     This research question interests me because I feel very strongly against eating disorders and can personally relate to their effect on women's lives. As a college girl in this generation, I look at fashion magazines and watch media showing incredibly thin models. I would be lying to say I am not guilty to wanting to look like these girls. With that being said, there is no evidence shown making this industry responsible for women and eating disorders. I believe that there are many psychological causes and triggers despite what a woman saw on a magazine. I think this is a very interesting topic because you usually hear the opposite and hear about why the media should be blamed. My values are strongly against eating disorders because there is no  positive to developing an eating disorder. There are healthy ways of losing weight and starving yourself is not the answer. I actually have a lot of personal experience with this research question because my best friend in high school was anorexic. Every day we sat at lunch together and when she did not eat, I would not either. Although I was not the one with the eating disorder, her lack of eating made me feel like I did not need to eat either. Everyday I watched her suffer and hate herself taught me that I should not harm myself the way she has. I am qualified to write about this because it is a topic that I have researched already and will research more through this project. I have personal experience with this topic and it is something that I am very passionate writing about. 

1. In one article, Carrie Arnold argues that the Photoshopped photographs in fashion magazine do not promote eating disorders. The author's main claim is differentiating an eating disorder and disordered eating. She says many people might look at the photographs and decide they are dissatisfied with their body and need to diet. She says there is no evidence to say that these photographs are causing the psychological body dysmorphia which is an eating disorder. 

2. In this article, she values that media can be harmful to women but through her evidence she proves that this harm is not related to anorexia or bulimia. The values at stake include her concern for women to have non distorted views of what is a healthy body. Eating disorders are a powerfully negative disorder that should not be tied to alteration in fashion magazines, if they are not the direct cause. 

3. This author is clearly bias to the fashion industry. She does not believe that altering photos in magazines leads to body dysmorphia, it only can lead to body dissatisfaction. Although she does not agree with body dissatisfaction either, it is not as serious as an actualy eating disorder. She is a credible source because she quotes from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and relays her information from multiple book sources. 


In this article, Lisa Hilton claims that the fashion industry is not to blame for eating disorders. She provides evidence that women who have had suffered from eating disorders have consistently said that they were not induced by a skinny model on television or in a magazine, but by much deeper psychological issues.  

The main values at stake in this article are based upon how skinny models motivate women to stop eating. The author argues that the models are on strict fitness plans to maintain their bodies and usually are to be compared to the average woman. She says that obesity is on the rise and not anorexia, making the average woman larger and thin models the minority.

The author clearly finds eating disorders to be extremely harmful. She always shows a distinct bias towards the argument that fashion magazines are not responsible for those eating disorders. She is a credible source because she has multiple interviews and real life sources incorporated into her article as evidence. 

In this article Fred Schwarz claims that thin fashion models are not the cause of eating disorders in women. He argues this because eating disorders have flourished before thin models, mass media, and our modern day weight conscious society. He believes people simplify the complicated disease by blaming it on American society but this disorder is made up of so many more psychological issues than we have been able to identify. 

The values at stake in this article revolve around society and models being too skinny. Lawmakers are trying to place bans on skinny models hoping to reduce anorexia in society. That concept is misunderstood though because self-starvation is not a willful choice but a psychological choice for someone suffering from an eating disorder. This ban will not work because the author argues the skinny models are not a cause of an eating disorder.

This author is clearly bias to the argument of fashion models not affecting eating disorders. He backs his argument up with credible evidence and facts. Schwarz is a plausible source because he is a deputy managing editor of National Review. He also cites information from doctors and books in his article. 

     For my research question, I can easily argue my point. I will argue that thin models portrayed in mass media should not be blamed for eating disorders in women. There is not a simple yes or no answer to my question. It has multiple opinions and evidence associated with it. In the three articles I found, the authors offer an opposing viewpoint whether thin models are the cause of eating disorders. Some people believe that mass media has shown thin models in a light that persuades women in this society to starve themselves. The authors of my articles agree that anorexia has flourished before the incorporation of thin models in mass media. They agree that psychological problems are the root of eating disorders and go far beyond body dissatisfaction. These different perspectives strengthened my perspective on this topic. The abundance of information and evidence informed me of the facts of eating disorders and how they are not caused by fashion industries. I think my research question is fine as it is because it is deep and can be argued in multiple different explanations.   
