Name: Madison Mize
Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Women’s Role and Representation in the Media (print/ads/tv)
Date of Fieldwork: January 13, 2023
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Elizabet Altunkara from the National Eating Disorders Association
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
Our group interviewed Elizabet Altunkara, the Director of NEDA (Education at the National Eating Disorder Association). NEDA helps people who are struggling with eating disorders, body image issues, and their website goes into detail of what eating disorders are, how people develop them, and how to help someone who has one or prevent it.
They were an amazing organization to interview because they educated us about the many ways eating disorders and body image issues develop from the representation of women in the media. Elizabet told us that most eating disorders come from body image issues, which is a result of women comparing themselves to what they see online.
The way women are represented in ads, movies, and social media has a significant effect on the way women view themselves. Keeping up with the beauty standards is exhausting, and damaging mentally and physically. People who are unhappy with their appearance feel they are flawed in comparison to others, and they are more prone to suffer from depression, isolation, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. While there is no single cause of eating disorders, studies show that body dissatisfaction is the most common contributor to the development of anorexia and bulimia. Elizabet also made an interesting point about how COVID increased the rates of eating disorders because the only human contact people had was in the media. This caused women to compare themselves more. It wasn’t uncommon for people to be overeating, or under-eating. I’m so grateful that we were able to interview Elizabet, our group learned so much from her.
