Eating Disorders and Women's Self Image Essay

     Plato once said, "We behold beauty in the eye of the mind...." What some people consider beauty others may not. From the actresses that are shown on television, movies, models that are in magazines, and the pop stars that create hip and modern music videos, one could be under the impression that to be beautiful you must thin. Actresses such as Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Michelle Gheller, Clarista Flockheart, Courtney Cox and Debra Messing all have staring roles in their own television shows and are all extremely thin. The audiences of these shows being mostly women and adolescent girls, what kind of message about body image are they sending out?

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.

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.

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

Women in the American society become so obsessed with the idea of being thin and looking like the magazine models that they will go to extremes in order to achieve their goal. In other words, the obsession can sometimes lead them right into an eating disorder. However, solutions to these illnesses do exist.

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.

As this disorder is most commonly seen in women, millions of women every day are being bombarded with the media’s idea of the “perfect” body. These unrealistic images are being portrayed in women’s magazines all over the country. The message being sent to women is that they are not pretty or skinny enough. The average American woman is about 5,4 and weighs 140 pounds, while the average American model is 5,11 and weighs 117 pounds. As a common example, thirty years ago, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 and had the “ideal” body size and shape, but today the standards are getting much smaller. As the beauty ideals continue to get smaller in our society, body image within American women will continue to plummet. As these Magazines portray and compare happiness with being thin, therefore some feel, as they are not thin enough. Which will lead to them being to being unhappy. As women of all ages are believed to hold unrealistic ideals of body shape and size, when these ideals can be both physically and emotionally unhealthy to

The amount of males that are unsatisfied with their bodies has tripled in the last twenty-five years. According to Helen Fawkner, doctor of philosophy, it has increased from fifteen percent of the male population to forty-five percent. It is an extremely severe problem that most people are not aware of. It can lead to suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and eating disorders, but the majority of people think that males do not have to worry about it as much as females. However, they have the same amount of pressure to have the perfect figure as females, it is just not delineated. Body image and eating disorders are not just female problems, men go through the same issues.

“To be happy and successful, you must be thin,” is a message women are given at a very young age (Society and Eating Disorders). In fact, eating disorders are still continuously growing because of the value society places on being thin. There are many influences in society that pressures females to strive for the “ideal” figure. According to Sheldon’s research on, “Pressure to be Perfect: Influences on College Students’ Body Esteem,” the ideal figure of an average female portrayed in the media is 5’11” and 120 pounds. In reality, the average American woman weighs 140 pounds at 5’4”. The societal pressures come from television shows, diet commercials, social media, peers, magazines and models. However, most females do not take into account of the beauty photo-shop and airbrushing. This ongoing issue is to always be a concern because of the increase in eating disorders.

It is funny how so many girls and women today are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and be beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. Women are dieting more today then they have ever been before. They are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's women. It gets worse. Not only are women dieting unlike ever before, but they will ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve these inaccessible standards. This ruthless harm that haunts so many women today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating

When Looking at a well know published magazine like Vogue, Glamour, and Top Model, they all show beautiful women with extraordinary beauty and amazing sense of style and fashion. But when looking at the models, do they really resemble the average women reading these magazines that the ads and articles are intended for? Women and men are going through great lengths hurting themselves to achieve such figures that the magazines show as beautiful. These people suffer from eating disorders are starving themselves or eating then purging to get rid of the food. These are serious and isn’t something that can simply be stopped by just eating a normal diet again. On the other side of the spectrum there are people that have another type of eating

After a period of time, their extreme hunger overpowers their control and they eat a great amount of food in a short period of time, which is referred to as binging. In fact, the name bulimia is taken from the Greek words bous (“ox”) and limos (“hunger”), implying hunger of such intensity that a person can eat an entire ox (94). Since the great amount of food that they consume is not on their strict diet plan to be thin, they become very fearful of a possible weight gain and they purge. Induced vomiting, taking laxatives, and excessively exercising are examples of purging in somebody with bulimia. After doing this they feel guilty, yet relieved. Once the person realizes that they can eat basically anything that they want without gaining weight, they make it an ongoing cycle. However, there are many side effects. These include constipation, dehydration, damaged tooth enamel, breakage of stomach and esophagus lining, depression, and may even result in death (101). Bulimia may be caused by pressure to achieve or to fit a certain body image. Since they often crave and binge on foods rich in carbohydrates, the illness can be from an imbalance in the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain (Engel, Reiss, and Dombeck). There are many psychological illnesses associated with this eating disorder and others. These include alcoholism, drug abuse, self-injury, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Multiple Personality

Eating disorders, body image and gender remain as a very complex interlinked web. Eating disorders affect people from all demographics and are caused by multiple factors. They arise from a combination of a long-standing biological, behavioural, emotional, interpersonal, psychological as well as social factors. Research also suggests that eating disorders impacts some segments of the LGBTQ populations as well.

Self-esteem has recently been defined by Silverstone as "the sense of contentment and self-acceptance that stems from a person's appraisal of their own worth, significance, attractiveness, competence and ability to satisfy their aspirations" (Silverstone 1992). Self-esteem is the degree to which a person values and respects themselves, and is proud of their accomplishments. Self-esteem begins to develop in childhood, but it solidifies and gains momentum during the turbulent and trying years of adolescence. The teenage years tend to be a crucial "make it or break it" period when it comes to self-esteem because it is at this time that youngsters are searching for an identity. If this process goes awry, the teen

According to the National Eating Disorder Association the media has a major influence on what a woman’s body should look like. Every print and television advertisement suggests that the ideal body is extremely thin. However, most women cannot achieve having a super-thin body that the media favors. The resulting failure leads to negative feelings about one’s self and can begin a downward spiral toward an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association).