I rarely agree with Margaret Wente, who is one of those people with the disarming habit of stating even the most sensible of points in a way that makes me viscerally want to argue with her, but today I think she has a point.
I think the media is a major cause of body image issues in young people, but not by showing pictures of uber-skinny models etc. like conventional wisdom dictates. I think it contributes more by constantly printing panicky articles about how SO MANY PEOPLE ARE TOO FAT AND WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE OF FAT! Kids read newspapers and watch TV even before they enter puberty - I think I started reading the newspaper beyond the comics section around the age of 8, and kids are generally more media-savvy today - and the omnipresence of articles about the so-called obesity epidemic are bound to raise concerns in young readers about whether they are doing enough to keep a healthy weight.
I don't know how the media saturation of obesity concerns now compares with my childhood - it could have been the same in my childhood, it could have been less, people who remember the 1980s from an adult perspective are welcome to weigh in on this - but I had picked up enough from the ether to know by the age of 9 that one should have an eye on one's weight, one should be making an effort to ensure that one eats right and gets enough exercise. I had the notion that this was more of a concern for adult bodies, but I was worried then, at the age of 9, by the fact that I didn't know how to go about systematically creating a diet and exercise plan to ensure that I didn't get fat when I was a grownup. (I needn't have worried - I learned the basics of designing a fitness regimine in middle school health class, and I hadn't anticipated the internet.) I also remember around that age reading about why specifically salt was bad for you, and deciding to stop adding salt to my food (a vow that lasted until puberty kicked in, a phenomenon which, in addition to the usual changes, planted some kind of monster in my taste receptors that sometimes screams out "GRRRRRRROOWWL!!! GIVE ME SALT!!!!"). I also remember thinking that perhaps I was getting overweight because my belly sticks out. While my belly does stick out even more when I'm heavy, I think it will always stick out, because physical examination suggests that even if there were no fat and no muscle, my internal organs alone would be making it stick out. But I digress.
My point is that young readers are likely to come away from articles about obesity feelings like they ought to be taking action to make sure that they don't become obese, and I think this is an overlooked way that the media is contributing to negative body image.
4 comments:
I think the media sometimes sensationalizes the news, but I don't think you can fault the media for merely reporting (although I think the word 'alarming' in the paragraph below is opinion and unneeded).
"An alarming new report from Statistics Canada says that two out of every three Canadian adults, and one out of every three children, are overweight or obese."
In this article, the media is not making the claim that people are fat, just reporting what the agency says. They are not the ones spending time creating alarming new reports.
In Arkansas (where some children don't even have health insurance), a new law obliges all children to be weighed and measured to calculate their BMI (Body Mass Index). Kids who are deemed too fat are sent home with notes to their parents. In some states, teachers are seizing contraband cupcakes from kids' lunch bags.
Again, who is writing laws that require kids to be weighed and measured; who is writing notes about kids; who is taking cupcakes out of lunch bags? Not the media.
If some lawmaker or teacher chooses to respond in ridiculous fashion or overreact to what is reported, I think it's the lawmaker or teacher or whomever that is to blame if a child's body image is harmed.
_Inactive, obese youth should be highly concerned with their long term health! It's their own responsibility!
If your belly sticks out perhaps you may be pregnant? If you wish to achieve a flat stomach, a moderate amount of cardiovascular activity coupled with a low calorie diet and abdominal strengthening exercises can help you achieve results if you are struggling.
Honestly, seriously, do I come across as so stupid that a) I wouldn't know if I was pregnant, b) I wouldn't know that weight is lost through cardio + strength + reduced calorie intake, and c) I can't tell the difference between fat and internal organs in my own body through palpation? I know I'm certainly not the smartest person in the world, but I'm distressed that I might come across to the world as THAT stupid.
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