Living With Anorexia Nervosa

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Living with Anorexia Nervosa


In American society women are given the message starting from a very young age that in order to be successful and happy, they must be thin. Eating disorders are on the rise; it is not surprising given the value which society places on being thin. Generally in Western cultures “thin is beautiful”. Television, newspapers and magazines are full of pictures of slim, attractive young men and women. When looking in a popular magazine I came across an article about models in the nineties compared to today. The difference was drastic; they were actually ten to fifteen pounds slimmer. In the opinion of the writers as well as mine, the models actually looked healthier and better when they were heavier. This example shows that even over the past ten years there has been a vast difference in the appearance of body image. TV and magazines push miracle diets and exercise plans to enable us to mold our bodies to the look of these artificial, idealized figures, to conform to the shape the media tell us we should be. As a result, almost everybody diets at some time or other. It is easy to see how this social pressure might cause some young women to diet excessively, and eventually to develop Anorexia. The person with Anorexia actually “believes they are doing what many others in our society are doing-dieting” (Sherman & Thompson, 4).
Thinness is also demanded in sports. This leads to “eating disorders being more of a problem for some athletes than for the general population” (Sherman & Thompson, 21). Many athletes are asked to lose weight to perform better. Track athletes are known to lose weight so they can run quicker to get better times for their race. What they do not realize is when you lose a lot of weight your body becomes unhealthy. Malnutrition leads to fatigue and poorer performance, which cancels out the weight loss factor (Bruch, 6). A factor of Anorexia Nervosa is excessive exercise....