Media and It's Effect on Weight

When you turn on the television and describe the first woman you see on it, what description would you come up with? I’m sure it would be similar to “thin, gorgeous and flawless”. Many of the women on today’s television shows and runways are not average women however. Yes, a lot of them have household names and we want to watch their shows or we want to see the designs they model, but there may be something going on behind the scenes, something the public eye is not privy to.

Look at the woman near you, she may be your friend, a relative or even a stranger. But do you know if she slaves away trying to meet a standard that society has set so she can be called beautiful? I admit, I attend a gym myself to help keep me in shape. And yes, even though I know that society has shallow standards, there is always that subconscious part that wants to meet those standards. I believe it is in every person.

The facts about the media’s effect on weight have been around for years. There was a study that was published in Teen Magazine in 2003 reporting at least 35% of girls from ages 6-12 had been on at least one diet. 50-70% of normal weight girls believed that they were overweight ("Beauty and body," 2010). And I’d bet those statistics are still true today.

I am a college student, attending Madonna University in hopes to pursue a career in education. The statistics about college females is slightly alarming when seeing them, being as I’m one. According to the American Research group Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders, Inc. one in four college aged women uses unhealthy methods of weight control, including but not limited to fasting, skipping meals, excessive exercise, laxative abuse, and self-induced vomiting.

I’m not writing this to complain. Though I do believe society is on a downward spiral with no hope of saving it in the anywhere near future, I do believe this is a real scare to all people.

Beauty and body image in the media [Web log message]. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

CNN Health. (1999, November 14). Media may feed weight problem of teenaged girls [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-14/health/9911_14_girls.weight_1_weight-gain-young-girls-control-weight?_s=PM:HEALTH