Could PHOTOSHOPPING be creating ED issues with teens?

ninerbuff

Just saw a segment on my local news (SF BAY AREA) how one of the most popular teen magazines (SEVENTEEN) are going to the extremes and photoshopping skinny models making then even skinnier, airbrushing, and changing skin tone (darkening or "tanning") creating unreachable goals for it's female readers. Some of the criticism is that teen girls who aspire to achieve this look are going through ED and believe that's what they need to do to reach it.

Thoughts?



A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

SergeantSunshine_reused

Not sure where i read this, but I saw that they were trying to get rid of some of the photoshopping in magazines because of this?

taso42

I can't help but assume it's a factor, for sure. Not just teen magazines, but pretty much all magazines, printed media, and online media.

AbsoluteNG

If you mean making them eat less, no. Too many overweight teens at is it.

SergeantSunshine_reused

If you mean making them eat less, no. Too many overweight teens at is it.

Eating less =/= starving themselves and creating mental problems.

ckes84

http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/14-year-old-tells-seventeen-magazine-to-stop-photoshopping-models-1.3695068

taso42

If you mean making them eat less, no. Too many overweight teens at is it.

There are too many overweight teens, therefore [some stimulus] could not be contributing to teen eating disorders?

:huh:

huntingforhipbones

No. EDs, funnily enough, aren't actually ABOUT "thinness"/vanity. Nobody develops a debilitating mental illness that makes them want to look JUST LIKE Angelina Jolie. Starving yourself and damaging your body are signs of deep-rooted self-hared, and I think doing it through food stems from a culture where thinness is fetishised. So, yes, airbrushing creates the CONTEXT/MEANS of self-destruction/illness, but it's not the CAUSE.

But I agree with the above poster. There are far too many overweight children - and if kids wanted to see something "ordinary", they could just go to school every day! Magazines should show beautiful pictures to give people something aesthetically pleasing and to aspire to. I agree that changing skin tones is wrong because it's inherently racist, and photoshopping models even thinner might not always be necessary, but little touch-ups aren't going to kill anyone. It's like having obese/very, very overweight models in magazines - it subliminally sends out the message that being that unhealthily overweight is "okay" and "aspirational".

I'd like to see more women of a healthy (eg. UK size 6-14) range in magazines, though, agreed.

EngineerPrincess

Not all teens with eating disorders blame magazines and models, but many definitely do. It's really a tossup as to which under-eating teenage girl you ask and their current attitude toward food. In fact, the answer to that question from each girl can change depending on the day. This is coming from a teenage girl who should probably eat more.
If everyone stopped thinking extreme thinness = beauty that would fix some girl's eating disorders, but not all of them.

ieva015

it certainly did for my best friend, who died last year from anorexia nervosa.

meshashesha2012

If you mean making them eat less, no. Too many overweight teens at is it.

eating disorders can also involve overeating, not just undereating or purging.

but anyway, to answer the OP question, i do think media messages can make some people with ED issues worse. Some but not all . there is also a significant portion of people with ED who have it as a way to compensate for lack of control in other areas of their life rather than from body weight issues.

carrotstick2012

I've taught my children not to trust any image because they are usually shopped. I've shown them examples of how this is done and real before and after photo shopping compares. I've shown them that Dove ad thing where they show the transformation of the model and they know what a big difference people can look like before and after professional make-up, hair, etc.

To be honest, understanding I can't trust any image has been really good for ME.

Kenzietea2

Photoshopping does not directly cause an eating disorder, but is certainly a factor. More parents need to teach healthy body images at home, and stress how important it is to be healthy versus perfect. If more children were learning this at home, the media would have less of an effect on teens.

Sidenote: As consumers, if we want change we should stop buying products with the photoshopped 'perfect' models. The media feeds off of what the consumer demands.

huntingforhipbones

If you mean making them eat less, no. Too many overweight teens at is it.

eating disorders can also involve overeating, not just undereating or purging.

A+

You'd think more people would acknowledge that on here.

carrotstick2012

Photoshopping does not directly cause an eating disorder, but is certainly a factor. More parents need to teach healthy body images at home, and stress how important it is to be healthy versus perfect. If more children were learning this at home, the media would have less of an effect on teens.

Sidenote: As consumers, if we want change we should stop buying products with the photoshopped 'perfect' models. The media feeds off of what the consumer demands.

I'm a selective consumer and will not buy products if the advertisements are way out of line with my values. I'm probably a minority though so I doubt the companies would care.

Schnuddelbuddel

Most definitely. I don't think there's a 'could' about it. I believe it does and not just with teens. I'm sure there are enough adults who are misled by the constant photoshopping that's going on. I can see how teens get eating disorders from it, along with depression/mental problems when the ED isn't doing what they're hoping it will.

Schnuddelbuddel

Photoshopping does not directly cause an eating disorder, but is certainly a factor. More parents need to teach healthy body images at home, and stress how important it is to be healthy versus perfect. If more children were learning this at home, the media would have less of an effect on teens.

Sidenote: As consumers, if we want change we should stop buying products with the photoshopped 'perfect' models. The media feeds off of what the consumer demands.

That's the problem though when the parents fall for the same thing. And many do and aren't educated or willing to listen to be educated about it.
Actually, I think this should be pushed a lot more in schools (my daughter's school does in primary) especially in secondary levels where it really can become a problem and to arm them with knowledge not only about the photoshopping that goes on, but on proper eating habits and foods. Goodness I had playdates for my kids and their friends couldn't name some of the veg I was using. Monkey see- monkey do.

Kenzietea2

Photoshopping does not directly cause an eating disorder, but is certainly a factor. More parents need to teach healthy body images at home, and stress how important it is to be healthy versus perfect. If more children were learning this at home, the media would have less of an effect on teens.

Sidenote: As consumers, if we want change we should stop buying products with the photoshopped 'perfect' models. The media feeds off of what the consumer demands.

That's the problem though when the parents fall for the same thing. And many do and aren't educated or willing to listen to be educated about it.
Actually, I think this should be pushed a lot more in schools (my daughter's school does in primary) especially in secondary levels where it really can become a problem and to arm them with knowledge not only about the photoshopping that goes on, but on proper eating habits and foods. Goodness I had playdates for my kids and their friends couldn't name some of the veg I was using. Monkey see- monkey do.

I agree, especially the younger generations of parents. Many have poor body images themselves.
It SHOULD be taught in school, at home, from grandparents, etc.

bonniejo

If you've never seen this ad, you should. Girls are bombarded by impossible images everyday, and if you don't think that has an effect, I don't understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIGeNOBjlkc

roachhaley

Personally, I dont think anything like this can "cause" an eating disorder. I think most people with the tendency for disordered eating have always had it, or some other sort of disordered thought. I know for a fact that my ED started with me feeling like I was "too much". Too obnoxious, too opinionated, too fat etc. so that's where mine came from. i could give a flying **** how skinny angelina jolie is

but I digress. I think this violates freedom of speech. they should be allowed to publish whatever the hell they want. nobody HAS to buy seventeen magazine.

taunto

The fact is, that most of these magazines do it simply because readers will try and read HOW to achieve that unattainable body. Girls are smoking because they literally think that smoking will help them get that model body. Being thin is their entire life goal, being that body on the magazine is their life goal. And ofcourse magazines get to cash in on it because they're selling these girls the WAYS to get thing. I have never seen his show but from what I've read people like Dr. Oz is the same way. They have a market (which magazines get via attractive cover models) and once you get that market, you can pump out all kinds of BS supplements or product placement money.

Same reason everytime I see one of my MFP friends praise how good looking Victoria Secret models are, I can't help but cringe because thats literally all fake.

AbsoluteNG

If you mean making them eat less, no. Too many overweight teens at is it.

eating disorders can also involve overeating, not just undereating or purging.

Yes, but this topic is about being skinny. The percentage of teens being overweight far out weight those suffering form anorexia.

Adelphia

It doesn't necessarily cause a full-on eating disorder. It definitely does perpetuate a culture that holds women and girls to impossible standards of beauty and practically preaches shame as a virtue.

carrotstick2012

Personally, I dont think anything like this can "cause" an eating disorder. I think most people with the tendency for disordered eating have always had it, or some other sort of disordered thought. I know for a fact that my ED started with me feeling like I was "too much". Too obnoxious, too opinionated, too fat etc. so that's where mine came from. i could give a flying **** how skinny angelina jolie is

but I digress. I think this violates freedom of speech. they should be allowed to publish whatever the hell they want. nobody HAS to buy seventeen magazine.

You don't have to buy it but they are still bombarded in the supermarket, train station, bus stops ... anywhere you look it's right in your face. And if you turn on the TV ....

roachhaley

Personally, I dont think anything like this can "cause" an eating disorder. I think most people with the tendency for disordered eating have always had it, or some other sort of disordered thought. I know for a fact that my ED started with me feeling like I was "too much". Too obnoxious, too opinionated, too fat etc. so that's where mine came from. i could give a flying **** how skinny angelina jolie is

but I digress. I think this violates freedom of speech. they should be allowed to publish whatever the hell they want. nobody HAS to buy seventeen magazine.

You don't have to buy it but they are still bombarded in the supermarket, train station, bus stops ... anywhere you look it's right in your face. And if you turn on the TV ....

Yes, I know, but frankly I'm not about to be okay with the government censoring advertisements. Unless it's illegal, they should be allowed to print it.

I dont deny that those ads can cause some envy and maybe a few days of feeling bad, but most of the people I know with an ED and myself will say that it has nothing to do with an ad we saw on the way to work.

AbsoluteNG

Photoshopped model pictures and the like are actually a motivational tool to help people lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle. Problem is that most people are uneducated on how to eat right and people just don't know what exactly defines a healthy diet, so they end up creating a makeshifit diet plan.

Sofithomas

Not an eating disprder per se, i believe them to be far mor mentally complex and other causes/origins are the trigger or root of the problem. However I model and do feel an enormous amount of pressure to be thinner than I am - for some this could lead to issues, for others no, depends on how the person reacts.

Nopedotjpeg

Photoshopped model pictures and the like are actually a motivational tool to help people lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle.

AbsoluteNG

Photoshopped model pictures and the like are actually a motivational tool to help people lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle.

It's the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Women who hire a personal trainer do it because they want to be slim, skinny, and have that beach body they've always wanted. Very few hire one because the doctor tells them too.

carrotstick2012

Personally, I dont think anything like this can "cause" an eating disorder. I think most people with the tendency for disordered eating have always had it, or some other sort of disordered thought. I know for a fact that my ED started with me feeling like I was "too much". Too obnoxious, too opinionated, too fat etc. so that's where mine came from. i could give a flying **** how skinny angelina jolie is

but I digress. I think this violates freedom of speech. they should be allowed to publish whatever the hell they want. nobody HAS to buy seventeen magazine.

You don't have to buy it but they are still bombarded in the supermarket, train station, bus stops ... anywhere you look it's right in your face. And if you turn on the TV ....

Yes, I know, but frankly I'm not about to be okay with the government censoring advertisements. Unless it's illegal, they should be allowed to print it.

I dont deny that those ads can cause some envy and maybe a few days of feeling bad, but most of the people I know with an ED and myself will say that it has nothing to do with an ad we saw on the way to work.

I'm not even concerned about it from an ED point of view. I prefer to look at people modestly dressed which is not always the case with such adverts.

Nopedotjpeg

Photoshopped model pictures and the like are actually a motivational tool to help people lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle.

It's the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Women who hire a personal trainer do it because they want to be slim, skinny, and have that beach body they've always wanted. Very few hire one because the doctor tells them too.

No **** people work out and eat better to look better. But there's a point where unrealistic expectations occur. These celebrities with their personal cooks, dietitians, and personal trainers on staff can't look like that without needing air brushing and photoshop, so why is it okay to convey that young women need to look like that?