Media Images and Eating Disorders Assignment

Topic: Media images and eating disorders
– to describe this topic or development as clearly and concisely as possible for the specified audience; in other words, to educate your audience about this topic as thoroughly as possible given the space constraints.
– to make a compelling, specific, and explicit case explaining obvious and not-soobvious reasons this development is important.

Follow the outline below:

Introduction- Media images have the potential to encourage eating disorders due to feelings of body dissatisfaction, increased pressure to achieve the perfect body, and causing low self-esteem.
I. Social Media is saturated with unattainable beauty standards.
A. Teens and young adult women are the most vulnerable to be affected
by media images that can lead to eating disorders.
B. Although uncommon, social media exposure also has the power to
negatively affect the male body image.
C. The media can distort the way an individual views themselves and can
distort their mental perception related to what they look like.

II. Media images can lead to body dissatisfaction.
A. Often images can be triggering to some individuals and cause them to develop an eating disorder.
B. Body dissatisfaction can form over time with constant exposure to media images depicting perfection.
C. Body dissatisfaction leads to ideas of altering the body to extreme measures.
III. Media images may lead to increased pressure to achieve a perfect body
A. Peer competition plays a role in media images, as people constantly compare themselves to one another and idealized images.
B. Viewing idealized thin images could account for an increased motivation to engage in eating disorders and an increased desire to become thinner.
C. The pressure to fit in with ideal beauty standards increases when media images often don’t glorify normal or heavier-set women.

IV. Media images have been shown to cause low self-esteem.
A. When people feel that they don’t compare to others shown in media images, they associate that comparison with a low self-worth.
B. Constant obsessions with striving to match the media images that they see can lead to self-hate.
C. Eating disorders can seem to be a quick fix to a greater issue.
Conclusion- Unrealistic beauty standards depicted in media images can cause eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, pressure, and low self-esteem.

USE THE FOLLOWING REFERENCES ONLY:
1.Saraceni, R., & Russell-Mayhew, S. (1). Images and Ideals: Counselling Women and Girls in a “Thin-is-in" Culture. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 41(2). Retrieved from https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/article/view/58811
2.Concurrent and Prospective Analyses of Peer, Television and Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls
Ferguson, Christopher J; Muñoz, Mónica E; Garza, Adolfo; Galindo, Mariza.Journal of Youth and Adolescence; New York Vol. 43, Iss. 1, (Jan 2014): 1-14. DOI:10.1007/s10964-012-9898-9

3.”EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT MASS MEDIA ARE/ARE NOT [pick one] A CAUSE OF EATING DISORDERS”: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF EVIDENCE FOR A CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN MEDIA, NEGATIVE BODY IMAGE, AND DISORDERED EATING IN FEMALES
Levine, Michael P; Murnen, Sarah K.Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology; New York Vol. 28, Iss. 1, (Jan 2009): 9-42.
4.Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research
Perloff, Richard M.Sex Roles; New York Vol. 71, Iss. 11-12, (Dec 2014): 363-377. DOI:10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6
5.Cantech Letter: Excess social media use is causing eating disorders, finds Canadian study
Weblog post. Newstex Finance & Accounting Blogs, Chatham: Newstex. Dec 8, 2016.
6.EATING DISORDERS, BODY DISSATISFACTION, AND SELF-ESTEEM AMONG SOUTH KOREAN WOMEN
Kim, Soyoung.Social Behavior and Personality; Palmerston North Vol. 46, Iss. 9, (2018): 1537-1546. DOI:10.2224/sbp.6801