Lowder 1

Sierra Lowder
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
February 14, 2015
Topic Proposal: Fake Body Goals
Introduction/Overview
I will be examining how advertising media has affected eating disorders in girls as well
as the controversies surrounding body image. An eating disorder is defined as any of a range of
psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. People with
negative body images are more likely to suffer from an eating disorder (national eating
disorders).
A common myth is that eating disorders are the white girl disease as in it only affects
white adolescent girls. Eating disorders can happen to anyone in fact. According to the National
Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated disorders, in the United States, up to 30
million people suffer from an eating disorder (20 million females and 10 million males). Eating
disorders affect both genders, but females are 2.5% more likely to acquire an eating disorder.
This is a shocking number because eating disorders also have the highest mortality rate of any
mental illness. Anorexia is the highest and has a mortality rate 12 times higher than any other
cause of death for woman 15-24 (national institute of mental health).
Media has a way of showing us that if we are slender it allows us to gain love,
acceptance, and respect. A study conducted by the University of Hafia in 2011 found that the
more time a teenage girl spent on Facebook the higher the risk of developing an eating disorder
or negative body images. Facebook is supposed to be a site used to keep up to date with family

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and friends and even watch a funny video or two, but instead there are young girls leaving the
site feeling even worse about themselves.
I like your use of statistics and studies to back up what you are speaking about. I know
that you state that you are going to be focusing on examining female body image in particular,
but I also encourage you to examine male body image as well. There can be just as many
Initial Inquiry Question(s)
Do magazine covers depict woman in an unrealistic light for young girls? How does the
media and advertising contribute to adolescents' body image? How does body image affect
eating disorders? Do ads show real women?

My Interest in this Topic

I want to learn more about this topic because even I have had struggles with body image.
Body image is a hard thing to be positive about 100% of the time when there are girls posted on
magazines like sports illustrated with perfect bodies. We are expected to look picture perfect
when in reality perfection is unattainable. Even though I have not suffered from an eating
disorder because of my body image I still want to dig deeper in understanding what can make
someone feel so negatively about their body that they have to go to extremes like an eating
disorder to feel good enough.
I already know that eating disorders are highly detrimental to the human body. Eating
disorders cause an onset of problems throughout the body like malnutrition, dental erosion and
can cause multiple stops to the hospital. Eating disorders can also lead to other forms of mental
illness like depression and anxiety and commonly can end in suicide.

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I know that you state that you are going to be focusing on examining female body image
in particular, but I also encourage you to examine male body image as well. I had issues with this
in high school as well in which I was called anorexic and made fun of heavily, and what I saw in
the media of what a male was expected to be was simply unattainable for me. I wonder if any
studies have been done examining the male aspect of this?

Next Steps
I will be investigating the national eating disorders and, the ANAD website for statistics
on whom is affected by a eating disorders. I will also be searching for a wide variety of articles
from websites like USA Today and NPR to find live accounts of girls with histories of eating
disorders. Also go through the database Point of Views in order to find the differing views of
whether media plays a vital role in causing eating disorders. I plan to visit the librarians in order
to find books explaining more about eating disorders and the history behind them.
The only thing I can say to add is to restate particular eating disorders at the beginning of
this paragraph. Otherwise, you are very good at writing and I think you did really well on this
assignment!