Perhaps in no other time in history today have body image standards had such an impact on society. With today's mass media people can be subjected to thousands of influencial messages and images daily. The media's influences are surrounding us everywhere we look. Whenever we turn on the television, listen to the radio and read fashion magazines, our minds are bombarded with images of "the perfect body." There is no doubt that in today's society and culture that the accepted image for a woman is to be thin. Although many women will never be as thin as models such as Kate Moss or any other thin celebrity, they still desire the ultimate thinness. Women feel constant pressure to live up to the ideals set by society to be the image of a perfect woman. It is this so-called "perfect" image that women strive to become; it is also this image that drives many women to the development of an eating disorder.
             The media's influence on society has been partially blamed for the steady rise in eating disorders found in American teenage girls. According to recent studies, the rate of anorexic girls has increased at alarming rates since the mid 1980's. And while anorexia was once said to be a "white-collar" disorder, it is becoming more and more common in African countries, in China and Japan. The desire to diet is also affecting younger and younger girls as well. Seven out of ten fourth grade girls surveyed responded that they had tried to diet or considered themselves overweight.
             The increasing numbers of diagnosed cases of eating disorders in noticeably on the rise; but is the media totally to blame? Many say that this is the case. The image of a desirable woman portrayed by the media has drastically changed in the recent years that anorexia has come to be such a national concern.
             In the 1950's when anorexia had barely been discovered, the images projected in magazines and billboar...