Eating Disorders

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Recommended: Effects of media on perceptions of body image

From infinite directions I always hear women, and the occasional man, complaining about their appearances. It's rather unsettling how many people are unhappy with their perfectly healthy bodies. Walk through a high school, or even middle school for that matter, and you'll hear the choruses of “I need to lose weight”. But this chorus is uneven and terribly out of tune; most of these singers have no real weight problems. Yet, there is an underlying problem, yes, women have always strived to be more beautiful from the invention of cosmetics to anti-aging products, an even greater problem has arisen: eating disorders. Eating disorders are often seen as isolated creatures, people who have no connections to others, yet this is so very false. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders [ANAD] “25% of college-aged women engage in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique”. This fact brings up a crucial question: why are eating disorders so prominent and are often not acknowledged? First off, an eating disorder is generally described as an inconsistent eating behavior. This includes both severe over eating and under eating. According to the ANAD, .5 to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa within their lifespan. This is a significant number of women in the world, but this does not mean that eating disorders are limited to women only. An estimated five to fifteen percent of bulumia, or a disorder that involves common episodes of binge eating and then frantic attempts to not gain weight (generally by inducing vomiting), and anorexia, general loss of interest in the consumption of food, are men. The media is often blamed for this issue from their vision of an ideal woman: th... ... middle of paper ... ...-body-image-and-eating-disorders NIMH (n.d.). NIMH • Eating Disorders. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders/index.shtml Randy, S., & Lori, S. (2008, June 5). Bully victims: psychological and somatic afteraffects. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695751/ Segal, J., & Smith, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/bulimia_signs_symptoms_causes_treatment.htm Spettigue, W., & Henderson, K. A. (February 13). Eating Disorders and the Role of the Media. Retrieved February 13, 2004, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2533817/#b3-0130016 Teen Health and the Media. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi? section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders

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