Media, Appearance and Eating Disorders Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

Media, Appearance and Eating Disorders    Many women are concerned with their appearance. Too many of them are caught up with the image of being skinny and pretty. By seeing all the beautiful, thin women in the media and in society, they may feel insecure about the way they look. Therefore, they try and do anything they can to acquire that appearance. Methods they use to try and achieve this are by self-starvation, known as Anorexia, or induced vomiting, known as Bulimia. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are only two of the eating disorders that often result from their incessant desire to be thin and "beautiful." Eating disorders, such as these, also occur amongst men. However, it is less common. "Standards for males simply are not as extreme or as inimical to normal body builds as are women's standards" (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 8). It is not just the biological aspect, though, that makes this occur more often in women. Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley claim On even a practical level, women's self-image, their social and economic success and even their survival can still be determined largely by their beauty and by the men it allows them to attract, while for men these are based largely on how they act and what they accomplish. Looks simply are of secondary importance for male success. (9) Beauty and fashion are also in part with their desire for social acceptance and success. Women try to meet an unreasonable weight standard because fashion requires them to. Men are encouraged to be strong and powerful. As they work to develop their power in the gym and at work, they associate "thin" with "skinny" and "weak." Even though female models often look frail, (which men hate in themselves), fema... ...school, a majority of the guys would pine after the thin, pretty girls. The girls, "with meat on them," would often be jealous of, therefore, feeling they are not thin enough to be beautiful. Low self-esteem and eating disorders would then result from these feelings. I, personally, do not think that "thin is beautiful." Not only by your exterior, but what kind of a person you are and what you have inside, makes you beautiful.       Works Cited Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. Updated September 2001. http://www.anred.com. November 27, 2001. Fallon, Patricia, Melanie A. Katzman, and Susan C. Wooley, eds. Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders. New York: Guilford Press, 1994. Wolf, Naomi. "The Beauty Myth." Signs of Life. 3rd edition. Comp. and ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2000. 481-89.