Anorexia and other eating disorders are long-term illnesses that are caused by an obsession of a certain body type, a certain image, and/or dieting. It usually leads to mental illness, like depression. This is a huge problem for teenage girls in the U. S. Eleven million people in the U. S. have an eating disorder, and you wouldn’t suspect it by their physical appearance. The major types of eating disorders, and symptoms, and behaviors to look for are: anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and compulsive over eating.
But the eating disorder most common among young people I know is anorexia. Anorexia is an intense fear of getting fat, even if underweight. Some of the symptoms of anorexia are frequently complaining of being cold, eating only certain foods, suddenly becoming a vegetarian, insisting on preparing one’s own food, or all together avoiding food. This is the cause of malnutrition. Their bodies are also experiencing a chemical disturbance. They may develop facial and body hair, suddenly behave differently, have a hard time making decisions and/or think irrationally.
Often they are hospitalized due to dehydration, malnutrition, or kidney and heart problems. Anorexia is the most common mental-health condition. Does society’s promotion of a thin body as the ideal female form contribute to anorexia? Yes it does! I think that supermodels and television teach young girls that you aren’t pretty if you aren’t skinny. I believe that girls think the perfect body type is when you look like that super model or celebrity you see on posters or on TV. It puts a perspective into girls’ minds that they are fat if they don’t look like that celebrity.
I have read in many articles that there are women who will go to the fashion shows and see how sickly thin these models make themselves to “look good”. They say the fashion industry has gone too far in pushing a dangerously thin image that women, and even very young girls, may try to copy. Girls look up to these supermodels, so when they are telling you to be super skinny and that’s the only way you are attractive, it puts thoughts and images into girls’ minds that they have to be like that. In Athens it’s a Greek trend to imitate the skinny girls.
Greek women have their hips bulging out of their skin tight pants, and concave midriffs shown through little halter top shirts. They are being sent images from the West of tiny women and that’s what they need to look like. They say over 42% of the Greek women are dissatisfied with their bodies. This is a result of eating disorders to lose their weight. In Fiji if you were told you were “getting thin”, it was a major insult. In the last few years, televison was brought over to an island in Fiji, and the girls watched commercials and shows and completely changed their minds. Even the tiniest of girls were saying “Oh I am fat”.
Another girl said that her friends tell her she is fat and she is now depressed because she is always thinking about and wanting to lose weight. All these different types of sources from different parts of the world have shown us that we are heavily influenced by others. It also shows us that weight loss and anorexia are huge problems and they are problems in this world then we think. I do think that society’s promotion of a thin body as the ideal female form contributes to anorexia and we need to get help for these girls, before they keep damaging their bodies with drastic weight loss.