Social Issue: Anorexia

Does the role media play in society, influence the development of eating disorders in women?

Yes. Even during childhood, children are taught by society that what you look like matters. As we all know, children and teens are surrounded by ads that promote weight loss systems and men/ women with incredibly thin bodies which are yet all superficial. All of these ads clearly state that being thin means being perfect, and beautiful.
Thin women are often portrayed as amazing, successful, and beautiful people while others are seen as lazy couch potatoes. Take Barbie for example. Barbie is an very un-proportioned doll that leans toward the belief that being thin, being object-oriented, and being beautiful simply equals happiness. children, and also teens are impressionable and seek to be like the role models surrounding them. Barbie is actually often blamed for the development of eating disorders and body image issues. In Barbie world, Barbie is perfect. When children see that, they feel that they also need to be perfect.
The media in society really influences teens and women. Every where you go, you find magazines with all these gorgeous models that are oh so very thin. These images often catch the eyes of young women and make these girls feel self conscious about their own body. This obsession about being thin gets to them. That, then results in starvation.
Ballet dancers, gymnasts and figure skaters are easy targets when it comes to eating disorders. Dancers are often faced with stress to be the best dancers out of all the other dancers, and want to perfect their performances. All of this stress often leads these dancer into body image problems. Their peers and instructors sometimes may pressure dancers to maintain a perfect image. With the stresses of competition, this just complicates everything. Heidi Guenther was a ballerina who died at age 22 in 1997. She was told that she was, "Too chunky", by a theater company. That led to her anorexia, and then one day collapsed.
In our society, anorexia is a growing social issue. Thousands are affected by anorexia.

Social Awareness project

#1: Media: October 26th: "Nightmarish stories of mortgage modification woes" 

          Bank paper can really weigh people down. A home owner is trying to modify her mortgage to fax documents to a certain department. But the bank says, that she is not eligible and then says they now cannot find any modification request at all.

October 25th: "Health in the Media" 

          People with certain illnesses that run in their family should improve their health by eating more of something, or less of something else.

October 15th: "U.S will enforce marijuana laws, state vote aside"

          In Los Angeles, the department of justice is saying that they intend to prosecute marijuana laws in california aggressively even if state voters approve.

October 20th: "How to really end, "don't ask, don't tell"

          The, "Don't ask, don't tell", policy states that if you are gay, and you join the military, the people there are not allowed to ask if you are gay. But you are not allowed to say that your are gay or else, you will be kicked out.

October 27th: "Murderer executed in Arizona"

          The state of Arizona executed Jefferey Landrigan, after the supreme courts lifted court's injunction blocking the lethal injection. Landrigan, was convicted of murder in 1990.

#2: Observing my surroundings: Bullying, Racism, Sexism, Ageism.

Sexism: On the street, I constantly hear people saying sexist comments. Things like, "You can't watch that movie, your a girl!". Or, " You can play that video game, your a girl!". I seriously find that offensive and unfair. We (notice I underlined "we") are all equal. This goes for girls and boys. People don't realize but, sexism is also an issue for boys as well. People may say that the movie/book, "The notebook", is too, "girly", for guys, and that guys can't watch it because its a, "chick flick". This all comes down to social norms, and how certain things are expected from a girl, or a boy. Not all girls love or have to love the color pink. Not all boys have or have to have their pants down to their knees or like sports. 

#3: True story: Rebecca Grimsted, is a girl who lives on my block. On the bus in the mornings, Rebecca always offers her seat to old people, or pregnant people, or people with children. You don't really see that everyday. What Rebecca does may be small, but what she does still helps.