Everyone practically in this day of age has used some type of media throughout their lifetime, whether that be reading a magazine, watching TV or using social media. Also in today’s society many people, especially young, teenage, and young adult females look up to well know celebrities or figure heads in those magazines, TV shows or commercials, and social media pages. By females idolizing these well-known figure heads, many try to relate their selves to them by trying to be them in appearance. This has in turn lead to many young girls and teenagers developing self-body issues and even worse developing eating disorders. Eating disorders have increased over the last twenty years and is steadily rising. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed by the media outlets and other influential figure heads that attract young girls, teenagers and young women all together. 

Eating disorders are classified as a type of mental condition. There are three major types of eating disorders that effect many people today, which are: bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorder. According to the International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society, Fairburn and Harrison defined anorexia nervosa as a disorder through which an individual undergoes a severe restriction of food intake in order to achieve and maintain an extremely low weight. While Williamson defined bulimia nervosa as a period of binge eating followed by vomiting or purging. Lastly, the American Psychiatric Association recently defined the binge eating disorder as periods of binge eating with no inappropriate compensatory behaviors. () A population study was conducted to find the age range of people who have developed an eating disorder. In the study, they found that the median age of onset of eating disorders ranged from 18-21. Another study also found that the signs of anorexia nervosa showed in age ranges as young as 10-19. () Eating disorders are primarily found in females. Research by Hoek and Heoken found that anorexia nervosa was ten times more likely to occur in females than in men, and addition that the lifetime prevalence of eating disorders for males is 1.4 per 100 male adolescents compared with 23 per 1000 female adolescents. 

As mentioned earlier, eating disorders are a major problem in world today and this is proven by the fact that 12% of young women will experience some type of eating disorder. (V) The statistics for eating disorders is scary and almost unbelievable. The statistics show that eating disorders are leading to people even losing their lives. It is proven that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and in turn every sixty-two minutes at least one person dies as a direct result from an eating disorder. (anad) These statistics show that no one should ever take this disorder lightly and that a cause and resolution needs to be put in place to prevent eating disorders. 

The mindset of many females today is to have the impression to always be thin. No matter what size a person is, most feel the need to be somewhat on the thin side because that is what they see on TV, magazines and on social media by celebrities and other influential people. A focus group was conducted with young women and the majority said that they would rather be very thin than overweight. It has been found that girls are becoming victims to eating disorders because they believe they are following a trend. According to Hages and Ross, young women are more likely to follow a trend if it is linked to attractiveness, appearance and popularity, with no concern with the possible health consequences.  Some people accomplish this by simply working out, eating healthy, plastic surgery, or by other means such as developing an eating disorder. Overall, young women assume that in order to be successful and happy in life, they need to be just as thin as the person they see in that magazine, or on that TV, or on their Instagram page. 

Magazines are not as popular as they use to be maybe say ten years ago, but they are still a form of media that attracts to a younger age group and majority of the readers being females. Some of the major magazines that many young girls and teenagers read are Seventeen, Elle Girl, Teen, Cosmo Girl and many others. The magazines gives the reader the impression that it is popularity contest between them and the girl on the page. Gibbons explains it as the magazine gives the assumption that the reader has defects about their bodies and that those defects need to be fixed. She also mentions that magazines offer more instruction on dieting, which could in turn could be significantly correlated to eating disorders. An alarming stat that Gibbons included in her article showed that thirty-five percent of U.S. girls 6-12 years old have been on at least one diet, and that among normal-weight girls fifty percent to seventy percent consider themselves to be overweight. () A real life example that caused for supporters and advocators of the prevention of eating disorders found a magazine to be practically promoting the reader to have an eating disorder. Some of the slogans used were “How to get an A-list body” like a well-known actress, Jennifer Aniston. Some other slogans that were presented in the article included: “You can get one too”, “The truth behind this body”, “How to get Courteney Cox’s arms, Liz Hurley’s stomach, Pash’s legs…” One of the major titles that caused a big uproar was, “101 star shortcuts to a gorgeous new you”. () All of those slogans and headlines make a reader believe that there is something wrong with the way that they look and that they should strive to be like the celebrities and models in that magazine. Even though magazines are not the most popular media anymore, they still can contribute to the mental psyche of a young girl when it comes down to body issues and then developing eating disorders from those self-perception body issues.

Another form of media that has been linked to the development of eating disorders is television shows and commercials. About ninety-five percent of people own a TV set and watch it on average for about 3-4 hours a day. () That is a lot of exposure to one source of media every day. A person who watches TV for that long cannot help but absorb and almost be persuaded by the ads and shows that come up on their screen. There are so many commercials that appear on every station every day that talk about some kind of weight lost. Some of the ads are beneficial and have a healthy plan to lose weight and does not encourage individuals to look like someone else. On the other hand, there are several commercials out there that influence individuals to lose weight fast or by trying some type of pills that no one knows what are made out of. 