Eating Disorders Are a Big Problem for Society
Because eating disorders are real and not easy to get rid of, it is important to understand what anorexia and bulimia are, what can happen to you when you have an eating disorder, the experience of having an eating disorder, and what factors can lead to an eating disorder. Finally, I will explain what can be done to help prevent eating disorders.
The reason that people could develop an eating disorder is because of something called body traps. Body traps involve two things. They involve ignorance about our bodies and an obsession with our bodies. However, how we can get rid of the body traps is to change the view of ourselves, change other people, and change society (Kalodner 6).
I think that it would be better to say that in order to escape body traps we have to change the view of ourselves and our bodies and change society’s view about how people are supposed to look. But, that might be hard because of people’s view of the ‘ideal’ body type. For example, some women wish to look like Barbie.
Most girls by the time they are three have more than one Barbie. Toys are very important in the sense that they reflect society’s values in the time that they exist. Barbie is pretty, thin, and portrayed as being able to do anything she wants and she has a great boyfriend.
Barbie reinforces society’s idea that thin is in and fat is out. Therefore, it seems that Barbie may be subconsciously contributing to people getting an eating disorder. I will talk more about Barbie later. But what eating disorders are there? There is anorexia and bulimia.
Anorexia nervosa is a major eating disorder that involves refusing to maintain a minimum safe weight. People with anorexia nervosa refuse to eat food (Kalodner 45). Sometimes it is believed that anorexia nervosa to only white rich girls. That isn’t true. But, yes, anorexia nervosa does occur in societies where being thin and attractive is something desired (Kalodner 55).
It seems that anorexia nervosa and bulimia are thought to be connected. I guess that they are connected by the fact that they are both eating disorders. But bulimia is very different from anorexia nervosa. Bulimia deals with binge eating. During an eating binge, a person eats a lot of food in a short period of time. Most people believe that bulimia has to do with being in control. On the contrary, bulimia has to do with having no control over your body and food. During a binge, a person eats food until there is no more food available. Bulimia, like anorexia nervosa occurs mostly in societies where being attractive and thin are valued (Kalodner 77).
What are the causes of eating disorders? Eating disorders seem to happen because people feel pressure to be perfect. All the pictures that we see in magazines are of thin and attractive people. Therefore, our society believes that thin is the way to be and that we need to focus on the ideal body type to feel worthwhile. In other words, we must be thin at all costs.
I can relate to pressure to be thin. My first episode with an eating disorder was in High School. I was thin but I was disabled, so I hardly had any friends. Therefore, I thought if I was thinner, people would forget about my disability and be friends with me. Therefore, for about three months I didn’t eat much until my peer counselor warned me about anorexia.
My second episode of dealing with an eating disorder was when I was married. My husband complained that I was chubby, even though I was thin. But, I believed that I was chubby because my husband called me fat and lazy. Therefore, sometimes I would eat very little so that he would stay with me. I realized that I had very low self-esteem because my husband treated me so badly and I started to eat normally with the help of a counselor.
It is very easy to get caught up in an eating disorder because of the pressure to stay thin from society and family to stay thin beautiful. The way to help overcome eating disorders is to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and to show and tell people through education that there is no ideal body type no matter what society claims. I love Barbie and collect many Barbie dolls. I think that Barbie should be admired for showing girls that they can be anything that they wished to be when they grew up. However, society needs to understand that Barbie shouldn’t be looked at as the ideal girl. This is because Barbie is a toy and toys are not real In other words, Barbie may be one of fashion’s biggest iconsi, but she is not real.
Works Cited
Koldner, Cynthia. Too Fat or Too Thin? A Guide to Eating Disorders. West Port Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Project Runway, Bravo, All Dolled Up December 14th, 2005.
i Barbie was referred to in this manner on an episode of Project Runway called All Dolled up.
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