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Society’s Influence on Young Girls: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

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Every generation has a set of values that they believe make a person beautiful. In the 1940’s and 50’s it was considered beautiful to be a voluptuous woman. A woman with a large chest and full hips was the ideal woman, such as Marylyn Monroe. The difference between then and now is, young women could escape this image if need be. Today it is impossible to ignore the stick thin super models on bill boards, TV, and in magazines. The influence of society on teenagers is so much that men actually expect a woman to be that stick thin model or they are considered “fat”, “tubby”, etc. The average fashion model is 5'9" to 6' tall. The average American woman is 5' 4" tall. The average fashion model weighs 110-118 pounds. The average American woman …show more content…

Symptoms of someone who has this disease include: feeling chubby even when people say that they are not, scared of gaining weight, if they lie about how much they eat or even hide things about their eating habits, if their family and friends are worried about how they look or how they eat. Also if they experience tremendous weight loss, if they diet, exercise, or purge when feeling bad about themselves. Anorexia is not a way to control your weight but a way to control your feelings or your life. People with anorexia think self-esteem is based on body weight and how thin you look compared to a person who does not have anorexia and has self-esteem based on more than just body weight and image. A healthy person who diets does it in a healthy way, but anorexic people do it in a way that is not healthy all they want is to be thinner, not healthier People can recover from anorexia with the proper treatment and support of others. You need to first gain back your health and then your self-confidence. (Melinda Smith) People who have anorexia or another eating disorder and go without treatment have a 20% higher chance of dying than people who get treatment. People who receive treatment have a lower percentage of death due to anorexia, 2-3%. Statistics show that 60% of people that get treatment make a full recovery while about 20% make a partial recovery, and 20% stay underweight at a dangerous level. Anorexia can cause a number of

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