel the pressure to change. Barbie type dolls have often been blamed on playing a role in the development of body-image problems and Eating Disorders. (Mudgett) Surely you've heard by now that if Barbie were real, she wouldn't be able to stand up (Marechal) Children start playing with these dolls at ages as young as two or three. At this age children are very impressionable making a toy that has an unreal body image gives a false image to even toddlers.
Media messages like advertisements and celebrity spotlights help our culture define what is beautiful and what is "good," the media's power over our self-esteem and body image can be incredibly strong. (Kennedy) People might not want to believe what they see in magazines or on T.V. but seeing it everyday everywhere you go puts a lasting impression on you. The media images have a strong influence on us that we can't even help. If you see and hear something everyday your bound to start believing it. A study of 4,294 network television commercials revealed that one out of every 3.8 commercials send some sort of "attractiveness message," telling viewers what is or is not attractive. These researchers estimate that the average adolescent sees more than 5,260 "attractiveness messages" per year. (Kennedy) People wanna stop eating disorders than they should put a stop to all these negative messages.
While doing my research I found out that Anorexia is the number one cause of death among young women.(Marechal) This fact was really eye opening for me. What happened that made skinny what "in"? What about the days when Marilyn Monroe was everyone's role model? She wore a size 12! Now that would be so overweight. Researcher says the drive for thinness is a learned behavior.(Media influence)
Mudgett, Heather. "The Media." Exploring the role society and the media play in the development of an Eating Disorder and the Media Influence on Eating Disorders. May 6, 2008
Kennedy, Susan. "Media images contribute to eating disorders." Tuesday, March 15, 2005 May 6, 2008
Marechal, Nathalie. "Eating disorders: Who's to blame?." 9/30/04 May 8, 2008
"Media influence eating disorders." October 22, 1997 May 8, 2008
5 comments:
Good post amy. Where did you find the time to post this with the never ending search to find your brother in process? You bring up very good points.....chea
I totally agree with this post because when you look on line and when you watch tv or even look on the covers of magizines you always see people like either over weight or under because of what the media does they invade the privay and just to me take over and get into there minds which cause them to do these things, ,but also some of the time its the persons falut for letting them get to them or even getting that way. For example i was looking at that picture that you have posted and it made alot of sense but at the same time didnt. because in here head she was this big nasty person and was not perfect and had to do something about it but she actually wasnt seeing what was on the outside she was seeing what was on the inside which is sad , cause somebody probably put it in her head that she was fat so she did that. Anyway i probably dont make sense so i will stop but you have a good topic.
I totally agree with your post. I do believe that the media sends out a negative message to the younger generation making them think that they need to be skinny to be pretty. But in reality thats not the case. People has to learn to be comfortable in there own bodies and don't let other people but them down if there not toothpick thin. I look forward to reading your next post.
Amy...great post and lots of good research. I'm going to have a brief chat with you in class about setting up and integrating quotes, but your inquiry is quite impressive so far.
Even though your picture on your blog is quite disturbing i think you did a very good job on your post.
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