Beautifying Diseases in Modern Society Essay

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Find a background source related to the problem of anorexia, a condition that affects thousands of girls and women in the United States. Write the representation of this source

In her article, Lupton posits that social standards of beauty affect the choices that people make in order to feel accepted and appreciated in their community. However, the author explains that due to the unreasonable and unattainable standards for an appearance that modern society upholds, especially for women, a wide range of the specified population develop eating disorders in attempts to gain the required body type (Lupton 120). According to recent research, about 0.6% of American women suffer from anorexia (The National Institute of Mental Health). By dismantling social stereotypes concerning the female appearance, one will reduce the rates of eating disorders and especially anorexia in women.

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Find the song or poem related to the primary text “Once there was a grill.” Describe it in a vivid way

The problem of anorexia and the influence that media has on young women’s mental health, specifically, the propensity toward the development of eating disorders, is scrutinized in-depth in Katy Waldman’s “There Once Was a Girl.” Waldman reveals the tragically destructive impact that media produces on girls’ and women’s self-esteem through popularizing the images of unattainable body shapes and forms (). According to the author, the “unrealistic representations of female bodies in media” affect women’s health and reduce their chances to develop healthy eating habits and a confident perception of self (Waldman). However, Waldman is not the only one who has paid close attention to the effects of social stereotypes on women’s health.

The analysis of the issue has permeated the realm of art, with a range of art pieces addressing the specified concern. For example, in her poem “My best Friend Ana (Anorexia),” Samantha White describes the challenges of a woman who has to go through a depressing realization of her inability to meet the established standards of beauty (White). The poem leaves an alarming impression due to the portrayal of unhealthy relationships between a young woman and her personified disorder caused by the sense of low self-esteem.

The very first two lines of the poem have a genuinely chilling impression on the reader: “I hate you because you’re taking over me,/But I love you ‘cause you’re making me the girl I want to be” (White). Thus, the author delves into the complicated notion of dependency that patients with anorexia develop toward the beauty standards that were foisted onto them by society. Apart from the metaphorical personification of the disorder, the poem is devoid of sophisticated artistic tools and stylistic devices, which makes the message thereof all the more impactful.

Write the representation of: Bodies under Siege, Eating Disorders and, Self-Mutilation among Women in conversation with the first text “Once there is a girl.”

In “Bodies under Siege: Eating Disorders and Self-Mutilation among Women,” Wioleta Polinska handles a very difficult topic of women being deprived of the sense of autonomy over their own bodies through the influence of media and the promotion of unnatural beauty standards. Polinska insists that the artificial concepts of beauty have nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle and, instead, are utilized by media to police women’s perception of self and development of self-worth (571).

The article leaves a very disturbing sense of the lack of autonomy for their bodies that women have developed after the enhancement of the role that media plays in the lives of modern people. Therefore, the article should be credited for its analysis of how stereotypes are perpetuated by different types of media, including social ones, and how they affect the lives of women across the globe, transcending cultures.

The change in the perception of self is one of the strongest aspects of the article. The author concedes that the false narratives constructed within media lead to women mutilating themselves in the pointless pursuit of the questionable idea of beauty. Instead of focusing on the opportunity to promote a healthy idea of a female body, media caters to the individuals that view women as commodities, which causes the stereotypes about a female body to remain in the global media narrative.

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Found another article which deepening the view of How is disease beautified in modern society under the guise of beauty?

The problem of disease beautification is further explored in more recent studies. Since the issue has only grown larger over the past decade, the problem of representing a female body in media has to be scrutinized further to get rid of the stereotypes that encourage women to develop eating disorders. In her article “The Complexities of Being Anorexic,” Megan Warin dissects the contemporary discourse about the perception of anorexia as a disorder in the modern community. According to the author, the “ambiguous nature” of the phenomenon under discussion is one of the emblematic characteristics of how anorexia is viewed in modern society (Warin 70). The author also points out that the relatedness of the disorder is one of the cornerstone factors in shaping its perception in the global community.

The problems associated with the lack of a homogenous health management framework that could allow nurses to develop personalized approaches to each patient seem to be one of the key points of concern according to Warin. Indeed, the portrayal of a patient who feels that their health issue is invalid since they do not display the attitudes that are typical for other patients, such as the attempt at hiding food, is quite troubling. The described issue calls for the need to introduce rewards for the development of healthy attitudes and behaviors for patients, thus recognizing their autonomy and promoting the development of resilience toward promoted stereotypes. As a result, the perpetuation of images of a female body in media can be managed eventually.

Works Cited

Lupton, Deborah. “Digital Media and Body Weight, Shape, and Size: An Introduction and Review.” Fat Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2017, pp. 119-134.

Polinska, Wioleta. “Bodies under Siege: Eating Disorders and Self-Mutilation among Women.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 68, no. 3. 2000, pp. 569–589. Web.

The National Institute of Mental Health. “” NIMH.NIH.gov. Web.

Waldman, Katy. “There Once Was a Girl.” Slate.com. 2015. Web.

Warin, Megan. “The Complexities of Being Anorexic.” Abject Relations: Everyday Worlds of Anorexia. Rutgers University Press, 2010, 70-98.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Beautifying Diseases in Modern Society'. 4 August.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Beautifying Diseases in Modern Society." August 4, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/beautifying-diseases-in-modern-society/.

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IvyPanda. "Beautifying Diseases in Modern Society." August 4, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/beautifying-diseases-in-modern-society/.

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