A normal female takes a stroll down the streets of Manhattan and ends up at
Times Square, probably one of the most colorful places on earth, which also has
an abundant number of advertisements. As this female looks up at the pictures,
she can see a Calvin Klein ad. The image portrays people who are the idols of
our youth; young, thin, beautiful men and women. These young people depict the
“ideal” body. As this female walks, she begins to notice her own physical
attributes and wonders what it would take for her to look like that Calvin Klein
model. Despite the fact that the greatest majority of us could never attain
these physiques, many, especially young women, deeply desire to have bodies like
these. And many will go to great lengths to attain their goal. This often means
stringent, unhealthy diets, laxative abuse, and even forcing themselves to
vomit. Although the media’s portrayal of the “perfect body” may not be the
soul source of eating disorders, they play a big part. Anorexia nervosa is a
disorder of self-starvation, which manifests itself in an extreme aversion to
food and can cause psychological, endocrine, and gynecological problems. It
almost exclusively affects adolescent white girls, with symptoms involving a
refusal to eat, large weight loss, a bizarre preoccupation with food,
hyperactivity, a distorted body image and cessation of menstruation. Although
the symptoms can be corrected if the patient is treated in time, about 10-15
percent of anorexia nervosa patients die, usually after losing half their normal
body weight. Anorexia nervosa patients typically come from white, middle to
upper-middle class families that place heavy emphasis on high achievement,
perfection, eating patterns and physical appearance. (There has never been a
documented case of anorexia nervosa in a black male or female.) A newly
diagnosed patient often is described by her parents as a “model child,”
usually because she is obedient, compliant, and a good student. Although most
teenagers experience some feelings of youthful rebellion, persons with anorexia
usually do not outwardly exhibit these feelings, tending instead to be childish
in their thinking, in their need for parental approval, and in their lack of
independence. Psychologists theorize that the patient’s desire to control her
own life manifests itself in the realm of eating-the only area in the
patient’s mind where she has the ability to direct her own life (Mental
Health, Long). In striving for perfection and approval, a person with anorexia
may begin to diet in order to lose just a few pounds. Dieting does not stop
there. An abnormal concern with dieting is established. Nobody knows what
triggers the disease, but suddenly, losing five to ten pounds is not enough. The
anorectic patient becomes intent on losing weight. It is not uncommon for
someone who develops the disorder to starve herself until she weighs just 60 or
70 pounds. Throughout the starvation process, she either denies being hungry or
claims to feel full after eating just a few bites. Another form of anorexia
nervosa is an eating disorder known as “bulimia.” Patients with this illness
indulge in “food binges,” and then purge themselves through vomiting
immediately after eating or through the use of laxatives or diuretics. While on
the surface these patients may appear to be well adjusted socially, this serious
disease is particularly hard to overcome because it usually has been a pattern
of behavior for a long time. Psychological symptoms such as social withdrawal,
obsessive-compulsiveness and depression often precede or accompany anorexia
nervosa. The patient’s distorted view of herself and the world around her are
the cause of these psychological disturbances (Mental Health, Long). Distortion
of body image is another prevalent symptom. While most normal females can give
an accurate estimate of their body weight, anorectic patients tend to perceive
themselves as markedly larger than they really are. When questioned, most feel
that their emaciated state (70-80 lbs.) is either “just right” or “too
fat”(Mayohealth) Profound physical symptoms occur in cases of extreme
starvation. These include loss of head hair, growth of fine body hair,
constipation, intolerance of cold temperatures and low pulse rate. Certain
endocrine functions also become impaired. In females this results in a cessation
of menstruation (amenorrhea) and the absence of ovulation. Menstruation usually
will not resume until endocrine balanced is restored. Ovulation is suppressed
because production for certain necessary hormones decreases. Anorexia in boys
has effects similar to those in girls: severe weight loss, psychosocial problems
and interruption of normal reproductive system processes. Treatment for anorexia
nervosa is usually threefold, consisting of nutritional therapy, individual
psychotherapy and family counseling. A team made up of pediatricians,
psychiatrists, social workers and nurses often administers treatment. Some
physicians hospitalize anorexia patients until they are nutritionally stable.
Others prefer to work with patients in the family setting. But no matter where
therapy is started, the most urged concern of the physician is getting the
patient to eat and gain weight. This is accomplished by gradually adding
calories to the patient’s daily intake. If she is hospitalized, privileges are
sometimes granted in return for weight gain. This is known as a behavior
contract, and privileges may include such desirable activities as leaving the
hospital for an afternoons outing. Physicians and hospital staff make every
effort to ensure that the patient does not feel overwhelmed and powerless.
Instead, weight gain is encouraged in an atmosphere in which the patient feels
in control of her situation, and in which she wants to gain weight. Individual
psychotherapy is necessary in the treatment of anorexia to help the patient
understand the disease process and its effects. Therapy focuses on the
patient’s relationship with her family, friends, and the reasons she may have
fallen into a pattern of self-starvation. As a patient begins to learn more
about her condition, she is often more willing to try to help herself recover.
In cases of severe depression, drugs such as antidepressants are part of
therapy. Behavior improvement generally occurs rapidly in the cases and the
patient is able to respond more quickly to treatment. The third aspect of
treatment, family therapy, is supportive in nature. It examines how the patient
and her parents relate to each other. Persons with anorexia often become a
source of family tension because refusals to eat cause frustration in the
parents. The goal of family therapy is to help family members relate more
effectively to one another, to encourage more mature thinking in the anorexic
patient and to help all family members work together for the well being of the
patient and the family unit. In treating anorexia, it is extremely important to
remember that immediate success does not guarantee a permanent cure. Sometimes,
even after successful hospital treatment and return to a normal weight, patients
suffer relapses. Follow-up therapy lasting three to five years is recommended if
the patient is to be completely cured. Many differences in symptoms are apparent
between anorectics and bulimics. Anorexia nervosa patients usually are not obese
before onset of their illness. Typically, they are good students who become
socially withdrawn before becoming ill and often come from families who fit the
anorexia prototype. Bulimics, on the other hand, usually are extroverted before
their illness, are inclined to be overweight, have voracious appetites and have
episodes of binge eating. Anorexia patients often have a better chance of
returning to normal weight because their eating patterns, unlike those of
bulimics, have been altered for a relatively shorter time. Most researchers
agree that the number of patients with anorexia nervosa is increasing. The
reason it is increasing is because the idols of today are much thinner and in
shape than those of 30, 40, 50 years ago. For example, in the fifties Marilyn
Monroe was the perfect American woman. She was also size twelve. Today, an
example of the perfect American woman would be Jennifer Aniston, who is a size
2. That’s a large difference in dress size of the ideal body from the fifties
to the nineties. As stars downsize to meet Hollywood’s new ideal body, the
desire for that body increases and unfortunately, so does the number of people
with eating disorders. While the cause of anorexia is still unknown, a
combination of psychological, environmental and physiological factor is
associated with development of the disorder. Recent estimates suggest that
anorexia nervosa affects one out of 200 American girls between the ages of 12
and 18. While most anorectic patients are female, about 6 percent are adolescent
boys. Eating disorders are raging on college campuses. In a poll conducted by
People magazine in the fall of 1998, of 500 coeds, more than half of the young
woman respondents said they knew at least two schoolmates with an eating
disorder. In a second poll, of 490 college health officials commissioned by
People, 70 percent said the problem was “common” on their campus. “College
woman are away from their families, and there’s tremendous pressure to find
their way in the world,” says Jennifer Biely, Eating Disorders Awareness
Prevention group’s director. “Food is one thing they can control”(People
Online). In the spring of 1996, plastic sandwich bags began disappearing by the
hundreds from the kitchen of a sorority house at a large northeastern
university. When the sorority’s president investigated, she found a disturbing
explanation: The bags, filled with vomit, were hidden in a basement bathroom.
“I was shocked,” remarked the president (who later learned that the
building’s pipes, eroded by gallons of stomach acid, would have to be
replaced. “Yet in a way it made sense.” Most of her 45 housemates, she
recalls, worried about weight. “It was like a competition to see who could eat
the least. At dinner they would say, ‘All I had today was an apple,’ or ‘I
haven’t had anything.’ It was surreal” (People Online, October 12, 1999).
The media plays a strong role in influencing the need to lose weight. Young
people are made to believe that thin is beautiful and they must be slim to be
attractive. The media has the tendency to stereotype overweight people in a
negative manner. “Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe could not get a job,”
exclaimed director Joel Schumacher. “Their agents would tell them, ‘Go on a
diet, get a trainer’”(People) In a June 3, 1996 issue of People magazine,
actress Alicia Silverstone was being defended by Joel Schumacher for the mockery
in the press for have gaining weight. At March 1995’s Academy Awards ceremony,
Silverstone, 19, the fresh-faced sensation of The Crush and Clueless, did the
unthinkable: She appeared in public despite the fact that, like many of her
teenage peers around the country, she had just added on 5 or 10 pounds. Was she
congratulated for the self-confidence and assurance it took to be herself?
Hardly. The tabloids, noting Silverstone’s role in the next Batman sequel,
blared out lines like “Batman and Fatgirl” and “Look Out Batman! Here
Comes Buttgirl!” and Entertainment Weekly sniped that Alicia was “More Babe
than babe”(People). Schumacher, who’s directing Silverstone in the upcoming
Batman and Robin, says he was startled by the meanness of the stories; “The
news coverage was outrageous, disgusting, judgmental, and cruel. What did this
child do? Have a couple pizzas?” (People Magazine, June 1996) In a word, yes.
In the moral order of today’s media-driven universe, in which you could bounce
a quarter off the well-toned abs of any cast member of Baywatch or Friends,
fashion magazines are filled with airbrushed photos of emaciated models with
breast implants. And the perfectly attractive Janeane Garofalo can pass for an
ugly duckling next to Beautiful Girl Uma Thurman in the hit movie The Truth
About Cats and Dogs. The definition of what constitutes beauty or even an
acceptable body seems to become more inaccessible every year. We are evolving
toward an unnatural view of beauty. Thin women with huge breasts and stick legs,
like those of 12-year-olds. What real women’s bodies look like is labeled
wrong and unattractive. In conclusion, I believe teenage girls are deluged by
images from television, movies, and magazines; battling with an increasingly
unrealistic standard of beauty, and pay a price. This says a lot about our
culture. Our society worries too much about impressing everyone else with looks.
It is seen everyday in movies and media, the “stars” that people watch and
try to look like are perfect to us. People want to look like these “stars”
and will go to any cost to become similar to that “star”; even if it means
harming their bodies. Our society goes too far. Some people are way too harsh on
other people. Instead of excepting people for who they are, people judge by
looks alone. This is what causes our society to be infatuated with being skinny
and having to look like that supermodel on television.

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