I think one of the most important guest
lectures presented was the one about eating disorders and body image by Sandrine
Bosshardt and Sarah Chatfield. Eating disorders are becoming increasingly
prevalent among our population and I think the majority of people suffer from
poor body image. A lot of people don’t realize the dangers of eating disorders
because they do not have all the facts about how hard it truly is on your body.
People are desperate to be attractive/wanted and are willing to go to great
lengths to achieve that level of acceptance. I believe a key factor in all of
this is that there are many people who do not understand how to appropriately lose
weight. If people were better educated about nutrition and weight maintenance
then perhaps they would not feel the need to go to such great measures. One who
is uneducated about proper nutrition most likely associates food with weight
gain so not eating means losing weight. This, of course, is terribly wrong, but
people who are not well-educated and therefore do not know how to properly go
about losing excess weight are susceptible to believing this lie. However,
there are also many people who do not have eating disorders, but there is a
good chance they have a poor body image.
Body image
is another huge issue that has affected many people for a very long time.
Magazines, advertisements, etc. showcase downright unrealistic expectations. Women
in magazine pictures are enhanced using Photoshop, but no woman actually looks
like that. NO ONE is perfect. We all have our flaws. We all are beautiful in
our own way. Bottom line – magazine pictures are not real images. They are
fake. Yet they have a very real effect on our society. These photos are like
poison in our world. They implant completely unattainable standards into our
brains. They highlight every insecurity we have. They make us feel inadequate. Girls
either kill themselves trying to look like these models or their self-esteem is
dwindled to the point of non-existence. These “perfect” images can create/cause
eating disorders in girls. I’ve watched several of my friends go through this
and really struggle with their body image. It’s heart breaking and I do not
think anyone should have to deal with this.
These fake images are detrimental
to not only our own personal health, but to our society as a whole. This may seem
like an individual health issue, but it is public health because it affects us
all. They are everywhere we look and are creating health issues in a growing
number of people. What would it look like for us to take up a public health
campaign to stop these photographic lies or at least pass laws that regulate
how much companies can distort these images?
Shelby Gray
I'm an advertising major and there have been several successful attempts to either block or remove certain campaigns that encourage these negative body images. It's definitely still a widespread issue, and it's an uphill battle, but there is hope while we are still trying!
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ReplyDeleteI agree with this lecture being one of the most important we had. Eating disorders are so common, especially in teenagers and young adults who are just trying to fit. It is true that many people are uneducated about the proper way to lose weight and so they begin to turn to starvation and binge/purging as an easy way to lose weight. What they do not know is how harmful the effects can be on the body. Many people are also looking to lose a lot of weight within in two-weeks or some other unrealistic time period. It is important for people to educate people with the proper techniques to lose weight for the long term so they can live happy, healthy lives. One major reason eating disorders are so common is because of all of the celebrities and models who seem to have perfect bodies are on the covers of magazines. These photoshopped images give a false representation of actual human bodies and cause many young people to feel as though they have to look like a certain way in order to be considered beautiful or handsome. A few years ago, Dove launched a campaign for Real Beauty. In this campaign, six women of all different shapes and sizes were photographed in their undergarments and then the picture was put on a billboard in Times Square. The photo was not photoshopped and this campaign is a step in the right direction to help end poor body image and many eating disorders.
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