Eating Disorders - Are Women Dying to be Beautiful? Many women are concerned with their appearance. Too many of them are caught up with the image of being skinny and pretty. By seeing all the beautiful, thin women in the media and in society, they may feel insecure about the way they look. Therefore, they try and do anything they can to acquire that appearance. Methods they use to try and achieve this are by self-starvation, known as Anorexia, or induced vomiting, known as Bulimia. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are only two of the eating disorders that often result from their incessant desire to be thin and "beautiful." Eating disorders, such as these, also occur amongst men. However, it is less common. "Standards for males simply are not as extreme or as inimical to normal body builds as are women's standards" (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 8). It is not just the biological aspect, though, that makes this occur more often in women. Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley claim On even a practical level, women's self-image, their social and economic success and even their survival can still be determined largely by their beauty and by the men it allows them to attract, while for men these are based largely on how they act and what they accomplish. Looks simply are of secondary importance for male success. (9) Beauty and fashion are also in part with their desire for social acceptance and success. Women try to meet an unreasonable weight standard because fashion requires them to. Men are encouraged to be strong and powerful. As they work to develop their power in the gym and at work, they associate "thin" with "skinny" and "weak." Even though female models often look frail, (which men hate in themselves), female thinness is not classified as "skinny." Instead it is popular and defined as glamorous and sexy. This maybe helps explain why only five-to-ten percent of people with eating disorders are male. Anorexia nervosa is the persistent pursuit of thinness. A person suffering from this eating disorder refuses to maintain normal body weight for his/her age and height. He/she weigh eighty-five percent or less than what is expected for their age and height, and deny the dangers of low weight. He/she is terrified of gaining weight and becoming fat, even though they are distinctly underweight. Young girls do not begin to menstruate at the appropriate age, and in women, menstrual periods stop. In men, sex hormones fall. Also, often included with anorexia nervosa are depression, irritability, withdrawal, and peculiar behaviors such as strange eating habits. Bulimia nervosa is the diet-binge-purge disorder. A person with this eating disorder binge eats and feels out of control while eating. He/she vomits, misuses laxatives, exercises, or fasts to get rid of the calories. Dieting is done when not bingeing but then he/she becomes hungry and binges again. He/she believes self-worth requires being thin. Their weight may be normal, unless anorexia is also present. Like anorexia, bulimia can kill. Bulimics act cheerful but are often depressed, lonely, ashamed, and empty inside. Also, due to their feelings of unworthiness and difficulty talking about their feelings, anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and deeply buried anger is almost always included. There is a great deal of other eating disorders, but anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common. What causes eating disorders? There is not one simple answer as to why they do this to themselves. One factor is biological. Research suggests that abnormal levels of brain chemicals incline some people to anxiety, perfectionism, and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors. These people are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others. Another factor is psychological. People with eating disorders may have unrealistic expectations of themselves and others. To them, everything is good or bad, a success or a failure, fat or thin. "If fat is bad and thin is good, then thinner is better, and thinnest is best-even if thinnest is sixty-eight pounds in a hospital bed on life support" (Anorexia Nervosa). Some people with eating disorders use them to try and take control of themselves and their lives. They, as well, often lack a sense of identity. They try to define themselves by developing a socially approved and accepted exterior. They also frequently are rightfully angry, and do not know how to express their anger in healthy ways. They turn it against themselves by starving or stuffing. Family may be a factor. Parents who overvalue physical appearance can unintentionally contribute to an eating disorder. On the other hand, so can those who make critical comments, even jokingly, about their children's bodies. These families tend to be overprotective, rigid, and ineffective at solving conflict. There are often high expectations of achievement and success they feel they need to fulfill. The children try to resolve their problems by controlling weight and food. Another factor is social. Television, movies, and magazines are examples of media that bombard people with messages about the "advantages" of being thin. "Impressionable readers and viewers are told, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly by the actors and models that are chosen for display, that goodness, success, power, approval, popularity, admiration, intelligence, friends, and romantic relationships all require physical beauty in general and thinness in particular" (Anorexia Nervosa). Females are affected by eating disorders and cultural demands for thinness. Women, these days, have been urged to be as thin as is currently fashionable. Triggers are other factors that can cause eating disorders. If people are vulnerable to eating disorders, sometimes all it takes to start them is a trigger event that they do not know how to handle. A trigger could be something as harmless as teasing or as devastating as rape or incest. Triggers often happen at times of transition where increased demands are made on people who already are unsure of their ability to meet expectations. Dieting is probably the most common trigger of disordered eating. "It is a bit simplistic, but nonetheless true, to say that if there were no dieting, there would be no anorexia nervosa. Neither would there be the bulimia that people create when they diet..." (Anorexia Nervosa). We live in a culture where it is normal to feel that we should be thinner, prettier, firmer, and altogether better. "We dedicate our time, energy, and obsessive attention-in short, our lives- to trying to "fix" our bodies and make them "right" (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 152). Our troubled relationship to our bodies turns into our troubled relationship to our selves, and is the cause of the outbreak of eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression. The relationship between self and body not only supports women's disordered eating, but is also the foundation of their identity. It is an issue that contains the junction of mind, body, and culture. A start to the treatment of disordered eating is to deal with the negative body image that the person has. The occurrence of negative body images in girls is due to their feeling that they need to live within the safety of a "perfect" image that exists in the culture. Body image is the image of the body that the person sees with the mind's eye. It is a product of the mind's imagination and is not to be confused with the real image the body projects to an outside observer. For example, common with anorexia, a person feels fat when, in reality, they are very thin. They look in the mirror and instead of seeing their physical appearance; they see the image of themselves that they create in their mind. Over time, being thin has become the goal of many women. "...thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal" (Wolf 482). To be beautiful is what everyone strives for. To several women, "thin is beautiful." The ideal female weight is represented by actresses, models, and Miss Americas. "Consequently, 90-95% of American women feel that they don't 'measure up'" (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 8). Therefore, they will do anything to "measure up" and meet the standards the actresses, models, and Miss Americas exhibit. Being a teenager, I feel that we live in a culture where being thin is attractive. I feel this way because throughout high school, a majority of the guys would pine after the thin, pretty girls. The girls, "with meat on them," would often be jealous of, therefore, feeling they are not thin enough to be beautiful. Low self-esteem and eating disorders would then result from these feelings. I, personally, do not think that "thin is beautiful." Not only by your exterior, but what kind of a person you are and what you have inside, makes you beautiful. Works Cited Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. Updated September 2001. http://www.anred.com. November 27, 2001. Fallon, Patricia, Melanie A. Katzman, and Susan C. Wooley, eds. Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders. New York: Guilford Press, 1994. Wolf, Naomi. "The Beauty Myth." Signs of Life. 3rd edition. Comp. and ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2000. 481-89. Beth Decker wrote this essay. Please do not use any part of it without her consent!
One possible factor is biology. A person might inherit a gene from their parents that predisposes them to a susceptibility to eating disorders. While that may not be enough on its own, it certainly starts that person off on the wrong foot and if combined with other factors it can lead to an eating disorder. For example, an individual could inherit a slow metabolism causing them to put on weight faster than others, which in turn could cause them to develop an eating disorder to counteract the weight gain.
Gestalt psychotherapy recognizes that no one can be purely objective including therapists whose experiences and perspectives are also influenced by their own contexts and counselors accept the validity and truth of their client’s experiences. Gestalt therapy also recognizes that forcing a person to change can result in further distress and irritation, rather than changing results from acceptance of what is. Therapy sessions focus on helping people learn to become more self-aware and to accept and trust in their feelings and experiences to alleviate
There are many forms of eating disorders in the world; however, the two most common disorders are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Anorexia and Bulimia are found mostly in teens and young adult women (Amjad). Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which a person will starve them self in order to loose weight. (Amjad) Bulimia Nervosa is another common form of an eating disorder. In this case a person will go through periods of binge eating and then self-induce themselves to purge or vomit. (Amjad) Although we know many things about the physical aspects of these disorders, scientists still ponder on why people may develop one or both of these two eating disorders. Through much research, scientists may have found three possible explanations, which are pressure from society and friends, genetic links, or mental health related issues, as well as through pop culture media. There are also treatments available to those that fall victim and for those who want to be anorexic or bulimic there is support website that you give you tips and tricks to help you get started. Most people would say that in order to strive to be what society wants a person to look like, young females, in particular, teenagers and young adults, would starve or use self-induced purging in order to make themselves acceptable. Most people with these two eating disorders usually strive to make everything perfect in their lives. (Anorexia & Bulimia) The victims of these disorders usually get good grades and are highly involved in their community. (Anorexia & Bulimia) Usually they feel like one way to take control of their lives is to control what they eat. (Anorexia &Bulimia) In most cases, anorexics tend to be of normal weight and become withdrawn right before the...
There are two major disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The first disorder, anorexia nervosa, happens when someone decides to stop eating. “People with anorexia nervosa often also limit or restrict other parts of their lives besides food, including relationships, social activities” (McConnell). These self-imposed limits lead to anorexia. The second disorder, bulimia nervosa, is another disorder, where someone eats but then gets rid of the food. “People who have bulimia nervosa routinely ‘binge,’ consuming large amounts of food in a very short period of time, and immediately ‘purge,’ ridding their bodies of the just-eaten food by self-inducing vomiting, taking enemas, or abusing laxatives or other medications” (McConnell). These actions can be fatal if they are not treated. “Eating disorders are illnesses, not character flaws or choices. Genetics have a significant contribution and may predispose individuals to eating disorders,” (Why do young). “Your environment can also play a major role in developing an eating disorder. Dieting, body dissatisfaction and wanting to be thin are all factors that increase the risk for an eating disorder,” (Why do young). Whatever the reason for having anorexia or bulimia these disorders can have diffe...
There are many different ways to define stigma, but there are many common themes. Stigma is an attribute assigned to a person which sets them apart from others and casts them in a negative light (Link et al.; Byrne, 2000). This negative light leads to many other issues in a stigmatized person’s life. One is self confidence;
Nationalism is more than just a sense of pride in one’s country. Nationalism is what makes you feel like part of something bigger. In order to be a nation, its people should willingly make sacrifices to benefit the country, not just the individual. Many factors like common culture, language, geographic location, and shared history are all important contributors to nationalism. Nationalism can possess great power, that is capable of either uniting or dividing nations. As nationalism flourished in Europe during the 1800’s, it unified separate Italian and German city-states, and divided previously great powers like the Ottoman Empire and Austrian Empire.
Despite the fact that many people think of an eating disorder as being an unhealthy quest for a perfect body, eating disorders are not about vanity and not really about weight. The causes of eating disorders are not known with precision but are thought to be a combination of genetic, neuro-chemical, psycho-developmental, and socio-cultural factors. Eating disorders are complex, psychological illnesses where people try to control conflict and stress in their lives by controlling food. The food, weight, and body image issues are identifiable symptoms of deep-rooted, often difficult-to-identify problems.
His trumpet was made as a one of a kind. It has personalized engravings from all aspects of Marsalis’s life. This trumpet was the first trumpet Dave Monette ever made in this way which made it one of a kind. Marsalis’s trumpet is called PRANA 3 STC Bb. It took Monette and his team 250 hours to make. The trumpet has a brilliant sound.
The story took place in A.F (After Ford) 632, this is 632years after Ford has released the first T-ford. Huxley used ?After Ford?to show its great advancement in making automobiles as a company over the years. In 1932, Huxley introduced Brave New World to show his great concern of the Western civilization. He saw that in the 1900s there was a dramatic economic change in different countries, where the wholesalers are being eliminated, and manufacturers selling directly to the consumers. For example, at that time Ford makes cars and even sells them. They control who and where they sell. Technology and transportation was increasing tremendously, which caused more and bigger factories, mass-productions (eg. automobiles), and more manufactured goods. There were more volumes of trade and production due to more machinery. As markets are growing, activities, structures, as well as attitudes towards companies are changing. Robert Heibroner suggests that ?the rise of such giant enterprises has changed the face of capitalism as they attempt to alter the market setting through a system of public and private planning (p.43).? Like the vi...
Being female. Teenage girls and young women are more likely than teenage boys and young men to have anorexia or bulimia, but males can have eating disorders,
The precise reason is unidentified, however, research on the disease may prove that genes are a factor in getting Anorexia Nervosa. It could be caused by family and cultural pressures to the trapped person suffering from the disease this could be their only way of controlling their life. A behavioral therapist would read that positive reinforcement can create the problem. Friends and family complimenting a person on their weight-loss causes that person to feel great and continue to lose weight. Peers have an immense pressure, in fact sometimes more than the parents. For example, if a friend or a group of friends is on a diet a person may conform and follow the same pattern. There is also a biological approach to eating disorders, looking at the genetic factors. Studies using twins show some evidence of Anorexia Nervosa being genetically inherited, even so, there was not adequate evidence to conclude that Anorexia Nervosa is genetic. Further research is looking for a specific cause of the disorder. Besides genetic factors and peer pressure media plays a large role by endorsing the idea that thin is
A variety of behaviors such as depression, sexual disorders, phobias, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, anger issues, stress, eating disorders, and children with behavior problems. This is naming a few behavior issues that behavioral therapy can assist in changing. Because of the structure with behavior therapy the client and counselor can monitor the progress and modify the behavior in order to increase the client’s chance of having a positive
There are many reasons that can contribute to the cause of eating disorders. One of the main reasons seems to be the obsession over every little pound a person is wearing. Sometimes low self-esteem or depression from any number of causes can usher in the eating disorder. Other times compulsive exercising can help shed the pounds but leave the enthused unhealthy looking.
Anorexia nervosa is an illness that can control the mind. Anorexia nervosa is an illness that usually occurs in teenage girls, but it can also occur in teenage boys as well as adult women and men. People with the disease anorexia are obsessed with being thin. They lose weight excessively and are terrified of gaining weight. They believe they are fat even though in reality they are not fat at all; in fact they are very thin. Anorexia is not just a problem with food or weight. It is an attempt to use food and weight to deal with emotional problems they have with in them.
We live in a society today that says that image is important. The messages that the movies, music videos, and magazines gives us about what beauty is suppose to look like can be very demanding. From the super thin models to the long weaves and big bootys. Society's view of beauty is especially hard for the women of today, we are constantly being told that beauty is being thin and never being told to be happy with who we are. The way we are suppose to look can cause a heavy burden on some people's lives thus causing some people to develop an eating disorder.