Media is a major contributor to the problems that young women have when it comes to eating. The media mostly contribute to dieting and size discrimination (Nitcher, 2000). From early ages children are told by the society that it is their looks that matter.
There are an increased number of young women who spend a lot of time watching television. When they see more women of their own kind, they come up with a superficial sense of who they are. Images on the television tell them how to lose weight, how to become thin, to be beautiful by buying more stuff so that people will like them among many others (Nitcher, 2000).
Programs on the media rarely depict people with an average body size or crappy clothes. In the back of most young women’s mind, that is the type of life they should aspire for. Overweight characters are generally portrayed as lazy, the ones with no friends or the bad guys, while the thin women and pumped-up men are depicted to be successful, popular, sexy and the more powerful (Francis, 1995). Whatever is inside is the one that counts, a fact that media has contradicted.
Advertising in teen magazines and on TV typically glamorizes skinny models who do not represent the young woman. Most teenage girls get the wrong information about their body images (Francis, 1995). Media targeting teenage girls are emphasizing the ideal of thinness as beauty. Super models have continued to get thinner and thinner. An average woman model has to weigh up to 25% less the normal woman, and maintain a weight that is considered healthy for her age or her height (Francis, 1995).
Some models go through plastic surgery; some are tapped up to mould their bodies into more photogenic representation of themselves (Francis, 1995). The images are then air-brushed before printing. Young women need to know that the images presented may be not real and they should not try to emulate the super models.
Diet advertisements are other negative influences caused by the media (Francis, 1995). On television, magazines and in newspapers, we are faced with the notion that losing weight will make us happier (Gotlieb, 2000). It has been proved that the long-term diet plans do not work yet the young women continue to buy the idea that they do (Francis, 1995). One should not be misled that if she loses weight, life will be good as a young woman. The truth is that this flip lasts as long as we use their dangerous products.
There are many dangerous diet scams that claim, “Quick and easy” weight loss. Most of these do not work and in addition, some may contain harmful chemicals and mixtures of substances that could put one to high health risks (Gotlieb, 2000). One should not be fooled by the products claiming to be “all natural” since they may not contain exactly what the labels say. They might have too much of vitamin, mineral or herb or a combination of the three that can be toxic to ones body system. More often, they claim to work miracles that are just not true (Francis, 1995). One should not be fooled to totally believe in them.
There are many adverts that bombard us everyday in magazines, on billboards, on television and in the newspapers. Out of every four hundred to six hundred adverts, one in eleven has a direct message about beauty (Francis, 1995). Some of these images, adverts and messages can be counter-productive to a good self-image and overall of each person’s different size and shape. If a young woman in a life situation develops an eating disorder, they believe that they will end up in the same place in the long run as those who are depicted in the programs or the adverts (Francis, 1995).
Ultimately, it is important to know that Anorexia, Bulimia and compulsive over eating habits are not about weight and food, rather, they are complex disorders where each sufferer has low self-esteem and inability to cope with her own emotions and stress, and many underlying issues that have led them to their disorder in eating (Gotlieb, 2000). Media has also influenced the society with regards to the way people should eat. Some societal problems contribute to the way young women view themselves in regards to the changes that are taking place during their adolescent period (Gotlieb, 2000).
At puberty, many changes take place in a young woman’s life and it is good to encourage them to feel good and proud of their bodies no matter what shapes or sizes they might have. The young women develop poor bodily perceptions due to these problems.
People develop poor bodily perceptions either consciously or subconsciously through their conversations, judgements, teasing of their peers and other family members who have been brainwashed by the media (Francis, 1995).
The association of shame with overweight women is one of the major challenges facing the young women. Overweight young women tend to hide their weight, or some fear being seen in clothes that may disclose their weight (Francis, 1995). We live in the age of video games, whereby many young women spend countless hours watching television and playing games (Francis, 1995). It is important for them to go out and play and also exercise since it helps in making their bodies more fit.
The media has also played a role in influencing the pursuit of professional careers. This takes place when some classes of women tend to get a job while others may lose a job despite the fact that they have the same qualifications or they are smartly dressed the same (Gaesser, 1996). Professional women are expected to be slender, well dressed and attractive (Gaesser, 1996).
Hence, the young women who do not fit in this class stand a chance of losing the job, while those who fit have high chances of getting the job. Most young women who are in colleges, in athletics and in dancing also suffer with regard to their body sizes since the media depicts that there is a certain requirement for one to be a star (Francis, 1995). For a dancer, one is expected to be a slender individual; hence many young women may strive to be slender so that they can fit in this class. The dancers are also faced with the stress of achieving perfection for performance, often with hours of exercise and rehearsals and at times there is pressure from instructors for them to maintain or lose their weight (Gaesser, 1996).
In a desperate attempt to fight the profile and stay thin as well as to please the judges in a competition, the gymnasts and figure skaters are at an elevated level of developing eating disorders (Gaesser, 1996). The dancers, the gymnast and figure skaters may experience stresses of perfection since they have rigorous hours of practice. This has led to some of them being adversely affected by the practices.
Gymnasts like Christine Henrich died from complications due to her eating disorders at 22 years of age (Francis, 1995). This was an early age to die without having achieved her destiny in life all in the name of reducing and maintaining weight to please other people. Nadi Comaneci, Cathy Rigby and Kathy Johnson are other examples who have come up openly to admit that they are battling with Anorexia and Bulimia (Gotlieb, 2000).