Feminism And Anorexi A Complex Alliance

This perfect women is basically the “beauty” ideal, and if you let your perfection slip away then you will lose your man. Trying to be superwoman and look good doing it, women can get exhausted from it. In “Beating Anorexia and Gaining Feminism” by Marni Grossman, the quote “We believe that thinness is next to godliness” struck out to me. We sometimes forget that there’s many female body types and only focuses on one. Women’s bodies are different. Some women, including myself, will never be thin like the woman that we admired because of genetic traits. Women are setting themselves up for failure when they exercises, diets, and tries to obtain that ideal body.

While one may be tired of hearing women, specifically “feminists”, blame society for all of their problems, Susie Orbach illustrates several valid points concerning obesity and eating disorders in her essay, “Fat as a Feminist Issue”. With her feministic lenses on, Orbach highlights the underlying roots of why obesity and eating disorders are so prominent with the female sex. As said in her essay, “50% of women are estimated to be overweight” (Orbach 201), which is why women should definitely consider Orbach’s view on the obesity epidemic. Orbach argues throughout her piece that the struggle of women being “fat” is actually a response to the culture and social structure in which women are boxed in making it a feminist issue, not a matter of just overeating.

Mary Briody Mahowald recognizes that many feminists believe that eating disorders among women stems from a "rebellion against patriarchy through rejection of one's own sexuality" ( Mahowald, 299). However, she also points out theories that focus more on sexism and class discrimination.

Every single day women are faced with the questions of whether they are pretty enough, skinny enough, whether men are attracted to them, whether they can be loved or not, and whether people think they are beautiful. Images of “beautiful” females are plastered all over the media, commercials, Internet, movies, TV shows, ad campaigns, etc. In today’s society the “perfect female proportions” are nearly impossible for one to healthily obtain, but this does not stop women of all ages to going through impossible measures in order to be one step closer to what they consider “perfection.” For many girls all ages, shapes, sizes, around the world, eating disorders are becoming more prevalent for weight

It is apparent that with the increasing popularity of social media today, there has been a shift in dietary changes within our society. Individuals are subconsciously changing how and what they eat. The question arises, why are so many young women dissatisfied with their bodies, despite their size? Although there are several forces believed to play a role in this dissatisfaction such as peer criticism and parental influences, the thin-ideal body is dominating the media (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Thinness is largely emphasized and praised for women in magazines, television shows, movies and commercials (Stice & Shaw, 1992). Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that stems from this ubiquitous obsession to be thin and is often associated with a pathological fear of gaining weight, distorted self-body image and emaciation (The American Heritage® Science Dictionary).

In a study done of female beauty icons, two time frames were studied, 1959-1978 and 1979-1988. In the research, the women who were portrayed as beautiful, and the icons in the media, were observed and over half of them had fit into the standards of having one of the eating disorders, anorexia nervosa (Vonderen & Kinnally, 2012).

Marya Hornbacher’s memoir, Wasted, describes her lifelong battle with eating disturbances with focuses on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In modern day society, thinness is associated with “wealth, upward mobility, and success” (Hornbacher, 1998, p. 46). Thinness is “an ideal symbolizing self-discipline, control, sexual liberation, assertiveness, competitiveness, and affiliation with a higher socio-economic class.” (p. 46) Not eating also suggests that one have such a full life that food is not a priority. The media influences children to believe that one must be thin in order to be beautiful. To Marya, a self-proclaimed perfectionist, she must be perfect in order to be successful. She believed she could only be perfect if she had a perfect body, a perfect career, perfect relationships, and perfect control over her life and herself (p. 231-232).

Jill Zimmerman Rutledge’s credibility is reliable as she has taught at the University of Chicago, Loyola University, and Northwestern University; typically lecturing on eating disorders. She has written a book about body image (Picture Perfect: What You Need to Feel Better About Your Body) and is a psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience in working with youth and adults. She nationally lectures on topics of eating disorders and women’s body image. “Jill has had a long association with ANAD (Anorexia

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.

Through the scanning of various pro-Ana websites and blogs, it became clear how prominent anorexia nervosa was. Not only how prominent, but how deeply rooted these beliefs are and how extreme some of the practices go. There is a societal pressure in America to push women to be thin and equate thinness with beauty and success. This pressure is enough to drive some women to starve themselves in order to feel accepted and a sense of belonging. Some pro-Ana websites and blogs are often deceivably

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.

In the world today, the media makes it hard for a girl to be ok with her body. Society, in general, persuades young women to feel that any size above a two is too big or that a women needs make up to be beautiful In 1950, when televisions were first finding their way into homes, the media’s portrayal of “the ideal” female was drastically different than what people portray today. At that time, mannequins and models reflected the average woman’s size. Mannequins and models have grown thinner by the year, increasingly desperate with the average women’s physical form. This problem causes many young women to starve themselves to get to the perfect image we have created for them today. One in two hundred American women suffer from anorexia; two

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.

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

In a society that discriminates against people, particularly women, who do not look slender, many people find they cannot - or think they cannot - meet society's standards through normal, healthy eating habits and often fall victim to eating disorders. Bulimia Nervosa, an example of an eating disorder that is characterized by a cycle of binge eating and purging, has become very common in our society. Although it generally affects women, men too are now coming to clinics with this kind of disease. This is not a new disorder. It can be brought on by a complex interplay of factors, which may include emotional, and personality disorders, family pressures, a possible genetic or biologic susceptibility, and a culture in which there is an