Debate

.

I.          Introduction: Mr. Speaker, let me begin with a story.  She looks down at the magazine, the picture of the beautiful model. Perfect she thinks, she's perfect.  She then looks up at herself in the mirror and realizes she isn't as tall and isn't as skinny as the model.  She thinks maybe if I lose some weight I would be popular like this model.  And that's just how it starts she starts skipping meals and when she doesn't see a change she feels like a failure. She feels fat and so this time she skips more meals and finally sees the result she wants.  She gets more attention at school and continues but pound after pound and she thinks maybe if I just lose one more I could be even prettier.  She is 13 years old.

                  A.        As Prime Minister of the Government, I would like to introduce you to our motion: that the American media demeans women and should be recognized and dealt with.

1.         My partner and I believe that one way to do this is to raise awareness of the effect that the media has as well as monitor what is being put out.

2.         I will talk about two things: First I will talk about the impossible beauty standards that the media has allowed to become normal in American society and then I will talk about eating disorders that many people go through to get to that unattainable standard.  Later my partner will talk about how the media sexualizes women. 

3.         But before I get started let me define media.  Dictionary.com defines media as the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely. 

B.            First, The beauty standard.  Thanks to the media, we have become accustomed to extremely rigid and uniform standards of beauty.  Women are expected to be tall and thin and gorgeous while still looking “natural.”

1.         TV, billboards, magazines etc mean that we see 'beautiful people' all the time, sometimes more often than members of our own family, making exceptional good looks seem real, normal and attainable.  The average model is 5 foot 11 inches 115lbs while the average women is on 5 foot 4 inches and 140lbs.

2.         Standards of beauty have in fact become harder and harder to attain, particularly for women. The current media ideal of thinness for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population.

3.         And don’t forget about photo shop and lighting and all the other things photographers do to make their models look perfect in print.

4.         Now let me give you some statistics.  The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders found that 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.  69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.  An ideal that for most is unattainable.

Now that I have explained the beauty standard let me move on to what that beauty standard drives some people to.

                C.            My second point: Eating disorders.  Many people who try to attain the beauty standard set by the media fall into or resort to eating disorders to attain the weight or look that the media has told them is correct because they can’t get to it in a healthy way.

                                1.            Did you know that one in every 200 American women suffers from Anorexia or that two to three in every 100 American women suffers from Bulimia.  And that 95 percent of those are between the ages of 12, 12! and 25. 

                                2.            50 percent of girls between 11 and 13 see themselves as fat.  While children should be playing they’re worried about not being slim enough.  60 percent of teenage American girls believe they are overweight while in reality only about 15 percent of them actually are.   And I wonder how they came to that conclusion.

American media is telling girls to reach a goal that is unhealthy and dangerous. 

III.           Conclusion:  Today I have told you of the ways that American media changes the way a women or girl may look at herself.

1.       I have told you about the unattainable beauty standard that is set by American media.

2.       I have also told you of serious eating disorders that may arise if they give in to this beauty standard.

3.       And later my partner will tell you how media sexualizes women.

Works Cited

"ANAD." Eating Disorders Statistics « « National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/>.

"ANRED: Eating Disorders Statistics." ANRED: Eating Disorders Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.anred.com/stats.html>.

"Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising." Center for Media Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising>.

"Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising." Center for Media Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising>.

"Body and Beauty Standards." The Body Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://thebodyproject.bradley.edu/standards/index.shtml>.

"Eating Disorder Statistics & Research." Eating Disorder Hope RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/statistics-studies>.

"Media." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/media?s=t>.

"Mirror, MirrorA Summary of Research Findings on Body Image." Mirror, Mirror. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.sirc.org/publik/mirror.html>.

"South Carolina Department of Mental Health." Eating Disorder Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm>.

US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/mental-health/eating-disorders>.