Media Effects on Body Image

Today’s society is not at all how it used to be, especially in the media. When turning on the television, looking through a magazine or newspaper, or even listening to the radio is not how it used to be. Today’s society is all about the way someone looks. The media today affect’s the way teenage girls view themselves. This can cause eating disorders, self esteem issues, or even depression.
    The obsession with thinness today can lead to anorexia in teenage girls (Stern 1). Anorexia is when people are so afraid of gaining weight that they starve themselves. They have to diet all the time and they still think they are fat after the lose weight (“You Can Be Too Thin”10). For example one of my friends use to eat very little and she lost a ton of weight. She got around about eight five pounds and she still considered herself overweight. She had anorexia but she found help and now she is overcoming her battle with it.
    By choosing to be anorexic, they are taking away nutrients from their body that they need to stay healthy. Symptoms of anorexia include feeling weak, getting dizzy, or even developing irregular heartbeats. Hair gets dry and falls out, teeth become rotten, bones get brittle and break easily. It increases the risk of serious illnesses like bone cancer later in life. Ten percent of people with anorexia will die from it doctors have said (“You Can Be Too Thin”10).
    So why do teenage girls choose to become anorexic? Some of them feel pressure from their family or friends. This type of pressure to be skinny can create a false image where they see themselves as fat when they are not ( Papazian 1). More than a third of teenage girls view themselves as overweight (Papazian 2).
    However one of the major causes of anorexia is the media. The media sets standard of beauty which is thin is in (Johnston 13). A favorite television show will most likely show young beautiful thin people. While one is watching a movie, again it will show young beautiful... [continues]

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