feel compelled to be thin. The social comparison theory explains how and why people evaluate themselves in comparison of others. Festinger hypothesized that people have a need to objectively compare themselves. However, if the objective standards are unavailable, people will engage in social comparison. This is when they evaluate themselves in comparison with others. Morse and Gergen (1970) conducted a study on body image in relationship to the social comparison theory. They found that when comparing oneself with someone inferior in appearance was associated with higher self-esteem, whereas comparing oneself with someone superior in appearance was associated with lower self-esteem (Monteath & McCabe, 1997). A traditional gender role perspective portrays the importance for women to be evaluated positively in terms of attractiveness, of which thinness is a major part, than to be evaluated in terms of intelligence (Cohn & Adler, 1992). Numerous studies have since confirmed the objective existence of the thin ideal in the media, and that women are judged a significant extent on their appearance generally and on their weight. There have also been attempts to investigate empirically how these social pressures are perceived by women, how they affect womens behavior, and whether womens reactions to these pressures put women at a risk of developing an eating disorder. A study conducted by Murray, Touyz, and Beumont(1996) addressed the role of one significant source of social pressure- the mass media, by comparing a group of females with eating disorders with a group of females from a normal community. Specifically, the study examined the extent of subjects awareness of body ideals. They were also asked the extent to which and in what ways they felt influenced by the media. Many researchers have suggested that patients with eating disorders may be particularly vulnerable to the effects or influence of the media. Given their intense c...
