Name: Zoe Barrett-Kahn
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):NEDA (National Eating Disorderd 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?[:: :
We interviewed Elizabet Altunkara, the director of education at NEDA, the national eating disorders association. NEDA is an organization that primarily helps people with eating disorders seek help and treatment. They have helplines on their website for people who are struggling with disordered eating. We decided to interview NEDA about the effects of seeing unrealistic standards of bodies and appearance on social media.
In this interview, we learned that when girls start to see unrealistic images and standards on the internet, in advertising, practically anywhere, they can start to feel dissatisfied with their bodies. Body dissatisfaction can cause girls to want to go on diets or start working out, and since this unrealistic content is being pushed towards girls who are young and impressionable, these girls can start going on more and more extreme diets and feeling worse about themselves, so much that they can start to develop an eating disorder. Eating disorders are incredibly deadly, and can result in permanent health and self-esteem issues. Overall, this was a very informative interview and we gained useful information from it.