I can't say that media didn't have an affect.. mine was more like looking in the mirror and hating what i see.. pinching the fat from my body and then looking at magazines or enertainment news on how all these girls are dropping down to deadly weights and as much as i should feel sorry for them.. it's like i want to BE them.

I wouldn't blame the media for my Ed, however as I am in the media I do feel a lot of pressure to be a certain size (I never feel small enough), and if I don't get an acting job, I assume it's because I'm not skinny enough. I've said this exact thing to my family and friends, and they almost want to hit me... but I still think it's the case.

When I was anorexic and then bulimic in my teens I would say the media had a little bit of influence but the major contributing factor for me was my mum and her relationship with food and her body which ultimately had an affect on how I viewed food and my body...This time round my ED has been influenced ny the feeling of self hatred coupled with low self esteem and the fact that I hate the thought of failing and at the moment I see eating (even the small amounts that I consume)as failing....

I can honestly say that the media had nothing to do with my ED. I was eating disordered at around 7 or 8, was only allowed to watch KCET, and wasn't allowed to read the paper due to racey issues or pictures.

My ED came around to me when my mom called me fat...but she's obsessed with being a bone rack anyways, but it still hurt. She didn't say those exact words, "You're fat". She said, "Everyone has to lose about 15lbs, your brother has GAIN about 15lbs...and you have to lose about 30lbs." I wasn't even the heaviest one in the room. But that was just a "little" pressure. Which my brother ignited by telling me I should always be going for runs...when it hurts my shin bones.

The main factors of my ED were my family. Nothing I ever did was good enough for my step-mom. My A in English Lit would never be as good as my step-sister's B. Even at my dad's wedding, everyone was oooing and ahhing over my step-sister and the only one who said i was pretty was my dad. My mom also used to say I had a fat ass (she's dangerously thin) so I began feeling like this big failure. One thing lead to another and here I am

But I think the media influenced me after I was diagnosed with ED because suddenly I realised that all these girls on the covers of magazines had exactly what I wanted, despite the fact that I don't wear make-up and despise fashion. The media is definitely influential to an extent

i only became really aware of these so called 'dangerous' messages in the media once i was already caught up in the whole cycle, like kharmacre. from then on i would feel bad whenever i saw skinny models and want to be just like them and i even got jealous of shop mannequins once because they were so stick-thin! but my ed came about from years of perfectionism and dodgy eating habits which i can only really attribute to myself

kind've with you on this one. it wasn't till after that i have already developed my ed that i started obsessively buying star and people and obsessing over a holly wood body. the media hasn't helped, but i don't think it is the cause of my problems.

Oh, and I also ate vicariously through Food Network! Hehhhhhh...kinda like looking through recipe books and staring at the photos when no one is looking.

My ED has nothing to do with the media. I do compare sometimes but I do that anywhere. I'm skinnier than the media anorexics and weight loss ads can't teach me anything I already know. I just feel that ED gives me security, identity and happiness.(I know it's false happiness) I don't want to have a killer body like Jessica Biel or whoever. I want a child's body so I don't get noticed. I dont want to be a women, period.

Karrin, you sound EXACTLY like how I feel. It's so...odd. I hate those comments like: "Oh don't you want to be sexy with curves? Men don't like skinny women." And I'm like: Who said I wanted boobs and hips and shit? I pretty much think all women in the media industry are ugly as fuck (they all just look like plastic made-up clowns with fake tans), so I don't really even bother with them. I only like laughing at them. Or ranting about their idiocy.

Anyway Karrin, seems like once again, we have much in common. /hugs and high five

Lapetite, Karrin, I completely agree with the not wanting to look like a woman. I really can't stand boobs and I HATE hips with a passion. I've almost idolized pictures of me when I was little, like 9. A skinny tomboy.
Also, media means nothing to me as far as I can tell. It's my skinny friends- but then it's not, it's so messed up. I only like looking at models now for their shoulders and skinny legs...

My ED had begun with my ex-husband. He was very abusive. Always telling me that I wasn't good enough, not thin enough... He also compared me to women on the TV, in magazines, etc. I heard it for so long that I started comparing myself to everyone, on TV, in magazines, even people on the street! The more I saw all these girls... the more I desperatly wanted to BE them. No matter what the cost. I hated myself, some days I still do. But the one thing I realized, is that even though my ex abused me, I chose to continue abusing myself.

Chihiro, I've never told anyone this before, but I used to think I might be a pedophile because I used to stare at children and long to have their figure. I mean, I never wanted to do anything sexually to them (no way), but I just wanted to have all the little aspects of their figure.

Now I feel weird saying that, but yeah, jealousy of little kids. I feel that too.

I dont think the media are to blame but they certainly dont help.
I never developed an ED due to the media, but when I need 'thinspiration' or if i see a really thin celeb then it adds to it..