Society puts a great deal of attention on body image and physical attractiveness, youthfulness, sexuality and appearance. This can be experienced by standing in front of a magazine stand. The covers display pictures of men and women alike, whose images are offered as nearly perfect in society's point of view. Nevermind the fact that these photographs are often additionally enhanced by computers and made to look perfect by airbrushing. Teeth can be made shades whiter, skin can be darkened, lightened, blemishes and moles covered, waists and thighs can be whittled and breasts can be enlarged with technology today. The average man or woman cannot compete with these images. Perhaps the models themselves cannot live up to these expectations either. Eating disorders are not foreign illnesses to the modeling industry. What is so unfortunate about those who strive for the perfect body image is that society's ideals of what looks best are constantly changing. It guarantees that they will never be able to reach their goals and almost always ensures a sense of failure. .
In a study that was conducted in 1994 a direct relation between media exposure and eating disorders was found. This effect supports the idea that exposure to the media-portrayed thin ideal is related to eating disorders and that the media's focus on dieting may increase the risk for binge and purge behavior (Stice, Shaw, Stein, 1994).
Men are not near as likely to develop eating disorders as women are. According to Costin (1997) about ten percent of eating disorder patients in western society are men. .
Archer 2.
Men and eating disorders are not studied as often as women are and our current percentages could be off. Advertising is beginning to target men more than in the past to change or improve their body shapes.
Fatness has traditionally been a greater preoccupation in western societies than in third world countries.
