Media's Influence On Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are a daily struggle for 10 million females and 1 million males in the United States. Both males and females face the harsh effects of social norms surrounding their lives in their environments. There is pressure in order to meet the unreachable expectations society as a whole puts on both gender types, leading to feelings of disappointment and false hope. Eating disorders are one of the many effects of high expectations and harsh pressures people face in their surrounding culture. Eating disorders can be caused due to the media’s false advertisement which displays the idea of transforming a person’s body into something it is not in order to gain happiness, wealth, love, etc. Advertisements for beauty products, such as makeup, encourage girls that it is

By displaying the “perfect” picture of how one should look, this causes oneself to develop feelings of insecurity and a lack of confidence. The image which is portrayed by various advertisements is not actually possible, yet many still hope to change who they are in order to fit into society’s expectations. Many will push themselves far past the breaking point without even realizing it. By striving for the perfect body image, many people will experience an eating disorder due to all of the pressure around them and the pressure they put upon themselves. This amount of pressure many feel can come from the immense amount of advertisements they see everyday, which, unfortunately, promotes an unachievable image. These advertisements, including makeup ads, cause one to hide who they are because they feel as though it is not good enough. Social norms are very difficult to deal with due to the unreachable expectations set for both males and females, causing them to believe they must change who they are and what they look like in order to find