The Westernization of Eastern Countries Is Increasing the Frequency and Severity of Eating Disorders

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.

When western culture is spread, it can have adverse effects on those who it reaches. In “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” Susan Bordo attributes the spread of eating disorders to western culture. Specifically, she has noticed that the number of eating disorders has risen in Fiji, Central Africa, and Asia. For example, Central Africans favored plump women before a woman whose beauty conformed to western ideals was the first black African to win the Miss World Pageant (259). This article argues that the dominant culture can be poisonous. Not only does western culture affect how women see their bodies, but it also affects how they see their wits. “When Bright Girls Decide that Math Is ‘a Waste of Time’” by Susan Jacoby claims that girls shy away from scientific and mathematical (STEM) fields because they fear being unattractive by males and the intimidation of male-dominated careers. Women are more likely to major in fine arts, social sciences or education (32). According to Susan Jacoby, girls who decide to cut math and science out of their schedules set limitations on what they are capable of. External influences are to blame for women developing eating disorders and shying away from STEM fields.

Incidences of Anorexia Nervosa have appeared to increase sharply in the USA, UK and western European countries since the beginning of the 60s (Gordon, 2001). The increasing prevalence of the disease has led the World Health Organisation to declare eating disorders a global priority area within adolescent mental health (Becker et al. 2011). Anorexia has in many ways become a modern epidemic (Gordon, 2000) and with a mortality rate of 10% per decade (Gorwood et al. 2003), the highest of any mental disorder (Bulik et al. 2006), it is an epidemic that social and biological scientists have been working tirelessly to understand.

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.

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 majority of the people who suffer from eating disorders are young adults and teenagers. This can be linked to the pressure put on them to have what society declares the “ideal” body image. For most of history, the ideal female body was plump and voluptuous. This was before the neolithic people settled down and created some of the first civilizations. Women with large hips were “valued” because it meant that birth would be easier for them. They had “birthing hips” as they are called today. This meant there was a higher chance that there wouldn 't be complications during birth. When civilizations started to take root and grow, body images began to change. In Ancient Egypt, thin slender women were preferred while in Ancient Greece, plump women with curves were still the ideal. In fact, in Ancient Greece, women didn’t have a “body image” to live up to, it was men. This is one of

In the writing “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” the author, Susan Bordo strongly uses the pathos appeal to influence the emotions of her audience. This writing speaks in detail about the growing issue of eating disorders, that is not only becoming an international issue; but as well I an issue that now affects young men and women alike. The way that this author uses this specific appeal is in a large part with very personal and relatable dialogue, about the sufferings of young adults that are affected by these issues. The author goes as far as to begin the writing, telling the story of a young girl “never fat to begin with, she’s been on a diet for a couple of weeks and has finally reached her goal weight of 115 at 5 to 4 inches… but in her eyes she still looks dumpy” (639). The author goes on to make a point to this narrative, but just the thought of this girl’s unhappy nature with herself, is enough to captivate the audiences’ emotions. The author uses this type of the pathos appeal throughout the rest of the writing to continue influencing the emotions of her audience, as to make her argument stronger.

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

There is a global health crisis affecting many people around the world. Eating Disorders is a mental health condition often misunderstood by people that do not have the condition. It can trigger vomiting, bingeing, depression, and health issues. Eating disorders are illnesses that cause serious disturbances to the everyday diet. They can affect men, women and children of all ages. This research paper will describe the different types of eating disorders, who may be affected by the eating disorders, what resources are available for those who have eating disorder illness, how to treat the illness, and why they are a global

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

Globalization has created a strong tendency for young people around the world to follow a series of norms, generally attributed to Western civilizations, seeking to construct this idealized image of what beauty should be. Popular media, intentionally or not, has managed to successfully disseminate all over the globe. "The Globalization of Eating Disorders" written in 2003 by English professor and feminist philosopher Susan Bordo, makes some strong points that seriously need to be taken into account if we want to identify and subsequently fight to eradicate a variety of psychological problems, which are product from self-image insecurities a person

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.

Hudson, Hirripi, Pope and Kessler’s (2007) research indicates that the average onset of anorexia nervosa is 19 years old, but can develop as young as 14 years old, and women are more likely to develop anorexia nervosa than men. Some studies indicate that anorexia affects whites more than Hispanics, African Americans and Asians; however it crosses cultures and socially diverse populations (APA, 2013). According to the DSM 5, Anorexia nervosa predominantly occurs in developed, high-income countries such as in the United States, as well as in many European countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Individuals who present with weight concerns that develop eating and feeding disorders varies substantially across cultural contexts. One study indicated that that “the ‘spread’ of Western values regarding slimness (fat phobia) is primarily responsible for the development of anorexia nervosa in non-Western societies” (Rieger et al., 2001). Rieger et al (2001) also looked at the medical records of Asian women and found the absence of fat phobia; the rationale for dietary restriction was commonly related to other external factors. The WHO (2004) also reports that female athletes, ballet students, fashion models and culinary students are at risk of developing anorexia nervosa; unhealthy dieting and society’s

“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it