The image of oneself is so profound that it is implicated all through society from television, advertisement panels, social media, magazines and technological devices. All around us we are stiffened and critique on how we look and judged to this matter, especially for the female gender. It wasn’t until one day, I, yes me, began to look in the mirror at myself and feed into the complexity of image consultants everywhere, lowering and fitting to the so called image that was portrayed as acceptable not only in my colleagues eyes, but tormented and coined as my own perception. Maybe this concept of body image was right, maybe a little fat from my stomach or thighs would make things much easier, but little did I know I was so wrong. Anorexia nervosa is an illness that has impacted many individuals and families. This fatal disease is a “serious psychosomatic disorder in which the sufferer, usually female, believes she is fat despite all attempts to persuade her otherwise and in consequence tries with all her determination to lose weight”, states Hodes et. al (Hodes et. al., 1991). One out of several eating disorders, anorexia is an eating-related issue that arises from thoughts and emotions. To understand anorexia nervosa we must understand the foundational standpoint associated with this plague, I would so call it. Crisp reveals that this condition emerged within the context of or following the biological process of puberty (Crisp, 1980). The distorted body image and fear associated with being fat consumes an individual’s sense of control lost with negative feelings such as anxiety, guilt, anger and depression demonstrated. Statistics show that many teens and young adults are fighting this battle of self- consciousness and idealizatio... ... middle of paper ... ...can Psychologist. 37(7):788-801. Minuchin, S., Rosman, B. and Baker, L. (1978). Psychosomatic Families: Anorexia Nervosa in Context. United States. Library of Congress. Murphy, R., Straebler, S., Cooper, Z. and Fairburn, C. (2010). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 33 (3): 611-627. Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders [RCF]. (2002). Eating disorders 101 guide: A summary of issues, statistics and resources. Retrieved November 26, 2013, from www.renfrew.org. Weingarten, K. (2001). Making sense of illness narratives: Braiding theory, practice and the embodied life: Working with the stories of women’s lives. Dulwich Center Publications. Retrieved November 30, 2013, from www. dulwichcentre.com. Wesley, B. (2013). Hungry to be whole: A therapist’s Story of Healing from Anorexia. Charleston, S.C.
Anorexia Nervosa has been a problematic disease many women suffer from. The article “The Slender Trap” was composed by Trina Rys who is a stay at home mother with a husband and one daughter. Rys writes the main reasons a woman may develop anorexia from. She states that the psychological pressures, expectations of friends and family and influences of the media all are factors when a woman is inflicted with the disease. I strongly agree with Rys persuading argument that anorexia could be caused by an unknown identity and the overall main focus of the ideal image of a woman. Although, I believe Rys requires a stronger argument on whether food restrictions executed by parents are a major step to developing the harmful illness. She seems to put emphasize on mainly women but does not shine any light on men.
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
Like a blueprint or instruction manual, the objective of a rhetorical analysis is to dissect a written argument, identify its many parts, and explain how all of them come together to achieve a desired effect. Susan Bordo, a professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky, wrote “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, published in 2003 in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her essay examines how the media plays a pervasive role in how women view their bodies to the point where we live in an empire of images and there are no protective borders. In “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies”, Bordo not only effectively incorporates numerous facts and statistics from her own research and the research of others; she also appeals to emotional realities of anxiety and inadequacy felt by women all over the world in regards to their body image. Ultimately, her intent is to critique the influence of the media on self-confidence and body image, and to remind her audience of the overt as well as subconscious messages they are receiving on a daily basis.
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As defined by the National Eating Disorders Association, “Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.” (NEDA). The term “Anorexia Nervosa” literally means “neurotic loss of appetite”, and could be more generally defined as the result of a prolonged self-starvation and an unhealthy relationship regarding food and self-image. It is characterized by “resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height”, “intense fear of weight gain or being “fat”, even though underweight”, “disturbance in the experience of body weight or shape, undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight”, and “loss of menstrual periods in girls and women post-puberty.”(NEDA) Among women on a range of 15 to 24 years old, AN has been proved to have 12 times the annual mortality rate of all death causes, and from premature deaths of anorexic patients, 1 in every 5 is caused by suicide, which gives a rise of 20% for suicide probability. (EDV)
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