“can we ever be TOO skinny?”

Recently, I have found myself interested in media’s effects on young women. The issue of beauty, sex appeal, and confidence is often questioned by girls throughout their entire lives, especially their teenage years. This video clip is a perfect example of this influence of the media here in the U.S.

This video is shocking to me in many ways. Other than the obvious appearance change of this woman, she also states that her eating disorder was developed around her 20s, when she moved to the United States. This woman was once beautiful, as you could see in the start of the film. Although she does not elaborate upon what exactly influenced her beginning of her eating disorder, it is VERY interesting to see that it began when she moved here, to the U.S.

Magazines, TV shows, commercials and billboards are prime examples of promoting this overly “skinny” image for women. When watching TV for no longer than an hour at a time, I saw three dieting commercials, along with one diet supplement commercial as well. It is something that we as Americans have become accustomed to, listening to the media. I used to feel myself not being fazed by the advertisements that the media would display, but I am raising awareness now.

Women in the United States are told to be “skinny” . This term is different depending on where you are around the world. For example, a place like Russia welcomes the idea of larger sized women, because the larger you are, the wealthier you must be. It is confusing to try and figure out, how our society and media got to be this way, so vain.

Another shocking part of this video clip is when the woman states that she has received many emails from girls, asking her how to get as skinny as she is. I personally do not think that the woman in the video is “skinny”, she is far beyond that and has become emaciated. I am glad to see that women who have suffered with anorexia are realizing that this madness needs to stop. Although eating disorders appear to be a physical concept, it begins from within, inside of the mind.

Young girls grow up seeing highly underweight models, celebrities and role models. This push for being “skinny” puts the ideas and thoughts of doing whatever it takes to become thin in these young girls minds. When underweight women is all that we see in the tabloids, what else are we to do but try and fit in to the status quo.

Anorexia and Bulimia is a growing problem for women in the United States. Something that is shocking to me is how much these diseases have become just another everyday aspect of life. I think that eating disorders are seen as a minuscule problem, but it is way more than that. In order to change and reverse the ways of these eating disorders, we must start with the media. The influence of the media is larger than we could have imagined in the United States, especially on young girls. It is important that we end the obsession with body image, because if we don’t, our society will continue to fade away, LITERALLY!