Morality and Health: News Media Constructions of Overweight and Eating Disorders

Abstract

In 2005, in the wealthy suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, Emily and Mark Krudys' ten-yearold daughter, Katherine, was diagnosed with anorexia, and her parents were desperate for a cure. "Emily and Mark tried everything. They were firm. Then they begged their daughter to eat. Then they bribed her. We'll buy you a pony, they told her. But nothing worked" (Tyre 2005). Finally, Katherine was admitted for inpatient treatment at a children's hospital in another town. During the two months of her daughter's treatment, Emily stayed nearby so that she could attend family-therapy sessions. After Katherine was released, Emily homeschooled her while Katherine regained strength. Considered a success story, Newsweek reported that Katherine entered sixth grade in fall of 2005: "She's got the pony, and she's become an avid Only a short drive away, in Washington, DC, Leslie Abbott, a black single mother, was dealing with a very different food battle. She had lost custody of her son Terrell after months of fighting neglect charges related to his body weight. Known to his friends as "Heavy-T," Terrell had recently been released from an inpatient weight-loss program, but-once at homehad gained weight. Leslie explained to a reporter why it was unfair for public authorities to blame her for Terrell's backslide: "This boy is 15, going to be 16 years old. I can't watch him 24 hours a day. They want me to hold his hand, take him to the Y, make him eat salad" (Eaton 2007). Leslie said she would have had to quit her minimum-wage job in order to follow the health regimen suggested by Terrell's doctors. But, as noted by the journalist, "How could she afford that? To her thinking, the healthy food Terrell needed meant she needed more money, not less" (Eaton 2007).These two news articles discuss topics-anorexia and obesity-in which body size (too thin or too heavy) and eating (too little or too much) are treated as medical risks and/or diseases. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines anorexia as the refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally "normal weight" for age and height, fear of gaining weight or becoming "fat," and denial of the gravity of one's low body weight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines "obesity" among adults as having a body mass index (BMI) (weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) equal to or greater than 30, and "overweight" as having a BMI equal or greater than 25 but less than 30.1 Different measures are used for children and teenagers under 18-years old, which adjust for age.While anorexia and overweight/obesity are both medical categories related to body weight and eating, they have strikingly different social and moral connotations. In the contemporary United States, being heavy is seen as the embodiment of gluttony, sloth, and/or stupidity (Crandall and Eshleman 2003;Latner and Stunkard 2003), while slenderness is taken as the embodiment of virtue (Bordo 1993). A deep-seated cultural belief in self-reliance makes body size-like wealth-especially likely ...

Athletes Abstinence Knowledge from Eating Disorders like Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED), as Health Education Method in Decreasing Unhealthy Ageing with Reference to Physical and Mental Health

“…Mitchison, D. (2013) reported that, binge eating disorder has also been found to be similar among black women, white women, and white men. While some studies by Saguy, A. et al (2014), have shown that binge eating disorder is more common among black women than among white women. Finally, as tabled in 4, 6 and 8 and figured in 1, 2 and 3, the results however displayed a high negatively skewed holistic insignificant responses from Njala Campus Athletes knowledge bout abstinence from eating disorders of Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) in decreasing unhealthy ageing with reference to physical and mental health.…”

“…However, Health Education can also be defined as any combination of planned learning experiences based on sound theories that provide binging-type eating behaviour without the exclusive nocturnal component, Brewerton, T. (2014). Binge eating is one of the most prevalent eating disorders among adults, Saguy, A. et al (2014), though there tends to be less media coverage and research about the disorder in comparison to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Binge eating is a core symptom of binge eating disorder; however, not everyone who binge eats has binge eating disorder, Fairburn, C. (2013).…”

“…Until 2013, binge eating disorder was categorized as an Eating Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified-an umbrella category for eating disorders that don't fall under the categories for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, Iacovino, J. M. et al (2012). Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in adults, Iacovino, J. M. et al (2012), though there is generally less research on binge eating disorder in comparison to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, Saguy, A. et al (2014), The lifetime prevalence of binge eating disorder has been observed in studies to be 2.0 percent for men and 3.5 percent for women, higher than that of the commonly recognized eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, Westerburg, D. P. et al (2013). Additionally, 30 to 40 percent of individuals seeking treatment for weight-loss can be diagnosed with binge eating disorder, Westerburg, D. P. et al (2013).…”

La obesidad infantil en la prensa española

“…Dentro de las investigaciones que usan esta metodología, la técnica más empleada es el análisis de contenido (Saguy y Almeling, 2008;Hilbert y Ried, 2009;García y Díez, 2009;Saguy y Gruys, 2010;Bastian, 2011;De Brún, McCarthy, McKenzie y McGloin, 2013). En segundo lugar la encuesta (Evans, Renaud y Kamerow, 2006;Dixon, Scully, Wakefield y otros, 2007;Barry, 2009) y el uso de experimentos y modelos matemáticos de simulación (Chou, Rashad, y Grossman, 2008) se encuentran de forma residual.…”

Obese Adults’ Perceptions of News Reporting on Obesity

“…For example, Saguy and Gruys (2010) found that many media reports blamed obese individuals for their body weight and commonly used "stereotypes of fat people as gluttonous, slothful, and ignorant . .…”