Eating Disorders And African American Women

The author of “The Black Beauty Myth” Sirena Riley has encountered multiple experiences concerning body image throughout her life. At a young age, she started to feel the pressure to have a perfect body. The struggle of making herself perfect ultimately lead to eating disorders. In her journey from a young age to her college years she has learned better ways to deal with negative body image through therapy. She states “I was in three body image and eating disorder groups with other young women on my campus. I was always the only black woman” (Riley 2002, 229).This quote supports her belief that black women have body image problems but are not open to seeking help or expressing it. Sirena points out three factors that influence body image in the lives of women.

Today there has been an increase of eating disorders among the African American female population. Research has found that African American girls as young as nine years old have been showing early signs of eating disorders. Some African American women struggle with anorexia but the majority suffer from bulimia and binge eating disorder. (Talleyrand, 2010) The African American women who suffer from eating disorders usually come from households that struggle with obesity. While there is not a significant amount of research about eating disorders among

It has been found that eating disorders are most common in the western and industrialized culture where food is abundant. This is because these individuals attach a lot of importance to their physical appearance and are willing to do anything to get the dream figure. An eating disorder is not just watching what one eats and exercising on a daily basis but is rather an illness that causes serious disturbances in eating behaviour, such as great and harmful cutback of the consumption of food as well as feelings of serious anxiety about their body shape or mass. They would start to stop themselves to go out anywhere just so that they could work out and burn all of the calories of a meal or snack that they had scoffed earlier. Two of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The regular description of a patient with either disease would be a youthful white female, with an upper social standing in a predictably socially competitive environment.

Food. It is essential for survival. Without it, people die. However, oddly enough, many struggle to live without it to accomplish the standards that our culture has created for us. We are taught that being thin is perfection and will lead to a happier life. However, lurking are the health risks that one pays for obtaining the “perfect body”. Still, along with a distorted body image, others struggle with keeping weight down and fall into the diet fads that the world parades. From movies, magazines, and television, the media also sends us messages that being fat is bad and unhealthy while being thin and beautiful is acceptable. The impact of such influences has increased eating disorders in America. These disorders do not

In America today, there are unrealistic beauty standards women must face daily. When women can not meet this idea of perfection pushed by society, some women will risk their health just to fit a cultural stigma. Women are held to an insanely high criterion when it comes to beauty which tends to lead to negative body image. Ten percent of women in The United States of America report symptoms consistent with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Which concludes that a total of 75 percent of all American women endorse some unhealthy thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to food or their body image-UNC Medical Department Although eating disorders are not subjective to women only, after reading “Beating Anorexia and Gaining Feminism” Marni Grossman and “Feminism and Anorexia: A Complex Alliance” Su Holmes, I will discuss how eating disorders coexist in the lives of women who struggle with body image, and what feminism can do to give these women a second chance.

It was originally considered that, like bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa, binge-eating disorders occurred in females at a rate of 10 to 1 (Striegel-Moore and Franko, 2003). But studies have shown that a significant portion of men have binge-eating disorder as well ( Early trials showed that although the samples were not separated for race or gender, it became evident that binge-eating disorder affected both differing races and genders in similar ways. These studies lead to the first “large-scale surveys to examine eating disorders in male and non-White populations” (Striegel-Moore and Franko, 2003, p. S22). Studies have shown that “approximately 29% of subjects in weight control programs met the criteria for [binge-eating disorder],” (Spitzer, Yanovski, Wadden, Wing, Marcus. Stunkard, Devlin, Mitchell, Hasin, & Horne, 1992, p. 137). Possible risk factors for binge-eating disorder are still largely unknown at this time (Striegel-Moore and Franko, 2003), although some similarities amongst clients have been identified. These include: preoccupation with body image and weight, impairment in social functioning, significant time of adult life spent dieting, and a history of mental health concerns including alcoholism, depression, and anxiety (Spitzer et al., 1992).

Bingeing. Purging. Calorie counting. Excessive exercising. These are actions that are most commonly associated with eating disorders, which are psychological conditions affecting an individual’s eating habits. Though these conditions can appear in any age or gender group, they tend to be most prevalent in adolescent women. A large population of these young women happen to be college students dealing with problems such as body image issues, food insecurity, and other mental health disorders. Unfortunately, the number of college students with eating disorders is steadily rising in the United States, which is why it is important for colleges and universities to find solutions for it.

This is especially true among minority group women who report acculturative stress (Perez, et al. 2001). Evidence contrary to these findings indicate that ethnic identification no longer represents a protective factor for eating disorders because all ethnic groups have acculturated the mainstream values related to body image and thinness ideals.

Today we live in a society that over the years has become so obsessed with body image and how an individual should look. Different cultures have different standards and norms that help to define their ideal body image. African Americans because of their differences in culture have gone against most cultural norms and have set their own definitions of beauty, body image, and body satisfaction. Because of these key differences, the African American community is less likely to feel the pressures that come with body shaming that typically leads to many eating disorders. Through research of different studies, surveys, and interviews, we can begin to learn why African Americans have set their own set of standards and how they have decided to fit into todays society.

Although a great deal of early research on body image and eating disorders focused on upper/middle class Caucasians living in America or under the influence of Western ideals, many researchers are realizing that eating disorders are not isolated to this particular group. They are also realizing the differences in body image between occur in different races and genders (Pate, Pumariega, Hester 1992). Recently, several studies have shown that eating disorders transcend these specific guidelines, and increasingly, researchers are looking at male/female differences, cross-cultural variation and variation within cultures as well. It is impossible to broach the concept of body image without

At the end of my speech, the audience will have a better understanding on how society plays a big role on women’s body image. They will also be able to identify the relationship between body image distortion and eating disorders. Finally, I will provide further understanding on the crucial factors of eating disorders, as well as the different treatments available.

In longing to reach the norm many people fall victim to these detrimental illnesses. Sadly, women are more subject to these eating disorders than men, the number of men suffering from eating disorders is on the rise. Our culture puts pressure on each of its inhabitants to attain this ideal body type that is unrealistic for most people. The images that pollute television and magazines make us all feel inadequate if we don't meet the credentials of slenderness; therefore, continuing the role of our society in the development of eating disorders.

Chronic dieting, low self-esteem, depression and, high levels of body dissatisfaction were among the major issues women face when addressing their body image (Gingras, Fitzpatrick, & McCargar, 2004). The severity of body image dissatisfaction have increased to such a dangerous state that it was added to the DSM-IV as a disorder now called body dysmorphic disorder (Suissa, 2008). One of the main reasons for the prevalence of these conditions in women was due to contemporary Western media, which serve as one of the major agent in enforcing an ultra-thin figure as the ideal for female beauty (Saraceni & Russell-Mayhew, 2007). These images and models presented by the media have become the epitome of beauty, pushing women who internalized these images to dangerous extent to attain these norms. According to evidence from previous studies, contemporary Western cultures have influenced women to an acquired normative state of discontent with their bodies, which have become the source of maladaptive eating practices, negative psychological outcomes, and, chronic health conditions associated with eating disorders (Snapp, Hensley-Choate, & Ryu, 2012). The seriousness of these body image conditions among youths and women have also led to congressional actions.

It does not come as a surprise that women, in large, are dissatisfied with their bodies. This widespread body dissatisfaction amongst women was coined “normative discontent” (Rodin, Silberstein, & Streigel-Moore, 1984). Although body dissatisfaction seemingly plagues women as a whole, there are several factors that can either serve as a protective factor or a risk factor for the development of body dissatisfaction. Much of the research regarding this normative discontent excludes culturally relevant factors for African American (Black) women. Looking specifically at African American women, the factors that affect body image and body dissatisfaction greatly differ from those that affect non-minority White women. Skin tone or complexion,

The author never compares or contrasts the rate of having an eating disorder from white women to minority women. If white women are more likely to partake in having an eating disorder that could explain why minority and lesbian women are not the primary focused on. Nor does the author discuss why white women are the main focus when it comes to eating disorders. It would have been nice if Thompson would have gone into more detail in the social factors of having an eating disorder. For example, since having an eating disorder is considered to be a “‘white girl’ phenomena… professionals misdiagnosed or ignore women of color” (12). Thompson did not give details as to why this is true.