Dr Aric Sigman is at it again.

[23_Tauri]

This time, his target is beautiful women. Dr Sigman has published a paper in the Biologist suggesting that media images lead young girls to develop anorexia.

I can’t find his actual paper (I think you have to be a member of the The Biologist website to access research papers), so if anyone can link to it here I would be grateful. Two news sites run the story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1321431/How-super-skinny-TV-stars-harming-health.html

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=155003304

I fear that this will be used by the public health lobby as another reason to attempt manage behaviour and try and ban things yet again. This time, it’s what we’re allowed to look at. In my view, blaming the prevalence anorexia on media images is a facile explanation for what is a complex, psychological disorder. Do you agree?

 

[Ziggurat]

The solution: only use fat models!

Of course, that doesn't work either.

 

[Emet]

I had never heard of this guy.

Is he influential?

 

[godless dave]

This time, his target is beautiful women. Dr Sigman has published a paper in the Biologist suggesting that media images lead young girls to develop anorexia.

I can’t find his actual paper (I think you have to be a member of the The Biologist website to access research papers), so if anyone can link to it here I would be grateful. Two news sites run the story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1321431/How-super-skinny-TV-stars-harming-health.html

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=155003304

I fear that this will be used by the public health lobby as another reason to attempt manage behaviour and try and ban things yet again. This time, it’s what we’re allowed to look at. In my view, blaming the prevalence anorexia on media images is a facile explanation for what is a complex, psychological disorder. Do you agree?

It's hardly a new claim. Is he saying that media images are the sole cause of anorexia? If that were the case he would be oversimplifying. If he's saying they contribute to it, he's probably right, but that doesn't necessarily mean the government will try to regulate such images.

 

[23_Tauri]

I first heard of Dr Sigman when I read his book Remotely Controlled, in which he argues that television causes ADHD and other behavioural problems in children. He's been criticised for his work by Ben Goldacre on his website Bad Science.

With his research into anorexia he seems to be implying that showing pictures of thin models to girls changes their brain chemistry and this is a primary cause of anorexia. He is quoted in the Daily Mail article as saying:

However, new research shows there is a much stronger link between visual media and eating disorders. Repeated exposure to images of thin women alters brain function and increases our propensity to develop eating disorders.

So Dr Sigman doesn't say that it's the only causative factor. But what does make me very uncomfortable is that Dr Sigman goes on to say:

It all leads to the same conclusion: the prevalence of thin women on television is a public-health issue requiring urgent action.

In suggesting that it is a strong factor in the development of anorexia I have to disagree. Having been there, done that and ticked the box 20 odd years ago, my experience of anorexia is a that is a psychological mechanism to regain control when one's external environment seems beyond one's control. I don't remember wanting to look like a skinny model, which would suggest one is comfortable with one's body and would want to display it to the world. On the contrary, anorexics seek to 'disappear' from the world. Pointing the finger at pictures of Cheryl Cole completely misses the point. He even seems to be suggesting in his article in The Mail (or all places) that being slim and healthy is undesirable. However, I'm interested to know what others here think, particularly if they work with with people with eating disorders.

It's not clear from the news articles exactly what Sigman's hypothesis is, and how he tested it, which is why I'm interested in reading his paper, if it's available online.

 

[quarky]

I finally saw the movie "Avatar". Those blueish folks were really lean, and frisky. A new wave of anorexia is imminent.