Eating Disorders In Today's Society

Have you ever looked at a magazine and wished you looked like that guy or girl? "Ages 15-24 have an eating disorder; 28% in grade nine and 40% in grade 10." (Canadian Mental Health Association) It seems this generation is influenced by the media to be thin and beautiful, We want to look like famous supermodels because that’s what the media tells us. When you ask people what they think is beautiful, they said, "tall, thin, and long hair.” Being thin is becoming an obsession with teenage girls, it’s a competition for who can lose the most weight and achieve overall beauty. Therefore, eating disorders are becoming a serious issue in Canada that needs to be noticed and we need to teach people more about this issue.
In today's generation with social media, being perfect is what girls see, and think they have to look exactly like the girls in magazines. With photo shopping and altering images, it makes being true to yourself difficult, because we are all
so self conscious with people judging us. With media being everywhere it's getting easier to influence young girls and boys to try to achieve perfection. Achieving perfection is impossible and will affect them to hurt their bodies.
Eating disorders are becoming a greater issue in Canada than ever before; we need to realize that this is something we should talk about and help each other.
150,000-600,000 young women and men across Canada have some sort of an eating disorder. (Eating Disorder 2012) Eating disorders are explained by, "A person being obsessed on body shape, weight, and fat" (Eating Disorder 2012). Three most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge eating. Anorexia nervosa, is when a person refuses to maintain normal body weight for age, weight, and height.(What Are Eating Disorders) Bulimia Nervosa, is when a person uses binge eating, vomiting, exercise and fasting to get rid of calories. (What Are Eating Disorders) Binge eating is when someone frequently consume an unusually large amount of food and feel unable to stop. (What Are Eating Disorders) Eating disorders can go unnoticed for a significant amount of time, and often, if recognized, denial usually follows, leaving the disorder still
untreated. Eating disorders do not discriminate between sex, class, race or age; They can and do happen to anyone, many factors that contribute to a person to develop an eating disorder. (The obsession to become perfect and the only way to be that is being thin. low self-esteem or depression can cause eating disorders.sometimes bullying can contribute; anything that lowers their body confidence can cause eating disorders. (Canadian Mental Health Association) Sometimes eating disorders can be genetic; passed on through generations. (Canadian Mental Health Association) Competition to lose weight, between girls has become a greater issue than ever before. Every girl wants to find their inner beauty, but they get influenced along the way by what society wants girls and boys to look like. Social media put false information into young teens' minds that the only way for people to like you is to be thin and beautiful. Everyone needs to learn that we are all beautiful inside and even if its against what society tells us. No one can compare to supermodels that have professional makeup, clothing, photography and Photoshop. Eating disorders are not talked enough in Canada and how serious they are; people need to educate young kids and adults on this issue. Overall we need to stop bullying people for who they are and just appreciate what makes us unique.