Ads from Google:


Google ad
End of ad
Google Adsense ad
End of ads.

Factors Causing Ill-Health in our Culture: Normal Girls Pressed to Be Abnormally Slim

Abstract: Contradictory signals in our culture causes ill-health in teenagers.

Web4Health logo
psychologist Independent medical expert answers on psychiatry and psychology

Factors Causing Ill-Health in our Culture: Normal Girls Pressed to Be Abnormally Slim

Intelligent natural language question-answering in the area of psychology and psychiatry. Ask a simple question  Local help Info


Go the top of the page Top Forum iconDiscuss this Forum iconGet expert advice Printer Print
Question(s): 
Written by: Gunborg Palme, certified psychologist and certified psychotherapist, teacher and tutor in psychotherapy.
First version: 22 Jul 2008.
Latest revision: 22 Jul 2008.

How does media affect body image of women, and which risks are associated with these effects? What is the media effect on body image of women? Are Normal Teen Girls pressed to be abnormally slim?

Answer:

A psychotherapist told me that she was at the cinema with two teenage girls who had bought large packets of sweets which they ate during the performance. Later, at a restaurant, they felt so satiated they were unable to eat any nutritious food.

The film Pearl Harbor had three leading roles:

The two male roles were played by actors of normal weight, while the actress playing the female role was extremely slim and this was frequently emphasised. Afterwards, both girls said how much they enjoyed the film and how beautiful the leading actress was. They wanted to look like her.

Nowadays, we are surrounded by tempting junk food which tends to push out the nutritious food children need in order to maintain health and strength. Seemingly abstract notions such as vitamins, mineral nutrients, amino acids, etc. lack attractiveness.

The message society gives to those girls is full of contradictions. On one hand it emphasises an abnormally slim female figure as ideal and on the other they are tempted to eat unhealthy fattening junk food. This media effect on the body image of women is dangerous. It is not surprising that some teenagers become ill when subjected to such contradictory propaganda.

Society must change its message as it is directed towards innocent children who are unable to appreciate the long-term consequences of replacing nutritious food with empty calories. Teenage girls are especially vulnerable to the idea that an attractive woman is extremely slim. In order to become as slim as the heroine in the film, many women must develop an eating disorder. Even then only a few will succeed and the rest will get bulimia nervosa and perhaps never achieve the super slim ideal.

It is imperative that society change its message concerning both junk food and the slimness ideal. Society has done this for tobacco, alcohol and drugs by means of a combination of legislation and public opinion. Many countries now have laws which in various ways, forbid or limit advertising of these harmful substances.

If society can successfully limit smoking by legislation, it should be possible to use the same method in the area of eating disorders. Self-control is insufficient. Legislation or some other action by society is essential if we are to prevent generations of young women destroying their lives by eating disorders. The idealization of unhealthily slim women in the mass media must be discussed together with restrictions on advertising harmful junk food.

Intelligent natural language question-answering in the area of psychology and psychiatry. Ask a simple question:
Local help Info
Google ad
End of ad
Disclaimer: The documents contained in this web site are presented for information purposes only. The material is in no way intended to replace professional medical care or attention by a qualified psychiatrist or psychotherapist. It can not and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or choice of treatment. If you find anything wrong, please notify us at .
Go to top of page To top of page
Web4Health in other languages: Finnish German Greek Italian Polish Russian Swedish
Copyright 2003-2017 Web4Health.
Web4Health was selected as finalist for the 2008 Stockholm Challenge Award
Translate Web4Health
We seek voluntary translators who are interested in translating Web4Health to new languages. We can provide the servers, and pay you 50 % of the income from ads on pages, which you have translated. We are especially interested in translators from German To English, From German, Swedish or English to French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Finnish, Polish, Farsi, Russian.
web4health.info/en/tr/

Advertise here
Reach 300 000 visitors reading one million pages for a cost of 600 US $/month.
/en/ad/