Anorexia and the Media

Why do we have to ask if there's a connection between the increasing thinness of so many celebrities and the alarmingly rapid rise in eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa?

Part of the problem could be that we have a problem defining exactly what anorexia is.

We all seem prone to viewing anorexia nervosa as a separate entity from thinness.

Thank goodness the days have gone, at least, when we felt the need to go along with the claim to 'natural thinness' made by skeletal actresses and models.

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We haven't gone far enough yet however, and won't until we can accept that extreme thinness is anorexia.

Anorexia is the desire to maintain a lower body weight than is normal and healthy.

There are many 'experts' who claim that you can't develop anorexia simply by emulating it.

What on earth does that mean?

If a little girl sees a variety of thin/anorexic celebrities on tv, in magazines, decides with her friends that they are beautiful, that she'd like to look like them and, in an attempt to do so, she proceeds to lose 20 kilos, she's anorexic!

Even the pro ana sites have got it all wrong! They talk a lot about how to become anorexic, when what they mean is how to become thin. Very thin.

What they don't realize is that its the very desire to be thin that is anorexia!

And this is the most dangerous thing of all - once these thoughts have first sprung into existence, all they need is a little nourishment to make them sprout roots...and grow. First into a diet, often into an eating disorder such as anorexia.

The danger is in the fact that the numbers of women who have uncomfortable thoughts about their bodies are far far higher than those suffering from full blown anorexia, but because the outward symptoms may not be as extreme, no one knows any the better.

Certainly not the person with the feelings - she just feels inadequate and guilty because she can't bring herself to starve her body to the same extent as the models and celebrities do.

And yes we are encouraged to follow suit - it's impossible to find a magazine without at least one spread on some amazing diet and exercise regime, always with the implicit message that we are 'wrong/lazy' if we don't follow it.

So yes, anorexia and the media are not only inextricably linked, anorexia is deliberately being perpetuated by the media and the mixed messages it portrays - one - it's supposed alarm at the rise of anorexia amongst the celebrity population - and two - its outdated, outmoded form of control in its constant dictation of diet, diet, diet.

“Most people want to be happy and successful, states that require thought, personal development, and usually hard work. The media, especially ads and commercials for appearance-related items, suggest that we can avoid the hard character work by making our bodies into copies of the icons of success. “Reading between the lines of many ads reveals a not-so-subtle message ? ‘You are not acceptable the way you are. The only way you can become acceptable is to buy our product and try to look like our model, who is six feet tall and wears size four jeans - and is probably anorexic’.”

In 1995, before television came to their island, the people of Fiji thought the ideal body was round, plump, and soft. After 38 months of Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210 and similar Western shows being beamed into their homes, Fijian teenage girls showed serious signs of eating disorders.

There is no one cause for anorexia and other eating disorders, but to underestimate the power of the media on women and girls, indeed, us all, is not only ludicrous, but dangerous.

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