Dying To Be Thin Summary

While in a lecture hall of about one hundred students – realize that three out of those one hundred students are struggling with either Bulimia or Anorexia-Nervosa, the most dangerous eating disorder in the world. The documentary, “Dying To Be Thin,” first airing in 2000 and created by NOVA, dig deeper into the world of what the concept “having an eating disorder” is truly about. With the ages fifteen to twenty-four being the most vulnerable ages to form an eating disorder, the documentary explores women like “Heidi,” who died at the age of twenty-two, and a woman named “Katy,” who overcame her Anorexia and found new passions in life.
The pressure to be thin in our society is already very extreme but when men and women engage in activities

such as dancing, modeling, or anything of that sort, the pressures seem to become much more extravagant. Often times, those pressures turn into anxieties, desires, or insecurities that may lead to the formation of an eating disorder, which may be fatal. In “Dying To Be Thin,” the documentary introduces its viewers to many different people who have struggled with an eating disorder, one of which is named “Katy”. “Katy” was victim to bullying and torment at an age as young as twelve, when she was in seventh grade. In an interview conducted within the documentary “Katy” went on to explain the names the other kids would call her, names like “Over-Weight Kate,” when she stood at a healthy weight. That seventh grade year, “Katy” went on to not only grow four inches but also drop 30 pounds. As a result, “Katy” became Anorexic. By being so unhealthily skinny, “Katy” began to catch the eyes of different modeling agencies and went on to work in the field of modeling. “Katy” continued to model until someone within her agency demand that she lose twenty pounds. At this point, “Katy” found herself asking “Where? How? I don’t know how I could possibly get any skinnier.” She knew this was a ridiculous and unhealthy request and she would not stand for it so at that point in time, “Katy” quit her modeling job. Quitting the job as a model opened up more doors to find hobbies and passions that left “Katy” feeling stronger, healthier and happier. Eventually, “Katy” did find her way back into modeling – not because of a relapse, which is common in 50% of eating disorder patients, but because she became a “plus-size” model. I watched this documentary with my friend, Davis, who at this part was in total shock. Davis said, “ How are they “plus-sized? I look at those women and they look thin, they look healthy.” The standard of what “thin” is has increasingly become so disproportioned. Women like “Katy” noticed this and based her actions on what was best and healthiest for her but not all women and men can be strong enough to do that.
Photographs of people with eating disorders have been found to date far back.

In the fourteenth century, thirty-three year old, “St. Katherine” starved herself to death. This illness is certainly is not solely a physical illness; eating disorders are mental illnesses as well. The documentary also introduces a young, fourteen year old girl named “Erin.” “Erin” is shown at the beginning of the documentary looking into a mirror and writing words like “fat, ugly, disappointment” on it because she felt those words described her. “Erin” was disgusted by herself, she hated herself, and it is clear to see that during this scene. Davis sat in silence while watching this part, in his and my later interview he expressed his sadness saying, “I hate to see someone hate him or herself to that extent. I feel like no one should have to live being disgusted by themselves the way she seems to be.” “Erin” had been starving herself for three months, leaving her at 20% below normal weight for her gender, age, and height. “Erin” was dying of malnutrition because of her irrational fear of fat. The irrational fear of fat that “Erin” obtained was not a result of her desire to be what she saw on the billboards, what she saw in the magazines, but because she was aiming to become so thin that she would look unattractive. “Erin” was controlled by her fears, by her anxieties because she was sexually abused, she admitted. After being sexually abused, “Erin” felt like she had control of nothing,

she felt powerless. Controlling her diet, “Erin” stated this is the only thing she could find a bit of power from, because she knew she had control of this. Eating disorders derive from many different things, whether it is because of a desire to be something, or someone, they are not, or if it is coping with stress, anxieties, or fears; it is important to get mentally well so that it may reflect physical wellness.
“I went to the bathroom and made myself throw up.

I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it because it was on TV.” Said a woman featured in the documentary, “Dying To Be Thin,” as she speaks of the beginning of her struggle with a binge eating disorder. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, a binge eating disorder is defined as: “recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food (often very quickly and to the point of discomfort).” Women and men with binge eating disorders often times do not stick out as much as those with an eating disorder such as Anorexia, because most often they sit at a healthy weight. The people with this specific eating disorder continuously find themselves eating to the point of sickness and following with a purge, or making themselves throw up. “One thing that really stuck out to me in the documentary,” said Davis, “is, I didn’t realize that the brain becomes so affected by binge eating that your body eventually adjusts to where they can’t really feel full.” Biologically, the body, in the case of a binge eating disorder, confuses the hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain that controls hunger and appetite; by misunderstanding when exactly the subject is “full,” they tend to eat more than the appropriate amount. On another hand, people with a Binge eating disorder have been found to have low levels of serotonin, making them more prone to depression, but as they binge it has been proven to increase those

levels, giving them a sensation of well being. As a whole, binge eating disorders, and other eating disorders will have an impact on the person’s body in more ways than one: physically, mentally and biologically.
Eighty percent of women have admitted to being unsatisfied with their body image. Three out of every one hundred people are struggling with an eating disorder. An eating disorder is a deadly illness that does not only take over the subject’s physical nature, but also their mental and biological nature. In the documentary by NOVA, “Dying To Be Thin,” the viewers are shown how an eating disorder can ruin someone’s life. Not only does it increase levels of serotonin but also can cause death because of malnutrition and being severely underweight, in some cases. Some young girls even admitted in the interview, performed on the documentary, that their eating disorder is a “power thing” and it “has gotten me attention, not ignored anymore.” It is the sad reality that our society has taken the concept of “thin” and completely blown it out of proportions, by making the models lose extra weight that isn’t necessary, by idealizing purging on TV, and many more examples.