Body Image and the Media

High School Course Focuses On Body Image

November 6, 2005
by Keach Hagey

Before television was introduced on the Pacific Island of Fiji in 1995, Fijians preferred robust body shapes for both men and women, reflecting the importance placed on generous feeding, according to a Harvard Medical School researcher's report.

After just three years of exposure to Western programming like "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills 90210," packed with size-zero bikini-clad heroines, the percentage of teenage girls on the island who starved themselves or made themselves throw up to be thin soared from 3 to 15 percent, according to the report.

The study confirmed a causal relationship that health professionals who treat disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have known for a long time.

This relationship is the basis of a new class being developed at Greenwich High School called Body Image and the Media. Designed as a media literacy elective for upperclassmen of both sexes, the course seeks to help students "develop a deeper understanding of media's impact and influences in order to help them resist media messages which may negatively impact them and their body images," according to the course proposal recently presented to the Board of Education. The board will vote next month on whether to offer the course, and it is expected to be approved.

"I think there are various stages of dissatisfaction with one's body, so if we critically look at media messages, the fashion industry, movies, TV shows and look at what is the message that is being marketed to us, we can make a change," said Kathy Steiner, the GHS teacher who would teach the proposed course. "If we see that there is an issue with size-zero models, we can write letters to the editor and be an advocate to bring about change, that bodies come in all shapes and sizes and what really matters is being healthy."

In essence, the class would be a co-educational version of GO GIRLS! -- short for Giving Our Girls Inspiration and Resources For Lasting Self-Esteem -- a project started by the national nonprofit organization Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention and tested at the high school beginning five years ago, according to Steiner, who taught the old course.

Greenwich was chosen as a testing ground in part because it is home to the Wilkins Center For Eating Disorders, one of the largest outpatient treatment facilities for the illness in the country, according to its founder, Diane Mickley. Mickley also serves as the co-president of the Seattle-based National Eating Disorders Association, which got the grant that funded GO GIRLS!

Although the pilot was shown to benefit its participants, and went on to become a program that schools all over the country could use, it ended at Greenwich High School two years ago when the grant funds ran out. Since then, Steiner has been working to get the course back in the school's curriculum.

Advocates say timing is particularly important because, although overall rates of anorexia and bulimia have been holding steady after rising dramatically in the 1980s, the illnesses seem to be spreading to more minorities and other groups that have not traditionally been as affected, at a time when the high school's proportion of minority students is also rising.

"It's becoming more normalized and pervasive," Mickley said. "It's becoming more diffuse among different ages and ethnicities."

Roughly 1 percent of teenage girls have anorexia nervosa, while about 5 percent of college-age women have it, according to NEDA. Incidence of the disease tend to peak around age 12 or 13, and again at 17, while bulimia tends to peak in college-age women.

Eating disorders are serious illnesses with a biological basis modified and influenced by emotional and cultural factors, according to the organization. Of those diagnosed with long-term anorexia, about 20 percent will die of it, giving it the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, according to the National Institutes of Health.

While white women in their teens and 20s account for about 90 percent of all cases in the United States, NEDA notes that doctors are seeing a distinct increase among women of color, middle-aged women and men. With an eye on this spreading, Ken Edwards, program administrator for the physical wellness and education department, which would oversee the course, said he wanted to make sure the course was available to both sexes.

"There are probably some students in this school who have a negative body image, and I wouldn't necessarily say it's all women," he said. "That's why we opened up the course to men and women. Initially it was opened to only females at the school, but we believe that with issues of steroids, and with issues of self-esteem, there are aspects that impact men as well."

Experts point to the recent rise of men's magazines, featuring the same kind of unrealistically perfect models that have traditionally been found in Vogue and Cosmopolitan, as evidence that societal pressures about body image are being extended increasingly to men.
Greenwich High School students take it for granted that the magazines play a role in the health of their peers.

"I know a lot of girls that are like, 'Oh my God, I'm so fat,' when they are like this," said senior Ashley Wilson, 17, holding up a finger. "Magazines are definitely a factor."

Although there are few statistics about how many people in Greenwich have an eating disorder, Mickley said the Wilkins Center has treated about 4,000 people since it opened in 1981. Of these, about a quarter come from the town, with most of the rest coming from the greater Fairfield and Westchester counties.

Most students at the high school say they know someone with an eating disorder.

"You can tell the ones who don't eat anything at lunch," said Karen Jasso, 15.

"They lie about eating," said Xiomara Alcantara, 17. "They say, 'Oh, I already ate, I'm full,' but they didn't."

Veronica Mendoza, 16, said she knows several already thin girls who work out every day after school or join a sport because they don't think they are thin enough.

To address these problems, students started Food For Thought in 2002 to raise awareness among students and their parents about eating disorders. Steiner oversees the club, which leads a campaign every February for National Eating Disorders Awareness Month. This year, the club is focusing more on the positive side of eating, working with the school's wellness department to educate students about making healthy choices in the cafeteria and at the vending machine.

Madeleine Jermain, 18, is co-president of the club, and believes there will be great interest in the course if it is taught next year. "A lot of students feel pressure to be thin," she said. "Everyone's aware that it's a problem, not only in our community, but it's a huge health issue across the nation."