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Annotated Bibliography:
Effect of the Media on Eating Disorders
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Petrie, Trent A., and Laura J. Austin, Barbara J. Crowley, Annette Heimcamp, Courtney E. Johnson, Regan Lester, Rebecca Rogers, Jeff Turner, and Kevin Walbrick. (1996) "Sociocultural Expectations of Attractiveness for Males". Sex Roles. Volume 35. Plenum Publishing Corporation.
There hasn't been as much research done on sociocultural expectations of attractiveness for males as there has been for females. The media's emphasis on thinness and beauty has been brought up in explaining the differences between the rates of occurence of eating disorders in men and women. The ideal for feminine beauty has evolved into an even thinner standard due to such media examples as Miss America contestants, Playboy centerfolds, and female models in magazine advertisements. On television, there is a thinner standard for beauty for women than for men. When comparisons are made among the content of diet and fitness articles in men and women's magazines, it is evident that women are exposed to more weight-loss material than men are. Despite a significant increase in the society's emphasis on health and fitness in the U.S. from 1960 to 1992, male body shape ideals have not changed.
Harrison, Kristen. (1997) "Does Interpersonal Attraction to Thin Media Personalities Promote Eating Disorders?. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. Volume 41. Broadcast Education Association.
The argument that media images of thinness influence the eating habits of young people is similar to the argument that violence in the media causes aggression in young people. Medical professionals, researchers, and members of the general population all agree that something has gone wrong in regards to the body image of young people. The American Psychiatric Association estimates the ratio of women to men with eating disorders is ten to one, with 0.5 to 3% of the general population and 4 to 22% of college-age females admitting that they have experienced disordered eating habits. It is hard to know whether eating disorders are becoming more prevalent or are just being reported more. But rates have risen over the past thirty years, and the problem has expanded to affect different types of people in Westernized societies instead of just being common among young, white, middle-class girls and women. There are four categories of risk factors for eating disorders: biological, psychological, familial, and sociological. Exposure to images of the thin female ideal in the mass media is one aspect of the sociological factors. It has been said by prominent eating disorder researchers that the most beautiful and successful leading figures in the media are thin, and this leads viewers to associate thinness with self control and success. Since the 1950's, the figure of the ideal female sex symbol has trimmed down dramatically. The research completed by David Garner, Paul Garfinkel, Donald Schwartz, and Michael Thompson concerning the change in body size and shape of Miss America contestant and Playboy centerfolds is once of the most famous studies of its kind. In an update of this study, completed by J.J. Gray, J.E. Mosimann, and A.H. Ahrens, it was found that from 1979 to 1988 the Playboy centerfolds and pageant contestant continued to show a decrease in weight. They reported that 69% of Playboy centerfolds and 60% of pageant contestants weighed at least 15% less than their expected weight based on height, which is notable because according to the the American Psychiatric Association, being at least 15% below expected body weight is a symptom of anorexia.
Jackson, Allen W., and James R. Morrow Jr., David W. Hill, and Rod K. Dishman. (1999) Physical Activity for Health and Fitness. Human Kinetics.
The two main eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Bulimia involves bingeing and purging. Those who exhibit bulimic behavior may force themselves to vomit, use laxatives, exercise excessively, or severly change their diet in order to compensate for large caloric intake. Anorexia involves self starvation resulting in the possible loss of lean body tissue and other health problems. Other symptoms of anorexia include obsessive exercising, counting of calorie and fat grams, extreme fascination and concern with food, health, and body image, use of laxatives, diuretics, and diet pills, and self induced vomiting. Both anorexia and bulimia are found predominantly in females. In fact, 95% of anorexia sufferers are female. In the United States, the annual death rate from eating disorders is nearly 4,000.
National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association. (1998) Understanding Eating Disorders. Online: http://www.ndmda.org/eating.htm
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa may coexist. Bulimia patients often have a history of anorexia, or may become anorexic. 30 - 50% of anorexia patients show symptoms of bulimia, such as partaking in bingeing and purging. The NDMDA stated, "It is widely accepted that Western society's emphasis on thinness plays an important role in the development of anorexia nervosa. The message that thinness equals attractiveness is prevalent, one need only glance through the pages of a fashion magazine to confirm this."
Yarborough, Kathryn Putnam. (1999) Understanding Body Image. Online: http://www.eatingdisorder.org/news.htm
Less than 5% of the population can healthfully and genetically achieve the ideal shapes and sizes presented by the media. Yarborough stated, "It is hard to not be effected by the media bombarding us constantly with the message, "Thin is in!" On TV commercials we are told to "lose weight fast" or "exercise for thirty minutes" to have a beautiful body. Magazines displaying thin, attractive women try to convince us that we are not okay until we "slim our thighs." The overriding message is that we need to change something about ourselves in order to be loved or successful. In particular, if we have thin, fit bodies, 'our lives will be perfect.'"
Reuters Health. (1999) Half of Normal-Weight Girls Think They Are Fat. Online: http://www.allhealth.com/conditions/mental/news/0,4800,296_127572,00.html
Dr. Richard S. Strauss of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine in New Brunswick, New Jersey analyzed the data from part of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The survey, which was conducted between 1988 and 1994, included information from 1900 adolescents aged 12 to 16. It was found that 52% of normal-weight white girls considered themselves overweight. In Strauss's opinion, teenage white females are especially sensitive for poor body image due to an "increasing emphasis on thinness by television, advertising, and marketing campaigns" aimed at younger people. Strauss also indicated that whites, but not blacks, emphasize thinness for the ideal body type.
Field, Allison E., and Lilian Cheung, Anne M. Wolf, David B. Herzog, Steven L. Gortmaker, and Graham A. Colditz. (1999) "Exposure to the Mass Media and Weight Concerns Among Girls". Pediatrics. Volume 103. Online:http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/103/3/e36?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&
Harvard researchers conducted a study to assess the influence of the media on how girls dealt with body image and weight loss. The subjects included 548 fifth through twelfth grade students in a working-class suburb in the northeastern U.S. These students completed surveys that dealt with questions concerning perception of body weight, exposure to fashion magazines, influence of the media on body image, and whether the subject had tried to lose weight due to a magazine article. It was found that 69% of the girls said that their version of the ideal body shape was influenced by magazine pictures. 47% said that they wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures. Girls who read fashion magazines frequently were 2 to 3 times more likely than infrequent readers to attempt to lose weight because of a magazine article and to feel that magazines have an effect on their perception of the ideal body shape. The results of the study suggest that the print media should fulfill a public health role by not picturing models who are severely underweight, and publishing more articles about the benefits of physical activity.
Grogan, Sarah. (1999) Body Image. Routledge.
The issue of the use of very thin models in advertising was brought to public attention in 1996 when the watch manufacturing company Omega withdrew its advertising from Vogue magazine. Omega complained that the models in Vogue appeared anorexic.
Silverstein, Brent, and Shari Carpman, Deborah Percick, and Lauren Perdue. (1990) "Nontraditional Sex Role Aspirations, Gender Identity Conflict, and Disordered Eating Among College Women". Sex Roles. Volume 23. Plenum Publishing Corporation.
Silverstein, Carpman, Percick, and Perdue found evidence that disordered eating habits are not just the result of the cultural pressure to adhere to the slim feminine ideal. These researchers concluded that disordered eating can be related to women's self-definition in areas associated with masculine achievement. Women who stress intelligence and professional success are almost twice as likely as other women to have disordered eating habits. Correlation was also found between disordered eating and gender identity conflict in women.
Garner, David, and Paul Garfinkel, Donald Schwartz, and Michael Thompson. (1980) "Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Women". Psychological Reports. Volume 47. Psychological Reports.
Different body shapes have been associated with desired social status from the Rubenesque women of the 17th century to the symbols of fashion today. During the 1960's and 1970's, there was a shift in the ideal feminine body shape. This ideal shape changed from a curved, voluptuous figure to an angular, lean figure. Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Thompson collected data about Miss America contestants and models used in Playboy magazine to confirm the trend toward a thinner standard. Ironically, while magazines models, pageant contestants, and female role models in the media have become thinner, the average woman has actually become heavier due to improved nutrition.
Myers, Philip N. Jr., and Frank A. Biocca. (1992) "The Elastic Body Image: The Effect of Television Advertising and Programming of Body Image Distortions in Young Women". Journal of Communication. Volume 42. Oxford University Press.
As the ideal body is becoming thinner, women overestimate the size of their own bodies. Women with eating disorders make even greater overestimations of their body size. Negative stereotypes of lack of control and poor health are associated with obesity. Television viewers are exposed not only to an unrealistic ideal body shape, but also to thin characters who are not depicted eating balanced meals. Individuals build a self-schema based on observation of their own behavior, the reaction of others to themselves, and the social cues that suggest which attributes are important. Body image is one aspect of a self-schema. Advertising and programming provide social cues concerning aspects of body image. Results of the research of Myers and Biocca indicate that watching just thirty minutes of television programming and advertising can alter a woman's body image.
Silverstein, Brett, and Lauren Perdue, Barbara Peterson, and Eileen Kelly. (1986) "The Role of the Mass Media in Promoting a Thin Standard of Bodily Attractiveness for Women". Sex Roles. Volume 14. Plenum Publishing Corporation.
Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson, and Kelly studied four widely circulated womens magazines (Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, and Women's Day) and four widely circulated mens magazines (Field and Stream, Playboy, Popular Mechanics, and Sports Illustrated) for content on advertisements and articles concerning body shape, body size, dieting, food, drink, and cooking. It was found that the total number of diet food ads in the 48 issues of womens magazines was 63, compared to just 1 in the 48 issues of mens magazine. The total number of articles concerning body shape and size and ads for nonfood figure enhancing products was 96 in the womens magazines and only 8 in the mens magazines. Despite their greater emphasis on thinness and dieting, womens magazines also contained many more food advertisements thant the mens magazines, with 1179 food ads compared to 10 for men. The only category in this study where mens magazines contained more ads was the alcoholic beverages category. The results of this study indicate that women are subjected to gender-specific messages in the magazines they read. While encouraged to stay in shape and be thin, women are also exposed to many food and cooking ads. Concerning the increasingly thin body standard, it was stated, "This standard may not be promoted only in the media and it may not even originate in the media, but given the popularity of television, movies, and magazines, and the instances when styles adopted by media figures begin popular fads, the media are likely to be among the most influential promoters of such thin standards."
Stice, Eric. (1998) "Modeling of Eating Pathology and Social Reinforcement of the Thin-Ideal Predict Onset of Bulimic Symptoms". Behaviour Research and Therapy. Volume 36. Elsevier Science Ltd.
Stice's study dealt with the question of whether social reinforcement of the thin ideal and modeling of abnormal eating behavior by family, peers, and the media caused bulimic behavior in young females. It was found that while social reinforcement of the thin-ideal by family, peers, and the media was related to bulimic symptoms, the role of the media in the modeling of abnormal eating behavior was not associated with bulimic symptoms. Instead this was limited to family and peer influence. Therefore, this could suggest that the media promotes abnormal eating behavior through social reinforcement of the thin ideal rather than by directing modeling eating pathology.
Preboth, Monica, and Shyla Wright. (1999) "Quantum Sufficit". American Family Physician. Volume 59. American Academy of Family Physicians.
The media receives a large amount of blame for promoting the development of eating disorders though their glamorization of thin models and hard bodied actors. Nearly all women are exposed to the thin media ideals, yet only 1 - 3% of women develop bulimia. There may be a biological explanation. Women who have experienced bulimia are found to have higher levels of serotonin metabolite in their brain and experience more negative moods and obsessions with perfection and exactness, as their other brain chemicals were normal.
Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention. (1999) About EDAP's Media Advocacy Campaign. Online: http://www.edap.org/watchdog/aboutmedia.html
EDAP launched their Media Advocacy Campaign in the fall of 1997. It relies on volunteers to report about advertisements that glorify fitness at the expense of health, as well as advertisements that promote healthy body image. EDAP then contacts the companies responsible for those ads and provides them with either praise or criticism. In their latest campaign, they were able to get a slogan changed on a billboard advertising NBC's Friends in Sioux Falls, South Dakota due to its glamorization of anorexia. The billboard pictured the three female stars of the show and the phrase, "Cute anorexic chicks".
Sandahl, Deanna. (1999) Go Girls! Online: http://www.goldinc.com/gogirls/
EDAP's Go Girls (Giving Our Girls Inspiration and Resources for Lasting Self Esteem) program encourages young girls to stand up against the media's thin body ideal. Particpants learn through discussions and team meetings how to speak out against advertisers. The program began in Seattle in the spring of 1998 and is expanding to other cities.
About-Face. (1996) What is About-Face? Online: http://www.about-face.org/who/index.html
About-Face is a San Francisco based media literacy organization that concentrates on the effect of the mass media on the physical, mental, and emotional health of females. Relying on research that indicates a correlation between exposure to the idealized female in the media and the occurrence of eating disorders, About-Face encourages personal activism against the thin body ideal. Since 1995 About-Face has been providing education and resources on this subject.
Schindehette, Susan, and Karen Grigsby Bates, Michelle Caruso, Laura Schiff, Joanna Blonska, Ellen Tumposky, Olivia Abel, and Jennifer Longley. (1999) "Going to Extremes". People Weekly. Volume 52. Time Inc.
The October 18th, 1999 issue of People Weekly featured a cover article on the recent trend of actresses to become even thinner to meet new standards. The article featured "before and after" pictures of 12 actresses who have slimmed down considerably. None of the actresses appear to be even slightly heavy in the "before" pictures. The eight-page article features one half-page section on 2 performers who emphasize healthier ways of shaping up and slimming down.
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