Sunday, July 25, 2010
America's Self-esteem
As a young girl the words Anorexia and Bulimia were rarely ever heard of. Not too long ago I was still questioning myself whether this was because I was young and unaware of serious issues or for other reasons. Now I have come to realize that, that was not the case. As our culture transformed itself from a word-centered culture to image-centered culture, image has become a greater part of our lives and the media has created a certain image of beauty. This has made people believe that there is only a certain image the can be considered beautiful. The problem is that not everyone fits this image that the media has created and because of this people have developed low self-esteems. This does not only affect teenage girls, it affects both males and females of all ages. These people claim to be ugly because they do not look like the models on television or magazines. The results are eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia. Seeing people suffer from eating disorders like these are honestly heartbreaking and in my opinion the media is to blame for.
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In some ways I agree with you but also for different reasons. I do believe that the media has had a tremendous effect on the way people preserve themselves. But I feel that if you’re confident in yourself you understand that some people you see in magazines and through media doesn’t even look like them the way we see them. If someone develops an eating disorder that is strictly up to them. They are obviously trying to change themselves so they will feel better about themselves. Everyone decides what they will and won't do but things like media and people can only influence there decisions. So I do disagree that media is the COMPLETE blame for many insecurities that people have.
ReplyDeleteI actually believe that the media should take full responsibility because we are surrounded by it in so many ways. For example they say that we should not wear make up but on the television we see that as the norm and overtime we feel it is a must. Amber says it is just individuals being insecure, but when a whole society is telling you to look a certain way, what other choice do you have? Like Erika said, the media has already created an image. Many times if you want to be successful, the only option is to change to fit it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the media is to blame at all. If people let themselves be influenced by what other people think of them, than they might as well have those people and the media make all their decisions for them. It sounds as if the person is letting him or herself be contolled by the media. They do have a choice.
ReplyDeleteThough the media has greatly contributed to the commonly held perception of what "beautiful" is, I don't think that it is completely at fault. Dating back to the 18th century, many women were unable to find spouses due to their looks, thus becoming "old maids". There was no television or even radio back then, so where did this atrocity spawn from? The only rational response would be that it came from society. So though the media has caused a drastic increase in the amount of bulimic girls, ultimately, I believe that society is at fault.
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ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the statistics. When did anorexia and bulimia begin? When did girls start trying to fit into an image? I was wondering if it was in anyway parallel to the culture shift from writing to television.
ReplyDeleteI looked it up and i lost my point. Anorexia and Bulimia did not start with the media in any way.
Here is a quote from an article on the brief history of eating disorders.
"Some people do not realize how far back eating disorders go. Doctors in England first discovered anorexia in the 1870s. Catherine of Siena only ate herbs, and sometimes she would take a twig and stick it down her throat so that she could vomit. The Ancient Greeks were also bulimics, and they binged and purged more than one time every day (Neill 34)."
It also states that the causes are low self esteem, a need to have control in life, and a fear of being overweight, so Amber is correct.
After doing my research, I realized I am wrong. The media is not to blame for eating disorders, but it is to blame for dieting and size discrimination.
The about-face organization tells us that one out of eleven advertisements give us a direct message about beauty, and that is not counting all the indirect messages given.
What Postman told us about former President Henry Taft is what the media tells us. "Overweight characters are typically portrayed as lazy, the one with no friends, or "the bad guy", while thin women and pumped-up men are the successful, popular, sexy and powerful ones." That was what i was referring to about being successful because we have been taught to automatically and subconsciously judge people by how well they fit the image.