Center on Media and Child Health

Glamorizing Thinness through Pro-Anorexia Websites

Last week, the French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would make it illegal to publicly glamorize or encourage extreme thinness. In particular, the bill cracks down on “pro-ana”—or pro-anorexia—websites, where people with eating disorders can go for advice on how to lose weight, for photos of waif-like celebrities that offer “Thinspiration,” and for general support.

Pro-ED (eating disorder) websites have raised controversy for as long as they've existed--in fact, when public, most are taken down within days of appearing on the web. And although some call these sites sanctuaries for people with common experiences, others see them as "encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would...[expose] them to risk of death or directly compromise health," which would make them illegal under this bill.

See research about pro-anorexia websites:

• Bardone-Cone et al (2007). "What does viewing a pro-anorexia website do? An experimental examination of website exposure and moderating effects."
• Bardone-Cone et al (2006). "Investigating the impact of pro-anorexia websites: a pilot study."
• Dias (2003). "The ANA sanctuary: Women's pro-anorexia narratives in cyberspace."
• Fox et al (2005). "Pro-anorexia, weight-loss drugs and the Internet: An 'anti-recovery' explanatory model of anorexia."

Dove Real Beauty Followup

In February, we posted some fun resources for teaching students about media and body image.  One of those resources was a Dove ad showing the behind-the-scenes footage of how a regular woman is transformed into a model.  The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty aims to show the beauty of everyday women by highlighting the unrealistic ideals shown in the media.  Their newest ad in the campaign has been released.  Titled "Onslaught", it shows how girls are bombarded throughout their lives with beauty messages:

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood warns that although this message is positive, Dove's parent company (Unilever) owns brands like Axe body spray, notorious for their ads focusing on women's immediate attraction to men wearing the scent. 

 

The Early Sexualization of Girls

Anyone who has seen the minuscule outfits sported by Bratz dolls or watched a music video lately can tell you that young women and girls are increasingly being portrayed as sex objects.  Today, the American Psychological Association released a report on the sexualization of girls and women in advertising, merchandising, and media.  Their review of research shows consequences in a number of areas:

• Cognitive and Emotional Health: Sexualized images can cause people to be uncomfortable with their own bodies, leading to anxiety and shame.
• Mental and Physical Health:  Eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression have all been linked to sexualization in the media. 
• Sexual Development:  Girls may have trouble developing a healthy sexual self-image if all they see in the media are unhealthy sexual behaviors.

Read more about the report:

• USA Today article
• APA Press Release
• Full Report
• What Parents Can Do

Fun Resources for Body Image Media Mastery

Anyone who compares themselves to celebrities and models always falls short.  No one can live up to the flawless images in advertising or on the red carpet.  On top of having an entire staff of stylists ready to make them look good, photos are often digitally retouched for advertisements and magazines. 

Next week, CMCH will be partnering with TeamUp Marblehead to speak to 7th and 8th grade students about how media affect body image.  In our presentations, we use these fun resources to give students a "behind the scenes" look at how ads and magazine photos are altered to present an image of perfection:

• Greg Apodaca's Portfolio - roll over the picture to see how digital retouching makes this woman have a smaller waist, a larger chest, clearer skin, a smaller belly button, and no wrinkles.


• Fluid Effect - click on Portfolio, then Before & After to see how these photos are changed so that people appear flawless.


• This video shows how a woman is transformed from regular person to billboard ad:

Dieting Articles Lead to Unhealthy Weight Control

In a 5-year study of over 2,500 teens, van den Berg et al found that reading magazine articles about diet and weight loss lead to unhealthy weight control behaviors among girls.  Compared to girls who did not read these articles, frequent readers were twice as likely to skip meals, fast, and smoke cigarettes, and three times as likely to vomit or use laxatives in an attempt to control their weight. 

In an Associated Press article about the study, CMCH Researcher Alison Field commented: "The articles may be offering advice such as cutting out trans fats and soda, and those are good ideas for everybody...But the underlying messages these articles send are 'You should be concerned about your weight and you should be doing something.'"

See more research on magazines and body image from the CMCH Database of Research.