NEDIC Conference Journal 2018

segment of the population, constant comparison
with a mediated ideal contributes to body
dissatisfaction.
Another risk associated with media is the
objectification and sexualization of female bodies to
a large degree but also male bodies. The issue that
needs to be raised is whether or not these media
norms can be accepted uncritically or if they should
be challenged. For example, close-ups focus on a
part of someone’s body, rather than the person and
their message. As Canadians, we have to examine
carefully how comfortable we are with presenting
girls and women so frequently as objects of desire.
There is also the issue of realism, as real life cannot
compete with Photoshop and hours of endless
preparation designed to sell dresses on the red
carpet. Beyond the sale of dresses, these practices
promote what is valued culturally and socially. These
looks are unattainable for the general population.
Presently there is an advertisement on Canadian
television that shows a woman exercising, running a
board meeting and coaching her daughter’s team –
all before breakfast. These types of media messages
subtly tell women how to “be” in the world.
Other media such as gossip shows (talk shows
and entertainment shows) participate blatantly in
social comparison, judging people by their looks and
clothing choices, and assigning popularity.
Acceptance is related to appearance which results in
choices that are risky for health. The results are
profits for those corporate entities focused on selling
weight and appearance management.
One need only look to popular magazines at the
grocery checkout counter to see the inherent
contradictions in the corporate media messages.
While the overall message is to sell, many of the
magazines offer quick weight loss advice as well as
recipes. Commercials sell under the guise that a
person needs to improve their looks to stand up to
social comparison. Many of these ads are aimed at
women and girls (for fuller hair, shinier lips etc.).
Missing from these media messages in general are
realistic body sizes and proportions. Even models
who are selected to represent aging women often do
not have the typical features and proportions of the
women they supposedly represent. Naturally, this
helps to promote the sale of a product to make
someone look younger than their age. These are only
some of the issues.
A key question emerges: Do we want to teach
adolescents to focus on the media techniques and
the audience, or do we want to challenge
adolescents to connect the dots, understand the
powerful forces at work, and participate to create
counter narratives in their (social) media?
The purpose of a critical media literacy program
is to intervene early by reducing the risk factors and
simultaneously building the protective factors such
as peer norms for resilience against harmful
messages. Awareness of eating disorders can help
educators to think about and challenge common
cultural practices that promote body dissatisfaction
such as body shaming or size shaming. One example
of a broader social issue that can be discussed in a
critical media literacy program is the tendency of
people to comment on other people’s size and draw
implications from this about their character. Other
socio-cultural factors include weight-related teasing
and discrimination.
Media are complicit in contributing to body
dissatisfaction by over-representing bodies that do
not reflect average Canadians. Asking students to
think about how bodies are represented in media
can help students see how broader social contexts
shape our views of health and self. Teachers can also
help students see that broader issues such as
geography impact health. This helps to shift the
focus away from health approaches that assign
credit or blame to the individual without considering
the broader social determinants.
The proliferation of new media and the ability of
young people to harness new forms of
communication present a new frontier for eating
disorder prevention, but insufficient attention has
been given to the potential of these new
technologies to advocate for social change [17].
Some of the recommended elements of such a
media literacy program would include awareness of
advertising techniques; naming and countering
gender stereotypes; understanding objectification
and sexualization; considerations of the implicit and
explicit messages of media, and advocating for more
realistic representations of bodies [18].
5. More critical future students
There are some cautions about critical media
literacy and body image intervention programs. One
of the exercises in the critical media literacy
workshop asks participants to compare different
critical media literacy programs and reference
materials for schools. We examine “off the shelf”
lessons for schools that are marketed as critical
media literacy. Participants also assess wellresearched
lessons from the National Eating
Disorders Information Center (NEDIC) curriculum
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