Eating Disorders: The Skinny on Skinny Essay

What is a feminist approach to understanding eating disorders? Not all feminists have the same understanding of eating disorders. There are many different theories that are prevalent in feminist literature today. This web page will explore some of the different feminist perspectives about the cause of eating disorders in our culture.

Many people are unaware of the background of eating disorders. Women are more likely than men to develop an eating disorder and they usually develop in childhood before the age of 20 (Ross-Flanigan 1). Women as well as men can develop an eating disorder; it is just more likely for a woman to develop one. Eating disorders are usually developed in adolescent or childhood years when a person is influenced the most. Also “Eating disorders are psychological conditions that involve overeating, voluntary starvation, or both. Anorexia nervosa, anorexic bulimia, and binge eating are the most well-known types of eating disorders” (Ross-Flanigan 1). Many people assume that an eating disorder is when a person staves themselves; they do not realize that it can involve overeating as well. Some eating disorders also involve purging, but not all. People with an eating disorder fear gaining weight even when they are severely underweight. They do not lack an appetite (Ross-Flanigan 1). These people are

Thesis statement: Young adults and adolescents are the ones who are the most susceptible to develop an eating disorder. The exact causes for eating disorders might vary with every person, but the most controversial ones are social media, unhealthy eating habits and genetics.

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

A major setback I have faced is suffering with an eating disorder. For five years I have struggled with this illness. I have been hospitalized, and I have been in program at The Center For Change twice Finally, I told myself that I had to get better, or I was going to die. A year ago, I chose recovery. It is quite possibly the toughest challenge I will ever face, but the grueling process of recovery has allowed me to take back my life. Fortunately, I did not go through this on my own. I have been truly blessed with the best support team which includes my family, my friends, therapists, and my Stake President and doctor, Pres. Vance. I have grown into a more confident and compassionate person by helping others with eating disorders and other

     The family tends to play an important role in the development of eating disorders. Males tend to have very strict, domineering fathers who encouraged development in sports. It has also been recognized that many men with eating disorders may not have had a father figure around at all. (Zerbe, 1992) Their mothers have been described as overprotective and controlling. (Romero, 1994) Adolescent boys with eating disorders relate that parents or siblings are usually on diets as well and there tends to be an emphasis on food and dieting

“Twenty million women and ten million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life”(What are Eating Disorders, 2016). What can cause a person to develop an eating disorder? The type of significant amount of eating would include bulimia nervosa, or binge-eating disorder. There are other eating disorders that cause dramatic weight loss such as anorexia nervosa. “According to the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action, the risk of developing an eating disorder is from fifty to eighty percent determined by genetics” (Parks 46). Thirty percent of people develop an eating disorder through a traumatic incident such as rape or abuse. There can be other causes to developing an eating disorder. This can be biological factors, sociological factors, and psychological and emotional health. Biological factors can include a person’s brain chemistry, age, gender and genetics; the genes passed on from one or both parents. Adolescents and females are most

Eating disorders are a very serious psychological condition that affects your mind so that you are more focused on your food and weight than you are on everything else. The most known and most commonly diagnosed eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder; however, these are not the only eating disorders. Eating disorders cause psychical and psychological problems, which at their worst can even become life threating. Statistics show that more women are affected by eating disorders, but men none the less can still be affected. “Age (most common from teens to early twenties), Family history (hereditary), emotional disorders (people with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder are at a great chance), transitions (moving, heading to college, or anything that can bring emotional distress), and sports (ballerinas, gymnasts, runners, and wrestlers are at a higher risk) also can play a role in who is being affected by an eating disorder” (Eating Disorders).

Another way that the media is contributing to the increase in eating disorders is through the huge wave of fad diets, weight loss books, weight loss exercise machines, weight loss pills, and weight loss program centers. You cannot turn on a television channel without seeing a commercial for various methods of losing weight. The large majority of these programs, pills, and plans are ineffective in healthy weight reduction and only cause more problems for those who do need to lose weight. Also, those women who do not need to lose weight are made to feel as if they should. With so much emphasis put on weight loss, many women who are of healthy weights already begin to feel as if they too need to lose weight.

An eating disorder has complex origins. Although most people think that an obsession with weight and appearance leads to this deadly disease, this is merely the surface issue. Along with the ultimate need for control, other causes can be genetic factors, parental influence, behavioral influence, environmental influence, and biochemistry. Many studies have found that eating disorders run in families. Almost always, it is the closely related females in the family who are affected. Some researchers believe that negative parental influence can come from both the maternal and paternal sides. Mothers often comment on their daughters' appearance, whether on their physical shape or on their ability to dress well. So often simple motherly love turns into a psychological desire for their daughters to be what they were not. Studies have found that these

An eating disorder is an illness that involves an unhealthy feeling about the food we eat. “Eating disorders affect 5-10 millions Americans and 70 million individuals worldwide” (www.eatingdisorderinfo.org 1). They also affect many people from women, men, children, from all ages and different races. People who have eating disorders usually see themselves as being fat when they really aren’t. This usually deals with women or teenage girls mostly. They watch television, movies, read articles in magazines, and see pictures of the celebrities whom they want to be like because they have the “ideal body” that everyone wants and craves for. The media makes us all think we need those types of bodies to be happy with ourselves, be more successful

In today’s society, eating disorders has become one of the main factors leading to the increased mortality rates in the United States. The two major eating disorders include Anorexia and Bulimia. Young adults especially, are in greater risk of having an eating disorder. With eating disorders being the third leading cause of death in young adolescent girls, it has also acquired 15 percent of young males (Relevant, 2013). Social and cultural factors have been known to contribute to the onset of eating disorders, including media, family, and peer issue. Although such factors may lead to eating disorders, it may also reduce the cause. In this research paper, the effects of social and cultural factors will be compared to its effects on eating disorders.

attractive and the media reinforces this statement." Young adolescent girls buy into this sensation and through doing so, set themselves up for failure. When these predisposing factors are combined with stressors and pressures, the cycle is begun and an eating disorder is formed.

Eating disorders tend to run in families and female relatives are the most often to be affected. Some recent studies from researchers found that mothers who are too concerned about their children’s weight and appearance, it may put them at increased risk of developing an eating disorder. (Hoffman). Ultimately, genetic research may prove to be the key to unlocking our understanding of environmental risk factors for eating disorders (Mazzeo and Bulik). Multiple studies have been undertaken to that show possible genetic likeliness toward developing eating disorders as a result of inheritance (News Medical).