Eating disorders have been diagnosed more and more frequently in the United States over the last several years. Some have found patterns that the number of eating disorders were due to the portrayal of a "perfect" woman's body becoming prevalent in the media. Others have found, however that the media's portrayals will only encourage eating disorders in women if they have a previously established poor body image or struggle with depression. I intend to research and understand the correlation between the media and eating disorders and to what extent they are linked.  

I am interested in understanding the media's role in eating disorders because I have noticed a new style of ad campaign from some companies featuring women of all sizes without the use of photo-shop. I was curious as to why this type of ad started and why so many companies still use the old style of photo-shopped, stick-thin models in their advertisements, which are often linked to the encouragement of eating disorders. I would also like to learn more about the causes and influences of eating disorders because I've seen several of my friends struggle with negative body image and turn to starvation as a method of improvement. It was very difficult for them to come to terms with and accept their body and to stop restricting the amount they ate to unhealthy amounts. These observations have led me to several sources to further understand the media's contribution to the rise in eating disorders. 

In Deanne Jade's article, "The Media and Eating Disorders" she addresses the increase in dieting and how that leads to eating disorders. She claims that the media presents unattainable thinness as the standard of beauty. Jade also claims that this standard negatively affects young girls going through puberty and hurts their self esteem and body image. This impact leads many girls to turn to eating disorders. This article discusses that the media does not value the female body in all forms and that it portrays only one form as beautiful. Deanne Jade was qualified to write this article because she is a psychologist that works for the National Centre for Eating Disorders in the United Kingdom. Jade works with many patients who are in recovery. She also has a blog on which she discusses how to cope and recovery methods for people struggling with eating disorders. 

Stephen P. Lewis and Alexis E. Arbuthnott wrote an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking that claims that many websites contain harmful information to people struggling with eating disorders. They found these harmful websites by searching many pro-eating disorder terms. One example was "pro-ana" which is short for pro-anorexia. Lewis and Arbuthnott concluded from their searches that the prevalence of harmful websites were so easy to access that it could encourage eating disorders in young girls. The article is targeting the value of positive body image, and how pro-eating disorder websites can encourage someone to think negatively about their body and turn to drastic measures to change it. Stephan Lewis is a clinical psychologist who works with patients struggling with eating disrders. Alexis Arbuthnott is an author who writes articles on the topics of depression and eating disorders in young people. The two of them were qualified to research and present their findings on pro-eating disorder websites and their affects on youths. 

Jean Kilbourne discusses how advertisements portray women's bodies in the documentary Slim Hopes: Advertising & the Obsession with Thinness. Kilbourne claims that the advertisements objectify and dehumanize the female body by using them as a canvas to sell different products. Kilbourne also says that the ads promote an impossible thinness as perfect and beautiful while shunning fuller figures as bad or ugly. This documentary challenges the values of advertising against the value of body image. Jean Kilbourne is qualified to be presenting this information in this documentary, because she has researched and made two other award winning documentaries on this topic. 

This research question is arguable because it looks at the extent to which the media can be linked to the development of eating disorders. Some of my sources believed that the media directly encourages eating disorders in women, while other sources say the media only influences those who are predetermined to develop such disorders. The different perspectives of the sources make me question how influential the media really is and if people are able to go against the popular images in advertisements and online. I think I may need to revise my research to see how different types of media influence negative eating habits in young women and which type of media is the most harmful. 

