“The Globalization of Eating Disorders” by Susan Bordo Nowadays everyone seems to be infatuated not only with medicine and health but also with perfect body images. In this essay, Bordo provides several claims and evidence that give you an introspection of how eating and body disorders are becoming an epidemic in society for both woman and men today. She begins with an imaginary scenario of a young girl who is standing in front of the mirror; a young woman who’s been on the latest fad diet. She’s reached her goal weight of 115 lbs., yet she’s still not satisfied with the image she sees.…
Between the hunger and the muscle pain from the constant workouts? I can’t tell you how much I hurt.” Her self-denials of her body’s basic needs of rest and food are seen as “power” by herself and society when in actuality it is harmful to her health. She is willing to make the hazardous tradeoff between health for physical ideals. Also, if the youths of today are brought up lead to believe that physical perfection is the key to the good life then low self esteem and harmful behavior may ensue upon not being able to meet the unrealistic criteria. Bordo quotes a woman’s first hand experience with anorexia, “Sometimes my body looks so bloated, I don’t want to get dressed. I like the way it looks for exactly two days each month.” It’s truly saddening to hear any person perceive themselves in such a negative light that they hardly feel okay in their own skin. Whereas Bordo ties this self disgust to “anxieties about internal processes out of control” and rejection of oppressing gender standards for women, it is ultimately a harmful self image. It is psychologically damaging and no happiness can come from such a negative…
Thompson addresses how “thin-ideal-internalization,” the internalization of society’s definition of attractiveness (not just thinness), gravely affects women in Western culture. Thompson explains how this glorification of an ideal body image is unhealthy and unachievable for most women. This definition of a desirable body, Thomas illustrates, is encouraged by social reinforcement or approval of this definition by family, peers, and media. Despite these body types serving as a distorted reality, Thompson elaborates on how women engage in extreme dieting in attempt to satisfy media’s perception of a desirable body. Thompson continues by showing how these attempts to attain the nearly unattainable result in eating disorders such as…
It seems that of many of the issues and problems facing society today, few workable solutions are to be proposed. Psychology often takes the role of addressing these pressing problems such as suicide, eating disorders, and so forth, but in the search for a solution the field often ignores the wider social forces involved in these problems. In order to more fully understand these issues and work towards a solution, people need to examine these wider forces as well. One author and sociologist, Sharlene Hesse-Biber, tries to do this in her book Am I Thin Enough Yet? She focuses on eating disorders in her studies. She goes beyond the traditional psychological explanations of eating disorders into a powerful argument against the social, political, and economic pressures women face in society that can lead to eating disorders.…
In the novel The Edible Woman, author Margaret Atwood tackles the difficult subject of anorexia nervosa. Although this subject is often handled with kid gloves by many writers, Atwood’s novel candidly addresses how different food related stigmas affect the main character’s day to day existence. In the late 1960's, young women faced a society that expected them to conform to certain qualities in both appearance and demeanor. The portrayal of young women in popular movies, television and music of the time period led to internal conflicts among women who struggled to achieve the norm put forth by society. Young women everywhere were convinced they needed to look and act like Marcia Brady and turn into Carol Brady even if meant sacrificing their…
Eating disorders are common in many societies and have been prominent throughout our world’s history. According to professor Merry N. Miller, MD, the professor and interim chair of the department of psychiatry at the James H. Quillen College of medicine at East Tennessee State University, “The history of eating disorders can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians” (Pumariega 96). People with eating disorders generally lead miserable, unhealthy lives, but are commonly unable to get themselves out of them without professional help and therapy. Eating disorders are very varied in types; some don’t even have specific names and are put into one obtuse category. These eating disorders are most often caused by multiple factors, ranging from socioeconomic status, genetics, and a psychological obsession with food. However, regardless of types, all eating disorders have negative impacts on the individual, in various aspects such as health implications, social skills, and even intelligence.…
In an article written by Colleen Thompson and Dr. Lauren Muhlheim, it is emphasized that more than just a few individuals in society struggle with the same issue of not being able to fit the ‘ideal figure’: “In North America, men and women are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin and fit... Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves trying to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure.” An individual person with an eating disorder could be singled out and their specific case could be thought has a person problem but with applied sociological imagination, society would realize that it's the obsession for the fair skin and thin body, creating a widespread public issue, that has indirectly affected thousands of boys and girls in the United States alone. Cultural structures such as the media are not the only structures in society that have an influence on what constitutes the idea body size and figure. The sociological approach to what can be considered as the “ideal figure” is respected because it can explain how social and cultural values affect the individual's attitudes towards eating. Furthermore, a sociological approach is useful for understanding eating behavior because it can explain why eating disorders appear in…
Susie Orbach’s stance on the rising American issue on obesity within her essay “Fat Is a Feminist Issue” can be similarly related to David Zinczenko’s stance in his essay “Don’t Blame the Eater.” In fact, she claims just that when writing, “A feminist perspective to the problem of women’s compulsive eating is essential if we are to move on from the ineffective blame-the-victim approach” (Orbach 448). In this quote she blatantly informs the reader that blaming the eater is not the correct approach to take. Instead, she provides another outlook to consider when analyzing the cause for overweight, specifically in women. This outlook is feminism. Society has monopolized American’s minds, creating a strict belief on how women should behave. In doing this, society has illustrated the image of the woman girls strive for every day. Within her essay she accomplishes her goal in providing information and data supporting her view that obesity among females can be defended. This is a unique and rational idea Orbach presents to the reader.…
Instead, they argue that the media talks about valuable information on health and people’s well being. They also discuss awareness of eating disorders, through magazines, articles, and television programs. Through the media, they educate people about the danger of abusing food and help them be aware that they are not alone in their journey. The media shows a variety of body shapes and sizes; it influences young people about accepting their weight, provides positive plus size role models. What actually affects the self-esteem of these girls’ stems from many causes that have nothing to do with the media’s influence. For example, internal issues, family pressure, and peer pressure can provoke an eating disorder. Not only do women feel pressure from the media to control their weight but also receive peer pressure from, their boyfriends, husbands, parents, family and from stores that carry clothes that only carry sizes that fit small petite girls. Also, if a girl is already lacks the necessary self-confidence that she needs, it would make it easier for these outside influences to make matters…
In Susan Bordo’s article, “Hunger as Ideology” she talks about how society views the appetite of males and females. Women can only be seen as beautiful if they are thin. She refers to a dialogue between two young girls saying, “Your mother, she is so slim, so beautiful! Does she eat?” The daughter replies: “Silly, just not so much” (pg99).…
Currently in America Culture there is a prevailing desire to become thin. "Between five per cent and ten per cent of girls and women (i.e. five-ten million people) and one million boys and men suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or other associated dietary conditions." (http://www.annecollins.com/eating-disorders/statistics.htm) So many people are influenced by the media that it transforms their own self image into unrealistic ideas leading many adolescent females and some males to eating disorders. Our society is driven for individual control thus forming the judgment that fatness is a loss of self-control which is a social value and a personal moral in our culture that is a boundless failure and the most feared among women. The definition of self control within the body image has changed throughout the last century, in the early eighteen hundred's corpulence was seen as strong and beautiful whereas now it is looked down upon. This desire to be thin contributes to eating disorders, low self esteem and continues the battle of acceptance into society. Beauty is acceptance which is defined by the time period and is enforced by the media.…
What has the world come to when women are given the message at a very young age, that in order to be happy or successful they must be thin. Our society repeatedly sends the message that thin is beautiful. Today every time we walk into a store we are surrounded by images of skinny, beautiful models that appear on the front cover of all fashion magazines. In the media, we daily see weight-loss programs advertisements featuring young underweight women. Diet commercials are constantly appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose weight will be happier. This shows that the American culture tends to value people on their physical appearance rather than other important qualities. As a result, eating disorders have been on the increase because of the value society places on being thin. Media is brainwashing society into believing that being thin is important and necessary. Eating disorders are a common problem in our society but have not been acknowledged as much as they should. There are three subtypes of eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa and Binge eating. However, society is not the only contributing factor to eating disorders. Women with eating disorders have a difficultly controlling their actions. They suffer from low self-esteem which drives them toward perfectionism. Women set themselves standards that are unhealthy, physically and emotionally. These eating disorders can be life threatening if not treated on time. An examination of our society reveals that they are one of the major contributing factors to the three eating disorders among women.…
However, all other members of society perceive food in a negative light due to the battle to be thin. In order to appease the two cultures, medications and drugs to rid the body of what Latin American culture celebrates with provides ease in living between the two cultures. What has been said specifically about the affected is that many of those that engage in binge eating disorder in the Hispanic American community are of the lower education levels and socioeconomic statuses (Franko S31). Debra Franko reasons that Latin Americans with graduate degrees also have greater health literacy and are able to mediate the opposing cultures with adaptive coping skills (e.g. exercise). However, one should take Franko’s assertion with caution that post-secondary education does not guarantee eating disorder prevention, especially given that eating disorders have often been associated with the upper class who clearly are capable of affording university education. Therefore, in understanding the celebration of food and comfort in known culture, binge eating disorder can also be explained as a seeking for familiarity and as a tool for coping. Eating disorders, in general, often have an underlying issue…
The essay Hunger focuses on the struggles women of all ages face when it comes to their body image. Media is constantly shoving pictures and…
Lester, R. (2004). Eating Disorder and the Problem of “Culture” in Acculturation, Journal of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. (28), 607- 615.…