Media, family pressures, and eating disorders

So this should have been up a few days ago but because of personal reasons, I could not post it sooner. Sorry for the delay!

The media plays such a huge role in how people perceive themselves in respect to the actors and actresses on TV or in movies or ads. And it is very easy for society to point the finger of blame at the media’s images of the “ideal body” for causing eating disorders among other body image issues. Having an eating disorder is a lot more common and also a lot more serious than people realize. An eating disorder can have lasting effects on a person aside from the immediate consequences. But the media isn’t the only culprit behind eating disorders, families affect how one perceives themselves as well.

Consider the show on TLC, Toddlers & Tiaras, now whether or not you have never seen an episode the name of the show alone should tell you what the main idea behind it is. This is the description of the show right from TLC’s website,

On any given weekend, on stages across the country, little girls and boys parade around wearing makeup, false eyelashes, spray tans and fake hair to be judged on their beauty, personality and costumes. Toddlers & Tiaras follows families on their quest for sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash. The preparation is intense as it gets down to the final week before the pageant. From hair and nail appointments, to finishing touches on gowns and suits, to numerous coaching sessions or rehearsals, each child preps for their performance. But once at the pageant, it's all up to the judges and drama ensues when every parent wants to prove that their child is beautiful.

From this blurb alone, you can imagine what takes place on the show. It is hard to picture that girls and boys that young are subjected to such extreme measures for a beauty pageant. Something like this pays considerable contribution to body image issues at a very young age. With moms like the ones on the show, its no wonder why children as young as five or six are developing eating disorders. On the show, the girls are forced by their mothers to watch what they eat and as young as seven years old get spray tans and fake teeth so they are “pageant ready.” While not all of this is about eating disorders it does highlight where family pressures come from and how they begin at such a young age.

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/toddlers-tiaras/toddlers-tiaras.html

Wrap Up

So from our discussion we have we have come to see that family, media and society plays a huge role with eating disorders. Media seems to play the biggest, there is alot we can do to prevent eating disorders.  With help from school and parents we can teach young people that being thin isn't the only way to look good.  We epmphasize that too much on being thin, which is unhealthy.  If you look at a lot of our celebrities they are suffering from some kind of eating disorder.  I feel we should focus on getting people to be healthy and fit instead of just pushing to be thin.  It seems it is becomming a bigger andbigger issue in our society.  Not only for teenagers, but affecting children at a very young age when they should be eating more and getting the right ntrition.  They shouldn't be worrying about being thin and dieting, children that young shouldn't have any worries except doing good in school.  Here is a link of ways to prevent eating disorders.

http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/eatingdisorders/preventing_strategies.html

Do you think these are helpful ways to prevent eating disorders?

Does the Media play a part with eating disorders

Here are a few links to look at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TczkBlcAAjs

• What is your opinion about this issue?

A few facts for you to also consider:

-Women now would consider Marilyn Monroe fat.
"Model/Actress Elizabeth Hurley stated in Allure magazine “I’ve always thought Marilyn Monroe looked fabulous, but I’d kill myself if I was that fat.”(http://www.raderprograms.com/special-issues/media-influence)

-A study asked children to assign attractiveness values to pictures of children with various disabilities. The participants rated the obese child less attractive than a child in a wheelchair, a child with a facial deformity, and a child with a missing limb.(http://www.raderprograms.com/special-issues/media-influence).

-81% of ten year old girls are afraid of being fat.


-42% of girls in first through third grades state they want to be thinner.

-A study found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight, than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.
 

• How does this make you feel?
• Should photoshop really be used considering it is unrealistic?

Eating Disorders: What are they? and Who do they Effect?

Third World Countries & the United States


--“"Eating disorder" is when a person eats, or refuses to eat, in order to satisfy a psychic need and not a physical need. The person doesn't listen to bodily signals or perhaps is not even aware of them. A normal person eats when hungry and stops eating when the body doesn't need more, when he feels the signal of satisfaction.

Eating disorders are usually classified as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder in accordance with the symptoms. However, a person may have an eating disorder without belonging exactly to any of these categories.

Those who lose weight because of illness, e.g., cancer, are not considered to have an eating disorder.” –This quote is taken directly from the site, as the definition for eating disorders, as written by Gunborg Palme.

--5 million women (NWHIC); 1-4% of young women in the United States have eating disorders.

--1 in 54 people in the United States alone has an eating disorder.

It was very hard to find online the true statistics of eating disorders in other countries, especially that in third world countries, as sheer numbers cannot take into account social, religious, and racial affects that those with eating disorders maybe experiencing. Yet, here are some statistics that I was able to find:

Iran

1,240,867

Iraq

466,446

Israel

113,952

Jordan

103,147

Kuwait

41,499

Lebanon

69,434

Saudi Arabia

474,190

Syria

331,192

United Arab Emirates

46,395

West Bank 42,485

Yemen

368,104

The left hand column tells the name if the country and the right hand column displays of the number of people, in a populated region with eating disorders.

Also, another fact to keep in mind is that of the condition of third world countries in comparison to the United States. Whereas we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world, third world countries are among the poorest. An effect of this fact is rampant male nutrition, high infant mortality, and overall improper health care. While the United States does share in the high instance of mortality rate, we still spend the most money on health care, and have enough food around to feed those who can afford it.

Also in the United States, there is more of an emphasis on the importance of body image and the way you are perceived by others. This has become one of the driving factors for the occurrence of eating disorders. While in third world countries, the main goal is really survival, and proper nutrition and eating for fuel for the body is what is portrayed in society. Therefore saying that not only does society and its norms and traditions, but the active role that family members take, and the toll that these circumstances have on the family are very important as well. When a person has an eating disorder, it affects everyone around them, especially because it is a disease that is out of their control, leaving people to sometimes feel helpless.



Discussion Questions: What do you think about the instances of eating disorders in third world and other countries?

How do you feel/what is your reaction to the affect that an eating disorder can have on the family?

What other factors do you think play into family lives and how eating disorders begin?

 Do you feel as though society focuses on females with eating disorders rather than males? Do you think that this is a gender bias? Why or Why not?


-Chelsea Lepkowski

Familial Relationships in Response to Eating Disorders

Family relationships used to be a lot more valued than they are today. Families [grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc] used to rely on each other a lot more than they do nowadays. Now, it's more about the nuclear family or even the individual within that family. When there is a disconnect between the individual and the rest of the family, it makes it easier to hide things. For example, eating disorders. Even if the other members suspect something is going on, it can feel like they are prying too much if they ask about another person's eating habits. The tension that amounts from this kind of behavior can really affect the family. For example, I read in one article that, when an eating disorder is discovered within a family, it controls everyone within that family (Tiemeyer). It says that sometimes caregivers of people with eating disorders can lose their freedom too, because they are being monitored by the person with the eating disorder (Tiemeyer). They look at the kinds of food the caregiver buys, the amount they buy, how they cook, when they choose to serve meals, etc. The caregiver feels as though they should make choices in order to please the one with the eating disorder (Tiemeyer). This creates a massive amount of stress within families because, as Tiemeyer states again, the eating disorder consumes the lives of those who have it, and thus it's very easy for the people that are close to get sucked in too.

A second article I read attempted to explain where eating disorders possibly come from. They hypothesized that eating disorders are a result of an ego deficit, which can come from the inability of the mother to comfort the child and care for their needs(HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer). Since the person sees themself as lacking, then they must make up for it by controlling some other part of their life. The article also noted a correlation between the severity of eating disorders and the severity of disorganization inside the family. The more chaos in a person's life, the more they need to control something. In contrast to the first article, the second one seems to only blame the family for eating disorders by saying that, " the verbal content of their [other family members] messages contradicted their nonverbals" (HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer). This is saying that, even though a person may be saying one thing, their non verbal actions might be completely contradictory and those are the ones that the person with the eating disorder may pick up on.

While one article seeks to explain what happens to a family as a cause of an eating disorder, the second article blames the cause of eating disorders squarely on the family.

1. In what other ways do you think eating disorders affect the family? Community? Society?
2. Which of the two articles do you agree with most? [See citations to find links to the actual articles].
3. Do you think that blame for an eating disorder should fall squarely on the family's shoulders? Why or why not?

Tiemeyer, M. (2007). How Eating Disorders Affect a Family's Meals, Time, and Money. About.com: Eating Disorders. Retrieved from http://eatingdisorders.about.com/od/informationforparents/a/effectonmeals.htm

HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer. (2008). Eating Disorders and Family Relationships. Retrieved from http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/main/eating-disorders-and-family-relationships/menu-id-58/page-2/

Posted by Lyndsay Whitaker

Eating Disroder Quiz

Do you worry about gaining weight?
Constantly
Often
Rarely (a normal amount)
Are you inexplicably tired relative to the amount of energy expended, and/or do you find yourself often fatigued?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Do you avoid foods because of the fat, carbohydrate, or sugar content in them?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Are you secretive about your eating practices, do you think they are abnormal, and/or would you avoid recommending your methods to a family member or friend?
Yes
Maybe
No
How often do you think about wanting to be thinner?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Do you find that you seek approval from people, and/or that you have a hard time saying "no"?
Yes
Maybe
No
Are you bothered by the thought of having fat on your body?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you feel guilty after eating?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Do you feel that food controls your life?
Yes
Maybe
No
Are you a perfectionist, or an overachiever? Ie. do you think no matter what you do it is never enough?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you find that you are always questioning your own judgments and/or actions, and/or do you scrutinize yourself over small faults?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Do you think you are not good enough, stupid, and/or worthless or that people are always judging you in a negative way?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Do you hide your feelings and/or opinions from people for fear of being judged negatively, and/or do you feel like a burden to others with your problems?
Yes
Maybe
No
Within your family and/or circle of friends are you considered "the strong one" who everyone will come to with problems, and/or you never seem to talk much about your own?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you think life would be better and/or people would like you more if you were thin/thinner?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you eat, self-starve or restrict, binge and/or purge, and/or compulsively exercise when you are feeling lonely, badly about yourself or about a situation, or when you are feeling emotional pressures?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
While eating, self-starving, or binging and/or purging do you feel comforted, relieved, like emotional pressures have been lifted, or like you are in more control?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you feel guilty following a binge and/or purge episode, after eating or during and/or after periods of restriction/self-starvation?
Yes
Maybe
No
When eating do you ever feel out of control or like you will lose control and not be able to stop; and/or do you try to avoid eating because of this fear?
Constantly
Often
Rarely(a normal amount)
Do you typically feel guilty after a binge, or after any snack or meal, and like you have almost instantly gained weight, like you are a failure, and/or like you have sabotaged yourself?
Yes
Maybe
No
Are you temperature sensitive (always feel cold or hot), and/or do you get tingling in you extremities (hands and feet)?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you find that you bruise easily, have a very high tolerance for pain, and/or you are extremely noise sensitive (even only slightly loud noises irritate you)?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you spend a lot of time obsessively cooking for others or reading recipes, and/or studying the nutritional information on food (calories, fat grams, etc.)?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you use self-injury (cutting yourself, burning yourself, pulling out your own hair) as a way to cope with things?
Yes
Maybe
No
Do you lie about your eating behaviors, hide them from others at all costs, and/or would you lie or steal to see they could continue?
Yes
Maybe
No
Would you worry about a friend or family member that came to you with similar weight-loss/coping methods?
Yes
Maybe
No
If you answered more than two questions with "Yes" or "Constantly," you should contact our eating disorder clinic for a more thorough and personalized assessment of the eating behavior. Even if you answered numerous questions with "Maybe" or "Often," it is possible that you may be suffering from an eating disorder or at risk of developing a disorder. It is much better to talk with an eating disorder expert and have your questions answered than risk developing a potentially deadly eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia, or compulsive overeating.