Eating Disorders and MTV

MTV's Key West Real World aired its second episode of the season last night with much of the focus on Paula, an anxiety-ridden 24 year old girl. Fueled by low self-esteem and diet pills, her depression and eating disorder took center stage as cast members tried to understand her emotional imbalance.

One can't help but wonder why Paula feels she is on a road to obesity - especially since she weighs only 94 pounds and appears malnourished. In Paula's mind, she admits she "feels doomed".

The answer to Paula's disorder lies in our culture's worshiping of a super-skinny woman, constantly bombarding adolescents with images of beautiful models too thin to do anything more exerting than standing for a camera.

And MTV has been at the forefront of perpetuating this sad ideal. Astonishingly, following the episode was another MTV reality show named "8th & Ocean" about young models each appearing just as malnourished as Paula. One by one, the models were asked to pose in their bikinis allowing the camera to slowly roam their tiny frames.

Makes me wonder how many future Paulas were watching, thinking that they needed to be emaciated to look attractive and have self-esteem.

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