Introduction
Eating disorders affect 70 million people across the world (mirror-mirror.org), most of whom are young females. Studies such as Anne Becker’s have proved that youth world wide is heavily affected by the images and messages they are viewing on television. It is important that we pay attention to studies such as Becker’s that expose the problem as world wide instead of focusing on only the issues of American youth, especially since it is American media that is causing these self-esteem issues in countries like Fiji.
How does media affect adolescents?
Becker studied the affect that Western television and media had on young girls in Fiji and found that they “demonstrated a dramatic increase in indicators of disordered eating durin the 3 years following the study” (pg. 534). Western media is so effective and damaging because of the way products are marketed, ads are designed to make the viewer aware of something that they are lacking and pitch the product to fix the problem or provide the solution (O’Connor 2000; see also Mazzarella 2003).
Adolescents are already going through a trying stage in life, going through puberty and trying to figure out who they are. It is easy for young adults to get peer-pressured into wanting so desperately to fit in with the status quo that they are willing to change the way they look to be what society deems as attractive at that time. As someone who has suffered from an eating disorder, I can attest that most of my high expectations of what my body should look like came from the media, not real-life girls that I knew.
Statistics
Eating disorders affect all races and ethnic groups.
Out of the 70 million people who suffer from eating disorders, 30 million are American.
An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa at some point in their lifetime. Research suggests that about 1 percent of female adolescents have anorexia.
An estimated 1.1 to 4.2 percent of women have bulimia nervosa in their lifetime.
Onset of anorexia nervosa is most commonly around the same time as puberty.
Binge Eating Disorder was found to usually start during late adolescence or in the early twenties.
Youth may spend 33-50% of their time with some form of mass media.
How has Western media affected other women worldwide?
While American women are being subjected to the idea that they must have be thin to be pretty, women across the world are being taught that they must be white to be pretty. In modern Western society, thin is in and anything else is undesirable, which is a prime motivator for young women to want to lose weight or change how they look. While this might not be the trend in other regions, the Western-standard of beauty has become idolized across the world because Western culture has been spread throughout every continent. Few companies make different ads for each country, so the same ad showing a tall, pale, blonde French woman in a Dior ad will still show the same woman exemplifying the Western standard of beauty in Asia with very different body types.
It is because of this mass Western propaganda that therefor whatever is in with Western culture becomes the newest trend for other countries across the globe. Whether it is lighter hair, skin, or a thinner body, women across the globe are conforming to the standards of Western beauty, no matter how unrealistic they are. The beauty industry makes thousands of dollars off of products such as relaxers which are used to make typically curly African hair replicatethe silky and straight hair ideal of caucasian women. Expert Susie Orbach says it best, “Just as English has become the lingua franca of the world, so is the white, blondified, small-nosed, pert-breasted, long-legged body…”.
Media Literacy
How can we possibly prevent this influx of mass Westernized media from damaging our youth’s self-esteem and creating a lifetime of body issues? A Spanish study (Espinoza) found that by improving children’s media literacy, they were less at risk for developing lower self-esteem and feel less pressured to look a certain way. This program taught children about proper nutrition and that being thin does not necessarily mean being healthy and that they didn’t need to look like the women on television to be beautiful. By implementing more programs like this into our education systems world wide, we can save lives and prevent our children from learning to hate their bodies from normalized toxic beauty standards. Not only do we need to teach American girls to deny the immense pressure to look a certain way, but we need to teach girls around the world that they don’t need to fit another culture’s version of beauty.
References
Becker, Anne E. TELEVISION, DISORDERED EATING, AND YOUNG WOMEN IN FIJI: NEGOTIATING BODY IMAGE AND IDENTITY DURING RAPID SOCIAL CHANGE. 2004. Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. Web.
Espinoza, Paola; Mora, Marisol; Penelo, Eva; Gutierrez, Teresa; Gonzalez, Marcela L; et al. Assessment of Two School-Based Programs to Prevent Universal Eating Disorders: Media Literacy and Theatre-Based Methodology in Spanish Adolescent Boys and Girls. The Scientific World Journal; Cairo (2015). DOI:10.1155/2015/328753.Web.
Harrison, Kristen. The Body Electric: Thin-Ideal Media and Eating Disorders in Adolescents. Summer 2000. Journal of Communications. International Communication Association. Web.
Melitauri, Nutsa. “Western Culture and Beauty Ideals”. Peacockplume.fr. Feb, 2016. Web.
Miller, Merry N; Pumariega, Andres J. Culture and eating disorders: A historical and cross-cultural review. Psychiatry; Washington Vol. 64, Iss. 2, (Summer 2001): 93-110. Web.
Mirror-mirror.org. 2018. https://www.mirror-mirror.org/eating-disorders-statistics.htm. Web.
Zeilinger, Julie. “The Disturbing Effect Our Beauty Standards Have on Women Across the World”. Feb, 2015. Mic Network Inc. Web.
CNN.com. “Going to extremes: Eating disorders”. National Eating Disorders Association. Web. http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/health/infographic.eating.disorders/index.html
Rehabs.com. “Dying to be Barbie.” 2012. Web. https://www.rehabs.com/explore/dying-to-be-barbie/#.W3ouHa3My8U
UM-D Women's & Gender Studies
UM-D Gender & Globalization 
Those statistics are pretty scary, especially seeing that most children are using and somewhat understand technology as soon as 3 to 4 years old. So Im assuming social media will continue to affect younger and younger children. I do feel that educating children on unrealistic expectations of the media is a big step. I don’t think it will solve all the problems but education is the best defense against ignorance.
Though it does not surprise me that people are insecure regarding their body image due to social media, and are even developing eating disorders in an effort to attain the unattainable, it’s still really scary to think about. People don’t understand the power that mass media possesses. This is especially true for teens who are already undergoing a lot of change, mentally and physically, so I can understand why they are so susceptible to these disorders. Though I do like the idea of teaching children about nutrition and that beauty and health is not defined by thinness, I still feel as though mass media plays too large a role in the perceptions that children and teens have. I do appreciate that many social media stars are shedding light on the issue in explaining that perfection is not real, and should not be a goal of others.
You are not alone, I myself struggled with an eating disorder in high school because I use to be obsessed with how thin models looked on social media. The power of mass media has a huge impact especially on young girls and young boys trying to define who they are in the early stages. I like how you used fair and lovely as an example, its the most common one we have in the middle east. Almost all women use it.
Western standards of beauty are pervasive, as can be seen through cultural examples and observation, and now it seems as though it is a pattern that is being studied which is beneficial in order to counteract it. The global implications of applying a universal standard of beauty are intrrestinf, especially when it comes to western commercials. I hadn’t thought about how the same American commercials are shown in other countries and how that would be damaging to a person’s self esteem when they are not a white American. Since Americanism is associated with wealth and status, it makes sense that these standards of beauty would be symbolic of something more in other countries. The ironic thing is that often even white Americans are unable to meet their cultures standard of idealized beauty, making it even more toxic and impossible for other people from other cultures to attempt to meet these standards. It is unfortunate that eating disorders transcend cultural borders, and that American values and media are often responsible for them.