The media has a very complicated relationship with eating disorders. There are many different crosscurrents in the ways the media treats food, bodies, individuals with eating disorders, and weight issues. Any conversation about the media and eating disorders must take into account that at any given moment there are many levels of complexity in the conversation.
We know that the images presented in the media are highly distorted, extreme, and often present an image that is frankly disordered. In general, the thin female ideal is almost universal in media images. At the same time, food advertisers devote vast amounts of time and energy to encourage people to overeat. Shows such as
Man v. Food present unrealistic expectations of what people can cook and consume. While, on shows like
Dr. 90210 and
The Swan, plastic surgeons and dermatologists suggest ongoing surgical modifications of whatever body type you happen to have. The media, therefore, is both triggering and confusing and will leave almost anyone unhappy with their body and convinced there is something they need to do to change how they look.
However, when someone is ill with an eating disorder, or dies from an eating disorder, the media usually turns away. Recent
deaths of celebrities tend to focus on drugs, alcohol consumption, sexual behaviors, incompetent physicians, Hollywood pressures, and other issues without ever asking the question “could an eating disorder have caused or contributed to this death?” Given the extraordinarily
high mortality of eating disorders, the highest of any other mental illness, and the prevalence in our culture, this is a glaring omission.
There’s no easy answer to understanding how to resolve the multiple deficits of the media world. Certainly we have found that some reporters and journalists are very proactive and are our allies in the
fight for accurate representation of female and male body types. Hopefully many more members of the media will work to change how people with eating disorders are portrayed and to reduce the triggers and the images that we see. As professionals, our role is to educate and try to provide a counterbalance to some of the terrible imagery and falsehoods that are spread, and to keep working to create a supportive culture for those who suffer from eating disorders.
Contributions by Sarah Emerman