Yar Bak Professor: L.

Bennett ENGL: 1010 Class: T/R 2:30-3:50PM Date: 2/20/2014 Annotated Bibliography Body Image and Eating Disorders Society shows its Influence on Body Image and Eating Disorders approximately 8 million people in the U.S. have eating disorders, about 3% of the entire population. That means that 3 out of every 100 people are diagnosed or suffer from extreme eating habits including starving, binge eating, purging after eating and over exercising in order to get rid of their calorie intake. Eating disorders stem from poor body image and low self-esteem which focuses on the way those with eating disorders view themselves compared to society. Siegel-Itzkovich, Judy. "Hunger for Change in Eating Disorders." Jerusalem Post (International). 17 Feb. 2013: 6. SIRS Issues Researcher.Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

In the article Hunger for Change in Eating Disorders, Judy Siegel-Itzkovich says that Dr. Rachel Adatto proposed something called the Photoshop Law at an international conference, which the Israeli Association of Eating Disorders organized. The law, which she conceded is imperfect, prevents the use of presenters or models in advertisements that are anorectic and requires photos that have been doctored with computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop to disclose that fact. A Body Mass Index of 18.5 is considered underweight. This is how the Photoshop Law is regulated; models or presenters aren't

allowed to have a lower BMI than 18.5. If their BMI is too low, they can't be in a published advertisement. I think if teenagers weren't constantly seeing unusually thin people, who most likely have and eating disorder, are extremely unhealthy, or are photoshopped, they would feel better about their own bodies. A similar law as the Photoshop Law could help solve the problem of eating disorders and poor body image in the United States. If teens realized that it isn't natural for models and celebrities to look like that, and that a lot of it is photoshopped, they wouldn't chase after an unhealthy and unrealistic body type.

Totally in control. (n.d). Social issues research centre. Retrieved from http//: www.sirc.org

Stacy London, from What Not to Wear, gives an example of the pressure to be thin that lies within magazine companies. She states that she was so devastated that she couldnt be like all the beautiful people she worked with at Vogue", a popular fashion magazine, she consumed tens of thousands of calories a day in order to curb her depression. Stacy could have easily developed an eating disorder like bulimia since she was constantly eating her emotions of not feeling good enough for her work place. She gained a lot of weight, and her fianc left her due to her new look. While being surrounded by "flawless" people, disheartened feelings about the reflection in the mirror and why you dont look as good as they do begin to surface. These feelings, as seen in Stacy Londons story, are what begin to destroy positive body image and that is what eating disorders stem from. The problem is that models in magazines give teenagers motive to starve to perfection so they can look the way they do. However, teenagers do not realize that the

pictures they see in the magazines are not natural, the pictures they see are photo shopped. A variety of different things cause poor body image. According to one source, the biggest impacts are making comparisons with others, bullying, media, and celebrities. Social networking is a more recent form of media in our society that causes problems. In an online survey, over half of the participators said that facebook makes them feel more conscious about their weight. Everyone wants to be successful, so the act and try to look the way that media wants to in order to be noticed. Social networking and other media is a problem because it implies that being skinny is necessary to being attractive. In some cases individuals resort to unhealthy and dangerous solutions. These solutions include anorexia and binging and purging, which are clinically diagnosed as eating disorders.

Laurance, Jeremy. "Hundreds of Websites Urging Girls to 'Starve for Perfection'." The Independent. 28 Nov. 2012: 16. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Eating disorders bring to a close from poor body image and low self-esteem which focuses on the way those with eating disorders view themselves compared to society. Teenagers have become self-conscious about the size of clothes they wear because actors and models wear sizes that the average person cannot fit into. In looking for a quick fix, they pursue unhealthy habits in order to drop weight fast and loose inches - all to fit the image society portrays as beautiful. Keeping this in mind, can the question, is society to blame for the obsession over body image and the mentality that eating disorders are a reasonable solution. In my opinion one of the largest influences on teenage girls is the media. The media pushes body image, clothes, and fast food. At the same time they push weight lose with unrealistic results.

Statistics: How many people have eating disorders? (n.d). Anred. Retrieved from http://www.anred.com Even though a large portion of American teenagers are overweight now or will end up overweight, it is believed that society pressures them to be thin. The overwhelming push for teens to fit into small sizes needs to come to a stop; teenagers are destroying their self-esteem and body image and many are dying every year from eating disorders. America has unrealistic expectations for people these days in wanting everyone to be thin, beautiful, and fit the prototype. The problem is that the definitions for these characteristics vary from person to person. Society, however, has found a way to get across what the ideal body is.