The media can impact people's lives in many ways, whether it's fashion, movies, literature or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to attract attention and look good in order to have a good career in their respective fields. People tend to judge someone's appearance based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting leaner and leaner. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless pattern of behavior is an increase in eating disorders. According to the National Eating Disorder Association or NEDA, an eating disorder consists of extreme emotions, attitudes and behaviors related to weight and eating problems. There are three main types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder (BED). Anorexia nervosa is characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by a cycle of binges and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, aimed at canceling or compensating for the effects of the binges. Binge eating disorder is characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counteract the binge eating. While there is disagreement about whether there is a connection between Hollywood and eating disorders, there is no question whether the amount of binge eating cases reported are increasing. In a report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in November 2010 it was found that the number of children under the age of twelve hospitalized for eating disorders increased by 112% between 1999 and 2006. .While people.. .... middle of paper......cause. Bottom line, I don't think the media is to blame. I believe there are many factors that lead to eating disorders. While I don't have an opinion on the exact cause of eating disorders, I can say that I don't believe they are caused by the media, just made worse. Works Cited Andrist, Linda C. "Media Images, Body Dissatisfaction, and Disordered Eating" in Adolescent Women." Adolescent Health March 2003, 28th ed., section 2: 119-23. Print. Smolak, Linda, Michael P Levine and Ruth Striegel-Moore. “Media as Context.” Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders: Implications for Research, Prevention, and Treatment .Strasburger, Victor C., Amy B. Jordan, and Ed Donnerstein. “Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents.” Pediatrics 125.4 (2010): 756-67. 2011.