Do images of thin celebrities/models warp adolescent girls body image?
Celebrities and the media coverage of them is one of the main factors which sculpt a young mind to what a “perfect” body is. If it wasn’t for them there wouldn’t be anywhere near as much disillusion to what is normal. Also the messages given out are very confusing. While one week a magazine will be criticising certain celebs for being too thin, the next week the same magazine will be showing close-ups of “cellulite” on those same people! Women of the national average weight or less as constantly called fat. Is there any wonder there are an increasing number of eating disorders? While everyone is trying to attain a ridiculously small dress size, they also want big breasts, which naturally is unlikely and therefore leads to wanting surgery at a very young age. The blasé approach to cosmetic surgery is another problem created by celebrities and the media. Very little is documented about the cons of cosmetic enhancement, leading to young girls thinking extreme surgical procedures are safe
There are so many newspaper ‘moral panic’ stories claiming that thin celebrities or models ’cause’ eating disorders and body dysmorphia in adolescent girls, but I’m a little sceptical of this theory. It seems like it’s simply a celebrity angle to make a health story appear more scandalous and timely – similar to when violent movies or video games are blamed for some horrific crime. It’s clear to see that images of thin young women are pretty ubiquitous at the moment, and I know I’ve certainly felt pangs of envy towards all those toned thighs and slender waists. However, I honestly believe that those insecurities are my own, and not ’caused’ (though perhaps triggered) by images of thin celebrities. If I were totally secure in myself, I wouldn’t be bothered by those images. I feel it’s very irresponsible when journalists outright blame thin models/celebrities for the prevalence of eating disorders. There are many different psychological reasons why people have eating disorders, and I thi
I would say so, yeah. I often feel that I’m absolutely huge but I’m actually a normal size 10 figure and weight around 130 pounds, normal for a girl who’s 5’9”. I’d say that media is getting better at recognising what’s healthy and what’s not in celebrity culture, but it still gives off the impression in advertisements that a size 6-8 with biggish boobs is the only attractive body shape.
