The Best Dlittle Girl in the World

* *Anorexia Nervosa: deeply rooted psychological condition that results in a decreased intake of food in an attempt to lose extreme amounts of body weight. * *Commonly characterized as a fear of weight gain and self-starvation * *Patients usually have distorted body images and feel that they need to lose weight when usually they are already underweight(but people that suffer from anorexia nervosa don’t necessarily have to be underweight they are said to be anorexic because of self-starvation. * * Research | * The Best Little Girl in the World | *Very Restrictive | -Every time Kessa comes home she goes straight to her room and her family and friends see less and less of her.-p.58-61 At the party Kessa sits in a corner and hopes that no one bothers her | * *Media’s constant emphasis on young skinny women may contribute to the increase amount of anorexic women and increases the pressure among young women to be thin | * *p.24-25: Kessa rips out the 12 pictures of models from the magazines and puts them in order by their weight and decides to make it a competition to become skinner than all the models | * *Body checking: repetitive weighing, measuring, and mirror gazing | * *Throughout the book. * *p.94: Kessa goes into her bedroom and starts her daily examination * -takes her clothes off, lies down, feels her ribs * make sure her underwear aren’t touching * her body, etc. | *Anorexia nervosa literally means lack of appetite but it os somewhat misleading because patients with anorexia enjoy eating and have not lost their appetites | *p.43: Kessa paases a pizza stand and her stomach lurches at the aroma.*Myrna was anorexic but she still ate a lot of food she just throws the food up afterwards. | * *Amenhorrnea; Absence of menstrual cycle | * *Dr. Gordon askes Kessa when was the last time she had her period and she hadn’t had it in a while. | * *Obvious, rapid, dramatic weight loss |