
In recent years, social media has contributed greatly to perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards among women, which has led to an increase in diagnosed eating disorders. Every day, women and young girls are bombarded with images of unattainable beauty from edited images or anorexic models plastered all around and of which they compare themselves to. While scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, an average young female will inevitably be exposed to images of airbrushed supermodels and unrealistic body proportions. These characteristics are promoted as the norm or the expectation for all women. In a patriarchal world where, too often, a woman’s value is unjustly based on her physical appearance, the standard for societal approval is becoming more and more unachievable. The result of this hazardous combination is frustration and low self-esteem among women, ultimately leading to an overall increase in eating disorders and other forms of self-hatred. Recognizing the severity of the problem is the first step to counteracting the effects of these harmful beauty standards. 

Eating disorders have been linked to advertising for thirty plus years while no improvements have been made to alter the media’s portrayal of women’s bodies. The most looked over form of media to contribute to body dissatisfaction are cartoons and kid shows. From an early age, women are exposed to one single preferred body type which molds their perceptions of a “normal” figure. Kid’s shows often portray the skinny busty girls as popular or successful inserting the idea in young women’s minds that beauty ties to overall happiness and a better life. Cartoons are no exception; women are usually created with unproportioned bodies which in real life would be physically impossible to achieve or dangerously unhealthy. The intended viewers of kid shows or cartoons are usually those in their early adolescence, a very impressionable and tender stage of life. The results of encouraging these unrealistic body types to a younger audience have taken a toll on their mental health and overall wellbeing throughout their childhood and into adulthood. 

The increasing presence of negative social media has had an overwhelming effect on young minds personal ideal body image. In the book, Obesity, Eating Disorders and the Media by Eli Karin, she states “In recent years, the news media landscape has been undergoing rapid change with the emergence of influential new media and social media platforms, enabling more local control and user involvement” (Karin 2).  The media is used to inform and persuade the viewer’s opinions, which allows them to shape our actions and thoughts. Social media is about creating a brand or image for one’s self and posting for all to see. These relatively new and influential forms of social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have definitely contributed to the increase in eating disorders. Available at our finger tips at all times, these apps have increased the frequency of visiting social media and viewing these harmful images. The content of these apps are full of edited or photo shopped images, depicting the impossible body figure women are supposed to strive for. Young women idolize Instagram models “perfect bodies” and often attempt to mimic their style but more dangerously, their weight.  Jonathan Rader’s article speaks of the message media portrays to be beautiful and unique yet skinny and ideally the same. Rader expresses how this contradicting message causes anxiety and unhealthy eating habits which can often lead to eating disorders.  and gaining popularity or portraying a successful and fun lifestyle. 

The standard media is mis-representing women’s bodies and causing body dissatisfaction in a variety of age groups primarily those who frequent any media. This connection should be known to others because it’s a growing problem and effects people of many ages despite gender or background. As the media’s platform widens, so does the range of viewers, increasing the spread of this inaccurate depiction. The most common age for diagnosing eating disorders is 13 for women and 15 years of age for men, at which point, puberty has begun and peer acceptance and relationship formation become important. Studies show the short term association between low self-esteem, higher anxiety, and increased anger or depression linked with today’s media images. In the article by Jamie Sidani, “The Association Between Social Media Use and Eating Concerns among US Young Adults.” His research revolves around a composed a study of 31 adolescence and young women who took an online survey regarding eating disorders linked to social media. “The results from this study indicate a strong and consistent association between social media use and eating concerns in a nationally representative sample of young adults aged 19 to 32 years. This association was apparent whether social media use was measured using volume (time per day) or frequency (visits per week), supporting the first hypothesis that two different measures of social media use would be independently associated with eating concerns” (Sidani 15).  Overall, the media promotes an unhealthy body weight through television, magazines, and social media which ultimately change ones perception of self-worth.

The most straight forward form of media to reflect women and their perception of a healthy body, which targets those unhappy with their weight, are pro anorexia pages. These web pages are created for and by young women who suffer from eating disorders or participate in unhealthy eating habits. The content directly invites other young women to engage in these dangerous techniques to increase weight loss. From providing tips to hide induced vomiting to helping viewers find easier ways to depress their natural hunger, these web pages encourage others to fall subject to eating disorders. In Eli Karin’s book, Obesity, Eating Disorders and the Media, she specifically analyzes the affect pro anorexia web pages have on the average female and how it affects their mental and physical health. “Tips & Tricks comprise of advice on how to avoid food, forget hunger and hide starvation’s psychical effects. An example is: ‘Spoil your food. As soon as you’ve cooked your meal, put too much salt, pepper, vinegar, detergent or perfume on it. That way you won’t want to eat it’” (Karin 15). These pro anorexia sites are promoting dangerously unhealthy methods of weight loss and are attempting to portray this illness as a popular and beneficial trend.  “This focus on competition positions pro-anorexia websites not only as spaces that make individuals who already have anorexia more ill, but also that turn those without the illness into anorexics, luring them into the entrapment of eating disorders; it is suggested that they ‘seduce girls into anorexia’”(Karin 16). In Alina Arseniev-Koehler’s article, “#Proana: Pro- Eating Disorder Socialization on Twitter”, she discusses the impact pro-anorexia Twitter accounts have on viewers and how others conform to trends.  Her case study results show a correlation between an increase in negative tweets about unhealthy eating habits and an increase in their supporters. “Findings suggest that profiles which self-identify as Pro-ED express disordered eating patterns through tweets and have an audience of followers, many of whom also reference ED in their own profiles. ED socialization on Twitter might provide social support, but in the Pro-ED context this activity might also reinforce an ED identity”. The effects of these pro anorexia websites on developing teenagers have been acknowledged by professionals as harmful and will continue to increase the diagnoses of eating disorders until these sites are banned.

Along with the increase in media use, society’s perception of the satisfactory body shape has been significantly altered throughout the years. Since the dawn of media and advertisements, women and men alike have been convinced that one body type is the ideal. Over a century ago, women were taught to idolize and mimic the curvy Marilyn Monroe body type, a more realistic and attainable standard which has since been replaced by the emergence of the treacherously thin body type, pioneered by supermodel “Twiggy.” In Jonathan Rader’s article, “Does the Media Cause Eating Disorders?” Rader compares the old desired body shape from todays. “In 1950, when televisions were first finding their way into homes, the media’s portrayal of “the ideal” female figure was drastically different than it is today. At that time, mannequins and models more or less reflected the average woman’s size. Mannequins and models have grown thinner by the year, increasingly disparate with the average woman’s physical form” (Rader 2). Today, a new unattainable standard is being pioneered by Instagram culture and the influence of Hollywood icons such as the Kardashians. The modern woman is pressured to conform to one specific type consisting of extreme body proportions. 

In Arushi Verma article, she analyzes the mental and physical health of those affected by the media. Her article specifically looks into young women who have a distorted perception of their selves and how they personally view the media and eating disorders. Those who suffer from eating disorders already or have recovered from one have a different perception of the images seen throughout the media. Verma discusses the qualitative research from personal interviews and social media content to evaluate how eating disorders are perceived by the general population of young women who have previous knowledge on eating disorders. “The results indicated that having a personal experience with eating disorders significantly influences the perception one has of the illness. Furthermore, the media’s glamorization of thinness was seen as a major contributor to eating disorders and blogs were believed to be a source of support and encouragement” (Verma 1).

In today’s advancing society, the emergence of new and equally influential forms of media is detrimental to the health of young women specifically. Spreading awareness and becoming more conscious of the media’s damaging effects on self-esteem could ultimately decrease the media’s influence on body satisfaction. Interventions have been designed to mitigate the influence of negative media messages on adolescents’ body image but so far have shown little success. The article by Niva Piran, “New possibilities in the prevention of eating disorders: The introduction of positive body image measures”, Piran focuses on the practice of prevention by positive psychological processes and teaching positive embodiment to improve one’s self-esteem. “Accordingly, since the 1980s, prevention programs have aimed to reduce negative body image by engaging participants in varied tasks and different foci in relation to hypothesized mediators of change. Such mediators of change include educating youth about the unrealistic norms of thinness and about natural body weights (Kater, Rohwer, & Londre, 2002), teaching media literacy (Irving & Berel, 2001), encouraging activism and empowerment in relation to the media (Levine, Piran, & Stoddard, 1999), enhancing self-esteem (O’Dea & Abraham, 2000), and conducting critical dialogs in groups about social pressures and setting new peer norms about body issues” (Piran 1999A). These progressive techniques hopefully can prevent body dissatisfaction and improve one’s state of mind. In a YouTube interview with Dr. Michael Pertschuk, he promotes positive activity therapy in schools to endorses a healthy body shape and motivate more kids to choose healthy weight loss over high risk weight loss. By encouraging healthy eating and thinking at a young age, it is possible these techniques could decrease the number of diagnosed eating disorders.
