Psychiatrists are calling for a new editorial code to be drawn up encouraging the media to stop promoting unhealthy body images and glamorising eating disorders.
In recognition of Eating Disorders Awareness Week, the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ eating disorders section is demanding that the media use images of people with more diverse body shapes.
It says they are increasingly concerned about the harmful influence of the media on people’s body image and self-esteem and are calling on the government to establish a new forum to tackle the issue.
The Forum should include representatives from the media and advertising agencies, regulatory bodies, eating disorder experts, eating disorder organisations and politicians.
The psychiatrists are being backed in their call by the eating disorders charity Beat.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Adrienne Key, a member of the eating disorders section, said: “The aims of the forum should be to collaboratively develop an ethical editorial code that realistically addresses the damaging portrayal of eating disorders, raises awareness of unrealistic visual imagery created through airbrushing and digital enhancement, and also addresses the skewed and erroneous content of magazines.”
The RCPsych eating disorders section outlines three key areas of concern: firstly, the visual imagery of underweight models being used in the media and advertising to promote a thin body ideal; secondly, unbalanced articles that give advice on dieting without giving information about the long-term effectiveness of diets and the dangers of extreme dieting; and, finally, the inaccurate portrayal of eating disorders which often suggest they are due to personal weakness.
Dr Key said: “There is a growing body of research that shows the media plays a part in the development of eating disorder symptoms - particularly in adolescents and young people. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, are serious mental illnesses. Although biological and genetic factors play an important role in the development of these disorders, psychological and social factors are also significant. That’s why we are calling on the media to take greater responsibility for the messages it sends out.”
Eating Disorders Awareness Week runs from 22 to 28 February.