Abstract
This paper looks at animal-based metaphors used by the written media in order to convey negative messages about the relationship of women with food. By analyzing a corpus of met-aphors extracted from different sorts of publications, which include newspapers and maga-zines, this article tries to shed some light on how such figurative usages together with their visual representation may contribute to women's body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization and disordered eating.
Highlights
The representation of women in the media Because, as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, the image below, taken from a widely read publication, superbly encapsulates the aim of this paper, that is, how eating disorders are, more often than not, promoted in the written media by means of animal metaphors which tend to be illustrated by photographs showing a connection between females and food
Her apparently inability to control her appetite is linguistically rendered through an animal-based metaphor (i. e. "pigging out”) which is visually reinforced by several photographs of the actress eating food
By analyzing a corpus of metaphors extracted from different sorts of publications,1 which include newspapers and magazines, this article tries to shed some light on how such figurative usages together with their visual representation may contribute to women's body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization and disordered eating
Summary
The representation of women in the media Because, as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, the image below (image 1), taken from a widely read publication, superbly encapsulates the aim of this paper, that is, how eating disorders are, more often than not, promoted in the written media by means of animal metaphors which tend to be illustrated by photographs showing a connection between females and food. The front cover of the magazine features actress Kirstie Alley, who has been outspoken with her struggle regarding weight issues Her apparently inability to control her appetite is linguistically rendered through an animal-based metaphor This paper looks at animal-based metaphors used by the written media in order to convey negative messages about the relationship between women and food. By analyzing a corpus of metaphors extracted from different sorts of publications, which include newspapers and magazines, this article tries to shed some light on how such figurative usages together with their visual representation may contribute to women's body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization and disordered eating.
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