Body Image

Casual Argument

I am sitting in my friend’s dorm as I hear wretched gagging noises as her stomach convulses trying to get the spaghetti we had for dinner out of her system. “Are you okay?” I said, as she responds, “yeah I am just fat.” According to National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), bulimia nervosa is a eating disorder characterized by a cycle of excessive eating and compensatory behaviors such a self-induced vomiting intended to undo the effects of binge eating. Binge eating is when one consumes are large amount of food in a short amount of time. The signs for bulimia include, binge eating, frequent trips to the bathroom after meals, unusual swelling of the checks or jaws, and withdrawal from friends and usual activities (NEDA 1). As we look at the girls in the magazines we see their flawless skin, size two body, and their perfect facial features. The affect this has on women and especially young adults is tremendous. The cause of eating disorders like bulimia, is because of Barbie’s, the media, and personality traits.

Having a Barbie doll as a child was a necessity for every girl in America. Her long blonde hair, skinny body, and stylish outfits drew the intention of millions. Britannica Encyclopedia states, “Barbie is a plastic doll, 11.9 inches tall, with the figure of an adult woman that was introduced in 1959 by Mattel Inc” (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia 1). Barbie is to blame for women having eating disorders like bulimia. Barbie dolls show children at a young age what a women’s body is suppose to look like even though this is unrealistic. This stimulates the idea of them being overweight because they do not look like the figure they thought was “normal.” Psychology professors Helga Dittman, Suzanne Ive, and Emma Halliwell conducted an experiment called “Does Barbie Make Girls Want to Be Thin?” (Developmental Psychology 284). In their experiment a total of 162 girls, from ages five to eight, were exposed to images of Emme dolls ( U.S. size...