ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses media representations of health and illness and describes the ways
in which media habitually represent the body. Issues such as disability, eating disorders,
body image, genetic engineering, sexually transmitted diseases, mental disorder, cosmetic
surgery, drug cultures, abortion, fertility treatment, euthanasia, gerontology, and so forth,
are within the general remit of this chapter. However, it focuses on four main issues as
exemplary: ‘beginning of life’, eating disorder, lifestyle enhancements and ‘end of life’ is-
sues. These examples, it will be shown, urge consideration of the kind of ethical principles
which might inform media representations.
