Students look at image
Nicole Martin
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: Accent
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Curt Hill, SUU counseling services director at the Wellness Center, said the image project was a success.
"We had a pretty good response at times," he said.
Hill said Slim Hopes, a short film, was shown Tuesday.
The video featured Jean Kilbourne, a leading researcher in the field of mass media.
Kilbourne has done research in the field of media effects on body image and relevant topics were discussed in her film, Hill said.
In the film, Kilbourne said $33 billion is made from the diet industry each year, 50 percent of American women are on diets, 75 percent of women think they are overweight, 80 percent of 10-year-old-girls are on diets, 11.3 percent of college women are on diets and the number-one wish of American girls is to lose weight and keep it off.
"Advertising doesn't cause eating problems, of course, any more than it causes alcoholism," Kilbourne said. "Anorexia, in particular is a disease with complicated etiology, and media images probably don't play a major role. However these images certainly contribute to the body-hatred so many young women feel and to some of the resulting eating problems. It provides fertile soil for (eating disorders) to take root in and create a climate of denial in which these diseases flourish."
Hill said he also thinks the media has an effect on body image.
"Some people don't want to make this link, but I'll make it," he said. "I think the increased sexualization of women's bodies in our culture is a big piece (of eating disorders)."
Lola Milliron, a junior communication major from Portland, Ore., said she thinks the media has over-sexualized ads and other aspects of the media in that women featured in ads are digitally altered to make their breasts larger and waistlines smaller.
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