Journal Entry #5

Research implies that most teens do not choose healthy methods of weight loss; they take diet pills, force themselves to throw up, and restrict daily caloric intake to dangerously low levels (Thomsen et al., 2001; Thomsen et al., 2002). These behaviors can result in development of disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. These eating disorders typically manifest in adolescent girls because these are the years when they are particularly sensitive to cultural pressure to be thin (Thomsen et al., 2002)

When I was in my freshman year in college I had to create an informative paper for English focusing on persuasive types of media. I chose to write my paper about the negative influences media can have your young girls, particularly focusing on their body image. In our society, girls "should" be skinny, average height, long neck, and clear skin to be considered beautiful. This is the message that the media sends to our society. What young girls do not understand is that these models are beautiful, but their are altercations to the picture to make them look even better. Many times airbrushing is used to coverup blemish or appearances of cellulite. Models are placed in positions that make them look skinner than they are, as backgrounds are used to create this effect as well. But this article talks about how it is only affecting young girls which is false, think of how many celebrities are suffering from these same symptoms because of the pressure they are under to look a certain way. It is interesting to think that historical cultures used to want a woman that was filled out with big hips - this meant she was a child bearing woman and today it is the opposite. As educators I think it important for us to show our students particularly our young girls the truth about how these images are modified to lhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifook better. I think that we have so many children that try to look the opposite of these models because they do not believe they are beautiful - so they dye their hair multiple colors, put holes in their face, and where large baggy clothes - to hide their true appearance. The media influences identity crisis and makes our young girls believe they are "suppose" to look a certain way. It is a delicate area and a hard one to fix.

Reference Article
The Media's Influence on Body Image Disturbance and Eating Disorders: We've Reviled Them, Now Can We Rehabilitate Them?

This article is a scholarly article which has studied the influence media has on body image and eating disorders.

Heignburg, L. J., & Thompson, K. J. (1999). The media's influence on body image disturbance and eating disorders: we've reviled them, now can we rehabilitate them?. Unpublished manuscript, School of Medicine , University of South Florida and John Hopkins University , Flordia. Retrieved from http://jkthompson.myweb.usf.edu/articles/The%20Media%27s%20Influence%20on%20Body%20Image%20Disturbance.pdf