Today in society we are dealing with an epidemic of eating disorders. The Globalization of Eating Disorders was written by Susan Bordo. This essay was intended to show you how much eating disorders has affected our society and different countries in the world. Not only women are feeling the impact of being skinny but also the men. Being overweight is no longer accepted and many woman are feeling the impact. Never fat to begin with the she stands in front of the mirror and the image she sees is fat. In our society today we are forced to see that fat is the new ugly. Every channel you watch whether it is a commercial, reality show, a movie or just the news almost all the people you see are perfect and flawless. In The Globalization of Eating …show more content…
Anne Becker an anthropologist did a study on Fijian woman and came up with the conclusion that they were not concerned with their weight. She had reported that there were no cases of woman with eating disorders. It is in the Fujian culture traditions that they celebrate eating and favor voluptuous bodies. Becker thought that because their culture was so strong that if television broadcast system ever reached Fuji they would not be influenced on the epidemic of eating disorders. In 1998 the broadcast system made its way to Fuji. Becker went back to do a new study on the woman and reported that 11 percent of girls reported vomiting and 62 percent of girls reported dieting. She couldn’t understand how the Fujian culture tradition being as strong as it was would allow themselves to be influenced by television. Not all countries are influenced by this epidemic. Central Africa still celebrate voluptuous woman. Thera are some regions still known to send their brides to fattening farms to be massaged and plumped for their wedding. In some cultures skinny would be related to poverty, disease and death. It is a shame that we would allow ourselves to be influenced by such an awful
Within countries that were once untouched by unrealistic societal standards, eating disorders and psychological problems have become a not just a local, but a global phenomenon. Bordo is able to give credible examples and evidence on why they have become a problem, such as recounting previous personal excursions and providing statistics.
She explores the reality of eating disorders, the misconceptions often held behind it, and provides information on various prevailing reasons that lead to them. According to Bordo, eating disorders “have to do not only with new social expectations of women and ambivalence toward their bodies but also with more general anxieties about the body as the source of hungers, needs, and physical vulnerabilities [are] not within our control” (par.5). In addition, as a Professor on Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky, Bordo is likely familiar with the causes that push women, and even men, to change aspects and features about themselves based on the changing themes and views of society and culture. In consideration then, some people probably develop eating disorders as a result for their correspondence to the current trends of society. Consumer culture is among one of the aspects of society that frequently undergoes change. Bordo builds on this likely candidate and explains how consumer culture is a likely link to eating disorders. She remarks that consumer culture is “continually encouraging us to binge on our desires at the same time as it glamorizes self-discipline and scorns fat as a symbol of laziness and [a] lack of willpower” (par.5). By tying
In “Globalization of Eating Disorders“ Susan Bordo accurately uses the concept of globalization to explain the spread of eating disorders across the globe. In Friedman standards, globalization is a system responsible for connecting all types of people at unbelievable speeds. Bordo focuses more on the dominance of the United States. Bordo uses of globalization is very effective in this essay. The example of television in the Fiji island vividly express how influential america is to the world. WIthin 3 years span, cases of eating disorders increased dramatically solely from being exposed to America’s beauty standards through TV. When comparing Bordo’s essay with Friedman’s, the consisty is great. In general, Bordo uses the concept of the globalization
In the article “Distorted Images: Western Cultures are Exporting Their Dangerous Obsession with Thinness,” author Susan McClelland’s mainly focuses on how many young women idolize the women they see on T.V. The media is making many women feel as if they need to look a certain way to fit in with the world. Also the fact the western culture is spreading to other countries is a big issue because sicknesses, like bulimia, were not an issue before. Many women in other countries are starting to look at the women in the United States and want to be just like them. In this article, the author says that television, magazines, and media show
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.
Literature regarding eating disorders in non-Western cultures in general is scarce. Very few studies address disordered eating in cultures outside of the Western and Westernized world. This could be because of the perceived lack of eating disorders in non-industrialized countries or even because there is an overwhelming amount of concern over eating disorders in Western society. However, there have been several studies done on binge eating and dietary restraint in non-western citizens and in non-Caucasian women in the United States. Women who are not from a Caucasian background face different societal and traditional pressures than do Caucasian women in Western cultures, but some of the women in those cultures were found to have binge
In the essay “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” by Susan Bordo speaks about eating disorders. In society today appearance is a huge factor. Even though appearance has always been a major thing but now day’s people take it to the extreme when trying to have a certain body image. Now day’s people think beauty is whatever is on the outside, instead of the inside and the outside. Most people go on crazy strict diets, surgery and some go through starvation in order to become a certain body size. Eating disorders are becoming more in effect now and not just in the United States , but happens to be going worldwide and not only with just the women, but now with men as well. Within the essay Bordo’s explains about how the body image, media, and culture influence the standard of the beauty leads to eating disorder. Another factor is family that causes someone to form an eating disorder. Those four factors are the main key roles that play apart on how eating disorders are being used.
In her essay, “The Globalization of Eating Disorders,” Susan Bordo informs her audience of the growing trends in eating disorders. Through her argument, Bordo illustrates the cruel identity of body-image distortion syndrome while she searches for a solution to the eating-disorder problem by looking to its birthplace in culture. Making use of several examples and scenarios, facts and statistics, and appeals to pathos and logos to construct her argument, Bordo shows a strong intent on eradicating the growing crisis in a reasonably sound argument.
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.
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
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.
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
Basically, the media is doing nothing but using subliminal messages. The way they portray the models in magazines, it only confuses a human’s mind. This makes them believe that they must look like them to be considered beautiful. Often in magazines, when positive values, success, love, and happiness, a thin person is shown. This not only completely lowers a “healthy”, or a plus sized person’s self-esteem, but the media also tries to make it seem as if in order to be happy and successful, a person must be skinny (Piazza). Every day, companies come up with a new beauty product, or a new diet product to leer someone into buying it to make themselves beautiful. New products every day completely sets aside the idea that natural beauty is already beautiful enough. According to the media, though, people need these products to look more humane, or look younger and thinner. The media also using editing and
Closer in the early 2000’s if someone’s body wasn’t super thin and little, they would be made fun of and be told to go on a diet, or to put their food down because “they don’t need it”. Now a full circle has come as the ideal body is back to Monroe. Thicker women are admired and praised while skinny and toned women are told to go put more meat on their bones. Songs like “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj and “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor both talk about how men would rather have a thicker girl than a slim girl --or a “silicone barbie doll,” according to Meghan. While this is uplifting to the women on the thicker end of the scale, it’s definitely demeaning to those on the other side. It seems as if one can’t be praised without the other being knocked down.
“The study of Westernization provides an important lens for understanding the rise of eating disorders in Asia; however, this analysis fails to recognize that amid globalization, countries in Asia are experiencing a rise in eating pathology because of multifaceted and profound cultural transformations, driven by the processes of industrialization and urbanization occurring independently from…Western influence” (Pike 2015, 2).