Media ?!

Media's influence on ANOREXIA

The media influences everyone in different ways. One of these ways is encouraging young girls to become skinny and almost anorexic like the perfect people they portray, be it on television, magazines or any other type of media.

One of the main reasons for anorexia to be common amongst teenage girls is because of the influence the media has on them. During adolescent years, girls are easily influenced about how their bodies should look so they look to magazines, TV adverts and other types of media to show them what they should look like.

Here are some examples of how media influences anorexia.

1.       Women in movies and television programmes are often made to look very pretty with nice physics. This makes young girls feel insecure about how they look, and wanting to look more like their favourite actress or singer.

2.       Over 50% of advertisements and commercials are related to attractiveness, for example diet plans and pills that help lose weight. This then leads to young girls eating unhealthy diets and overusing pills rather than eating healthy diets.

3.       Models are portrayed with perfect bodies and physics, yet the majority of these models fit the criteria to be considered anorexic, so media is promoting that being anorexic is beautiful.

4.       The internet provides worldwide information about what ever topic, but seeking knowledge on diets and improving ones physical looks are one of the most popular searches on the internet.

5.       Magazines are very common amongst young girls, and magazines these magazines often use underweight models and airbrushed pictures to make models appear physically perfect. Also some magazines provide weight loss programs or food charts, influencing girls to lose weight.