ONE SIZE: THROUGH THE EATING DISORDERED LENS AND A DEPARTURE FROM DARKNESS

Pykkonen, Kaylie

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

ONE SIZE: THROUGH THE EATING DISORDERED LENS AND A DEPARTURE FROM DARKNESS Öffentlichkeit Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/nk322f241

Abstract

As depicted by American cultural standards, the mass-produced perfect body used to exist only in high-budget advertisements, Hollywood productions, and glamorous photographs. The creation of mass media drastically altered distribution rates and content accessibility, redefining self-perception through millions of mediated images. Over the past 40 years, and especially since the start of the 21st century, idealized body images fill blog pages, pop-up ads, and particularly social media profiles. Constant exposure to hourglass figures, slender limbs, and flat stomachs can damage individuals beyond deflating their ego. It can even be deadly.

Media saturation can act as a causal factor in the development of eating disorders, which have often been classified as the deadliest psychiatric illness (Crisp, Derenne, Wykes). According to mainstream medical sources like WebMD, “anorexia is the most lethal psychiatric disorder, carrying a sixfold increased risk of death -- four times the death risk from major depression” (DeNoon). Peer-reviewed journals avoid making these definitive statements, but the common consensus remains that individuals with eating disorders have “significantly elevated mortality rates,” the highest occurring in those with anorexia nervosa (Arcelus et al). However, evidence suggests similar results in cases of bulimia and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) (Arcelus et al, Crow et al). Eating disorders affect more and more individuals every year as the weighted mean of global prevalence jumped from 3.5% in 2006 to 7.8% in 2018, with the majority of cases occurring in American women (Galmiche). Furthermore, denial or refusal to report symptoms are often associated with the illness and it has been reported that “more than one half of all cases go undetected”(Prittis and Susman).

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