The influence of the media on eating disorders in women and girls

The media is often criticised for promoting unhealthy body images and "glamourising" eating disorders, this seems to be the case in particular in the media that is aimed at women and girls.The eating disorder section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has expressed particular concern with the role that the media plays in the development of eating disorder symptoms. They have called on the media to take greater responsibility for the body image and weight related material that they produce. One particular concern that has been voiced by the RCP is the prevalence of unbalanced magazine articles, often giving dieting advice without reporting information about the dangers of extreme dieting. Along with glorifying a slim physique, there is a large amount of emphasis on appearances in general. Researcher Naomi Wolf argues that our modern day culture "disempowers women by holding them prisoner to an unattainable beauty ideal".

 What does the research say?

There is a plethora of scientific research that has been published exploring the role that the media has in influencing the development of eating disorders. The media has been accused of providing a social context for eating disorders. Some of the research into this has focused on the differences over time in what has been portrayed as a "body ideal"; for example, the decreasing weight in models and beauty pageant contestants between the 1950's and the 90's and 2000's. These people are often portrayed as beauty ideals by media publications. There are a number of studies that document a trend in increasing thinness in these types of people over the decades, clearly showing a shift in what is considered to be the ideal body image. 

Beauty Pageant Contestant in the 1950's

A Miss Universe Contestant from 2009

It is also interesting to note that during this period of time, there has been a significant increase, statistically, in the weight of western women, most notably in the UK and the USA. Therefore, the portrayed media ideal and the realistic weight and size of the women this media is aimed at is very different. This could add pressure on women and girls who may already be vulnerable to eating disorders due to other reasons, and push them to take drastic measures to lose weight. 

In addition to this, research suggests that, in the period between the 70's and the 90's there was a huge increase in the amount of advertisements involving diet related products and foods. This also creates pressure  for women to lose weight and it is thought that this could contribute to triggering an eating disorder.

There is clearly a large amount of media focus on weight and beauty, but how strong of an influence does this really have on females? 

In 1996, Levine and Smolak reported that 83% of adolescent girls read fashion magazines for an average of 4.3 hours a week, meaning that a young girls exposure to body image related material and advertisements is huge. This is worrying because anyone who is at risk or vulnerable to an eating disorder or is already suffering, this kind of media output could be a hugely negative influence on them and may be detrimental to their recovery. In one survey, girls aged between 11 and 17 were asked to choose three wishes for anything that they wanted. The number one wish was to "lose weight and keep it off". In a separate survey, more than half of the middle aged women that were asked stated  that the one thing they wanted to change about their lives was their weight. 

It is clear to see that the media does have a lot of influence over people's lives and their attitudes. This can be a dangerous thing when already vulnerable people are exposed to it. A key to fighting this, it seems, is more balanced reporting when it comes to stories about dieting and weight loss to ensure that only completely healthy methods are promoted as well as reporting on the dangers of extreme dieting and weight loss. Another way to control this issue, is to promote a healthy body image within the media, particularly with models. Some progress does seem to be being made here, as there are more healthy female beauty idols being seen within the media such as Beyonce and Kelly Brook. However, some companies and advertisers are still not doing all they can to promote a healthy body image. An example of this is H&M's recent swimwear line being modelled by Beyonce. H&M were criticised when reports emerged that the images had been doctored to shrink Beyonce's hips and make her look thinner. They have recently released a statement to apologise and say that the images now being used are ones that both H&M and Beyonce are happy with. 

Hopefully as time goes on we will see more and more positive media influence on female body image.