Female Self-Image & Eating Disorders

Of course, it is simply not possible for most women to live up to the standards and patterns established by models and movie stars with drop-dead gorgeous bodies, flowing (usually blond) hair, a tiny waistline, very slightly curved hips, large breasts, and perfect facial features. The constant messages that women receive that they are not pretty enough (and therefore are not good enough) prompt many women into dramatic and sometimes even lethal assaults on their own bodies in an attempt to come closely to the socially espoused ideal and therefore (they hope) to find happiness. Sometimes these assaults take the form of plastic surgery to enlargen breasts or straighten noses or to make Asian eyes appear to be Caucasian. And sometimes they come in the form of eating disorders.

This paper examines some of the causes of eating disorders and the ways in which contemporary society pushes young women (

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that many individuals experience and many girls and women (and some men) have complex and unhealthy relationships with food that stop short of anorexia or bulimia but are prompted by the same social factors (Lask and Byrant-Waugh, 1993, p. 17). Eating disorders are complex illnesses determined by a variety of risk factors that are not well understood but include: (a) the continuing media promotion of thinness as healthy and a sign of success; (b) perfectionism; (c) highly competitive environments that stress body thinness and high performance; (d) experiences of loss in personal relationships, such as family breakups or losses of family members; (e) a low sense of self-esteem (which in females is often induced by constant reinforcement by the mass media and acquaintances that they are less than physically perfect or fully desirable); and (f) heightened concern for appearance and body shape during adjustment to the physical changes of puberty (Lask and Bryant-Waugh, 1993, p. 25). Eating disorders are best seen as complex illnesses that reflect the interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors. But simply because their root causes are primarily cultural rather than physical does not in any way mean that their sev
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Lask Bryant-Waugh, United Fisher, , Anorexia Nervosa, Lask Byrant-Waugh, eating disorders, Adolescent Health, Guilford Litt, Kaplan Katz, anorexia nervosa, Eds Handbook, weight loss, Blackwell Hewitt, body image, gordon 1990, girls women, culture family, mass media, body shape, eating disorder, fisher et al, health 16 pp, healthy sense self, journal adolescent health, message popular culture,
Approximate Word count = 2339
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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