Research Log #1 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: Feb. 6, 2020

Name: Ciera Simmonds
Essential Question: What are the negative causes that lead to the development of eating disorders and how can we
help?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Bullying/Social Media

#2: Culture
#3: How can you help

Point that this Source Proves: # 2: Social media and its effects on social media

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

According to research, “media is a casual risk factor for the development of eating disorders”, which also has a huge
effect on a person’s low self-esteem.

Social media is so widely used that it becomes, “increasingly difficult to avoid the constant peer pressure surrounding
the ‘ideal body type’”. Due to its increased usage of social media, many “body shamers use social media as a platform
to talk negatively about someone’s image”.

As stated by the National Eating Disorders Association, “as many as 65% of people with eating disorders say bullying
contributed to their condition”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

For my first quote, I just wanted to create an emphasis on my point that media plays a significant role in the
development of eating disorders. This website provides arguments that the media has had a negative impact on peoples
lives such as the growth of eating disorders and self image. Through social media, adolescents are greatly targeted to
be susceptible in the development of eating disorders. The constant idea of a perfect body image makes it very difficult
for adolescents to learn self-love and appreciation.
My second quote shows how social media widens the playing field for bullying. To add on, bullying is a huge
factor of anxiety and developing of eating disorders. Body shamers live to create eating disorders therefore social
media widens their platform. Due to most adolescents being on social media, they are heavily at risk. The constant peer
pressure becomes a lot and start to create a perfectionist mindset where eating disorders not only begin but thrive.
The last quote just shows a bigger emphasis on how bullying is a huge factor of eating disorders. Most
teenagers have experienced cyber bullying and in some cases, lead to this development of eating disorders. Some
severe case of taunting of an individual’s body image can lower one’s self esteem and constantly think about looking
perfect. The social media has a major influence on making others “starve” themselves and not want to eat just by a
single picture. Through exhausting hours on social media, people tend to strive to want these “social media models”
are. People want to be successful just like how the picture portrays it. This can lead to dangerous weight loss practices
such as purging.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Gleissner, Greta. “Social Media and Its Effect on Eating Disorders.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 10 May 2017,
www.huffpost.com/entry/social-media-and-its-effect-on-eating-disorders_b_591343bce4b0e3bb894d5caa.

This is a reputable and reliable article because it was published in The Huff Post, which only hires credible and
contains accurate factual information.
 Research Log #2 - Solutionary Project 2020
Date: Feb. 6, 2020
Name: Ciera Simmonds
Essential Question: What are the negative causes that lead to the development of eating disorders and how can we
help?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Bullying/Social Media

#2: Culture
#3: How can you help

Point that this Source Proves: #3: American culture contributes to the development of eating disorders and
#1:Bullying

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

Her parents moved from Nigeria and she went to an American school where she said she felt “very invisible, I felt
unnoticed, I felt stupid, I felt ugly and I felt very insecure”. She then goes onto saying how the kids were terrible to her
and how “she looked the most different” and she felt like she didn’t fit in.

From such a young age and being neglected by American society, “food gave her the comfort it gave me the comfort to
fill that void that she wasn’t able to do on her own”

She had to move schools where again, “the bullying continued there and now she finds herself 50 pounds heavier and
now she is obsessed with losing weight and diets and now she can’t control her food even more”. She becomes
obsessed with this idea of looking perfect and eating perfect, having a perfect balance.

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

This proves my point that American culture had something to do with her being obsessed with food. She came into
America as an immigrant along with her parents and felt the most excluded. In the first section of the video, she says
how she felt so insecure and so unnoticed. This feeling of insecurity and neglect at such a young age was a huge factor
in her obtaining an eating disorder. She and her parents came into America not knowing the challenges that she would
face.

From this insecurity and neglect, food was the only thing that gave her comfort and helped fill that void that America
created. Food became the only support she had and she became obsessed with it. However during her eighth grade
year, the bullying was so intense, she actually tried to kill herself. So she had to move schools and even in doing that,
she gained 50 pounds. From this gain of weight, she then became obsessed with losing that weight.

This obsession of losing weight contributed to her getting a multitude of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia
nervosa. The bullying and xenophobia of American culture was a huge factor in developing eating disorders. America
created the perfect person as white, blonde, and skinny from which immigrants have a hard time adapting to such a
prejudiced country.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Cole, Rayo, director. Hidden Secrets: Eating Disorders . TEDxCrenshaw, 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtS0i-
kSyDw.

This is a reputable and reliable article because TED talks only hire and ask reputable sources to come and speak.
They hire professionals and experienced people to talk about their specialties and life.

Research Log #3 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: Feb. 6, 2020
Name: Ciera Simmonds
Essential Question: What are the negative causes that lead to the development of eating disorders and how can we
help?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Bullying/Social Media

#2: Culture
#3: How can you help

Point that this Source Proves: #2:Culture and #3:How can you help

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

“Andersen and others point to a shift when the rise of "peak" male form in the action films of the 1980s and
1990s and on the covers of magazines altered our cultural expectations of how men are supposed to look.”

“Batman and Superman stopped looking like average schlubs and started being portrayed as muscular
behemoths, or lithe athletes.”

“Walen says. "No, it makes you someone who has a brain disease that is actually a lot more common than
most people are willing to admit. I think it's harder for guys to say we have a feminine-normalized issue, just
from our culture saying man up."

“The first step to dealing with exercise bulimia is recognizing that it is a problem, then reaching out to a
mental health professional who specializes in eating disorders.”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

Culture plays a huge role in developing eating disorders. For instance, in my first point, the excerpt says how covers of
magazines altered cultural expectations of how men are supposed to look. These magazine covers showing masculine
men teaches men that, that is the way men are supposed to look. Broad shoulders, defined muscles, and a 6-pack.
Having this idea of a specific ideal body image makes it incredibly difficult for men to achieve this. They diet, purge,
do unhealthy extreme weight loss procedures just to maintain this “ideal” look. This therefore leads to the development
of eating disorders. The person in this article suffered from an eating disorder called exercise bullimia in which he
exercised rigourously and in an unhealthy way. He said part of this is due to the cultural expectations of the ideal
image of men.

My second excerpt shows how batman and American heroes stopped looking like average men and started to be
protrayed as lithe athletes. Everyone wants to be a hero, therefore everyone wants to be like Batman and Superman.
When movies containing heroes like this, men and individuals strive to look like them and have the same physical
characteristics as them. Hence, exercise bullimia in which he worked out intensely to attain this “masculine” body
image.

My third and fourth excerpts show how important it is to change these defintions of masculinity. Men seeking help
makes them look less masculine and embarasses them as it is a “feminine” thing. As a whole, we all need to show
people that men have the same problems women do (eating disorders). Once we change the idea that men talking about
their feelings makes them more feminine, then it becomes easier for men to get help and seek advice. The first step is
seeking help and seeing a professional, and once society accepts that, so can they.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

O'Neil, Luke, and Luke. “Most People Will Never Understand My Eating Disorder.” Esquire, 23 Oct. 2019,
www.esquire.com/lifestyle/health/a55197/exercise-bulimia/.

This is a reputable and reliable article because it comes from a credible source, longform.org. The author is also
very credible as he is writing about his journeys.

Research Log #4 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: Feb. 6, 2020
Name: Ciera Simmonds
Essential Question: What are the negative causes that lead to the development of eating disorders and how can we
help?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Bullying/Social Media

#2: Culture
#3: How can you help

Point that this Source Proves: #1: social media and #2:culture

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

“In our culture right now the ideal female body is getting thinner and thinner and thinner”

“We want to look like that and were told that that’s going to get you more success so hences what we do we go on
diet”

“More and more of a diet culture as we’re kind of going or having or holding onto this idea of a small body being
ideal?
“ An artificial construct is the perfect ideal women’s or guy’s body”

“We know with advertising and media the whole point is to say you’re not good enough right you are not good enough
as you are, what you should look like is this"

“The idea that in order to sell products ideally we make people feel insecure so then they look to a product or service
to then meet that need, meet that insecurity”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

In the first quote, it is saying how the female ideal body is getting thinner and thinner. In the video, it was talking about
a study that compared the BMI’s of sports magazine women models. As they were comparing the models BMI’s over
the past 30 years, they say the BMI getting substantially lower and lower. Over time, women’s ideal body image is
getting thinner and thinner. These models and their obvious thinness is teaching women that they should look like that.
They are models and everyone wants to be like the models and be “attractive”. In terms of culture, it shows how thin
women are the most “attractive”. This is detrimental to a women’s health because it causes women to try unhealthy
fads to lose weight which can eventually lead to developing eating disorders.

Quotes 2-4 is showing how these models show success through their body image and naturally people want to be
successful. To be successful, they want to be thin, so some exercise to an extreme extent, as well as eating then
purging or just plain simple starving yourself. None of these ways are ways to lose weight in a healthy way. However,
women will do whatever they have to do to achieve a skinny body image because it is what is shown to be “attrractive”
and “successful”.

The last quotes are explaining how social media and advertising play a huge role in developing insecurities. Media’s
whole purpose is to show people what is hot and what is not. When people see that skinny is attractive, they try their
best to look like that.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Rogers, Melainie and Bruneau, Megan. “What Causes Eating Disorders? Part 3: Sociological Causes.”
Youtube, uploaded by Balance Eating Disorder Treatment Center, 19 April, 2017,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLrH5sMt-c

This is a reputable and reliable article because this movie was a highly reviewed and credible source.

Research Log #5 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: Feb. 6, 2020
Name: Ciera Simmonds
Essential Question: What are the negative causes that lead to the development of eating disorders and how can we
help?
 Three Points to Prove: #1: Bullying/Social Media
#2: Culture
#3: How can you help

Point that this Source Proves: #1:Bullying:Social Media and #3:How can we help?

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

“Social media presents unique pressures on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. It is a highly visual
environment in which appearance ideals and the pursuit of thinness are promoted”.

“Indeed, the interactive nature of social media appears to contribute to increases in disordered eating”.

“Media literacy aims to enhance critical thinking and skepticism about media and increase proficiency in constructing
media, to reduce its persuasive influence”.

“...this outcome suggests that change in media literacy may be one mechanism by which improvement in body image
and related variables was achieved”.
Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

In my first point, it is helping me to re-emphasize that social media is a huge factor in developing eating disorders. It
helps to prove that the visual environment is a constant reminder to young girls to show people what they “should”
look like. The pursuit of thinness is highly obvious through the use of social media. The nature of social media again is
shown that it increases disordered eating.

In social media, body dissatisfaction is huge and is incredibly valid through the use of social media. As you can see,
many individuals tend to compare themselves with the “models” on instagram and other places. When comparing
yourself to others, it makes you feel very insecure. However, people do not take into account the use of photoshopping.
Most of the time many of the models do not look like that in real life, therefore you are creating an unrealistic goal to
even want to be like them.

The third and fourth quote is basically talking about the research. The research done in this article was to show the
correlation between social media and eating disorders but to also prevent them through the use of social media
interventions in local high schools. The aim of doing these social media interventions in school is to enhance critical
thinking and increase social media’s effectiveness in a positive way. Once we reconstruct the social media platform as
a positive and body accepting environment, the results of eating disorders will be substantially decreased.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

McLean SA, Wertheim EH, Masters J, Paxton SJ. A pilot evaluation of a social media literacy intervention to reduce
risk factors for eating disorders. Int J Eat Disord. 2017;50:847-851.https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22708

This is a reputable and reliable article because it is from a credible source and a reputable database.

Research Log #6 - Solutionary Project 2020

Date: Feb. 6, 2020
 Name: Ciera Simmonds
Essential Question: What are the negative causes that lead to the development of eating disorders and how can we
help?

Three Points to Prove: #1: Bullying/Social Media

#2: Culture
#3: How can you help

Point that this Source Proves: #2: Culture

Excerpts (These should provide insight into the Point to Prove):

“Culture has been identified as one of the etiological factors leading to the development of eating disorders.
Rates of these disorders appear to vary among different cultures and to change across time as cultures
evolve.”

“The fact that disordered eating behaviors have been documented throughout most of history calls into
question the assertion that eating disorders are a product of current social pressures.”

“It has been hypothesized that thinness is gaining more value within the African-American culture, just as it
has in the Caucasian culture (Hsu, 1987)."

“Cultural beliefs that may have protected ethnic groups against eating disorders may be eroding as
adolescents acculturate to mainstream American culture.”

“Anorexia nervosa has been described as a possible "culture-bound syndrome," with roots in Western
cultural values and conflicts (Prince, 1983). Eating disorders may, in fact, be more prevalent within various
cultural groups than previously recognized, as such Western values are becoming more widely accepted.”

Analysis (How does this source support the Point to Prove?):

This greatly helps to prove that culture plays a big role in developing eating disorders. It says that culture has been
identified as one of the etiological factors in getting an eating disorder. Many countries have eating disorders and some
are more prevalent in others as it is in some. Eating disorders may also be a result of certain social pressures, in other
words, living up to the social norm and social ideal body image is difficult.

It has been seen that thinness is gaining a lot of popularity with the American culture as well as African-Americans.
Usually cultural beliefs can protect ethnic groups against eating disorders however it says clearly that this may be
eroding as adolescents start to enter American culture. American culture and its ideality of thinness is what makes
people prone to eating disorders. Culture in America values the skinny individual as the “attractive individual”.

Western cultural values also stated above says how that plays a role in conflicting eating disorders. They are most
recognized and widespread in westernized cultures such as America where independence is greatly valued. All these
values and cultural beliefs play a huge role in developing eating disorders due to the constant pressure of a culture’s
ideal body image.

Work Cited (correct MLA format):

Miller, N. “Culture and Eating Disorders.” Psychiatric Times, 1 Feb. 1999, www.psychiatrictimes.com/cultural-
psychiatry/culture-and-eating-disorders.
This is a reputable and reliable article because it is from a credible source and this website is highly praised by
current psychiatrists and psychologists.