Media Images and Eating Disorders

Media Images and Eating Disorders in Women

Cooperative Learning Explanation/Lesson Plan

The pressure for women to be a certain size (i.e. thin) has long been blamed on the influence of media -- magazines, television, and films -- and the fact that many of these media sources depict the normal and ideal woman as being extremely thin. Polivy and Herman (2004) note in the article "Sociocultural idealization of thin female body shapes: an introduction to the special issue on body image and eating disorders" that it is not clear as to why some women exposed to those pressures develop eating disorders while most women in society do not (2004). The media is believed to make women feel bad for being heavier or not looking like the airbrushed images that they see in different forms of media (magazines that airbrush already thin models are especially controversial). The article claims, however, that this idea of the media being guilty of making women feel badly about themselves and thus encouraging eating disorders in some way, is much too simplistic a view to take; after all, "women voluntarily expose themselves to thin media images" (2004). The idea that media is to blame for eating disorders in women is not logical when one considers the fact that most women do not have eating disorders and most women are exposed to the same media images.

Polivy and Herman (2004) suggest that media images that depict thin and beautiful women may actually be pleasurable for a women to look at. While most women exposed to the images do not develop eating disorders, one cannot deny the documentation that shows the widespread dissatisfaction with body shape and weight among women and the fact that it is "reinforced and transmitted by a number of social influences" (Tiggemann, Polivy & Hargreaves, 2009) makes the relationship between women and media images very powerful.

Tiggemann, Polivy, and Hargreaves (2009) note in the article "The process of thin ideals in fashion magazines: a source of social comparison or fantasy?" that there is extensive correlational evidence that "supports the link between exposure to fashion magazines and body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and eating disorder symptomatology" (2009). This correlational evidence cannot, however, "speak to the postulated causal role played by media images" (2009). In the hopes of finding a causality, numerous researchers have manipulated exposure to thin idealized body images and assessed their immediate impact. Groesz, Levin, and Murnen (2002) found that there was a small but consistent negative effect of thin ideal images on mood, body dissatisfaction and self-perception of physical attractiveness.

In some experimental studies, however, negative effects have been limited to particular groups such as women with high levels of trait body dissatisfaction. More interestingly, a handful of studies have actually reported unexpected positive effects of media exposure to thin ideals among some subgroups. Although these results have been largely ignored by the field, they require explanation and suggest that the impact of the media is more complex than previously assumed (Tiggemann, Polivy, & Hargreaves, 2009).

These results are important, however, in understanding if and how media images may be related to eating disorders in women. Polivy and Herman (2004) ask the commonsense question: "Why do women and girls continue to buy fashion magazines featuring thin models that make them feel anxious, depressed, and generally miserable about their bodies?" Some women find them to be a relaxing way to spend time. This shows that it is much too simple-minded for people to say that media images make women feel bad about themselves. Wouldn't it be smart to consider that maybe these small populations of women who do develop eating disorders are already dissatisfied and the media images may reinforce their inherent paranoia about their bodies? Or, perhaps it is people who are critical of every aspect of media who feel like they need to criticize the media because they themselves are made to feel insecure about it? Perhaps these two reactions are also too simplistic.

What is clear from the three articles is that there is some correlation between media images and the way that women feel about their bodies, but there is also evidence to suggest that most women are not made to feel bad about their bodies when viewing media images. Tiggemann, Polivy, and Hargreaves (2009) contemplate how positive effects come of looking at thin models in fashion magazines. There is the suggestion of a "thinness fantasy" that is induced by exposure to the media. "Instead of felling worse about herself after seeing slim media images, a girl or woman may engage in a fantasy of believing herself to be thinner and more attractive" (2009). The fantasy concept is interesting to consider, but perhaps it is simply that women feel inspired when they see images of women who are thinner and prettier than they believe themselves to be. Perhaps looking at the images that the media presents as "beautiful" inspires them to work out, take better care of their hair and skin, or dress nicer.