Expert: Meg - 11/13/2006

Question
To what extent do you feel that the media is responsible for negative self-body images in young women of society and thereby encourages eating disorders?

Answer
Hi Maggie,

That is a pretty broad question and probably one that every person you asked would have a different answer for.  That said, in my opinion, I feel like while the media does have some influence over young girls and their perception of beauty and how they should look, it is only a small factor in the development of an eating disoder.  

Eating disorders are often coping mechanisms and are ways for the sufferer to deal with something in her life that she doesn't know how to deal with otherwise.  Some examples of this include:  sexual molestation, divorce of parents, moving to a new school, strarting college, big life events, etc.  Additionally, there are certain personality characteristics that are often (not always) found in people who develop eating disorders, for example perfectionism, anxiety, sensitivity, etc.
So, while I feel like the media certain bears responsibility for portraying beauty in a very unrealistic and unrepresentative way, I also feel that a girl who develops and eating disorder usually has many other factors that are in place and really trigger an eating disorder to begin.  The media's role really is more one of encouraging a girl who is predisposed to develop an eating disorder to do so by showing her that she must look a certain way to be "beautiful".

Hope that at least kind of answers your question and please feel free to write again if that was not clear.

Take care!
Meg