"PLEASE, please help me! I’m looking for Ana. I decided today’s the day I choose ANOREXIA! Time to get skinny b—tch-s!" Brazen statements (or messages) of this kind are perilous for multiple reasons. If one can be persuaded to take the above statement as fact, one can also concede that eating disorders (EDs) are a choice rather than a biologically based disorder. Mental illness, is NOT a choice, recovery on the other hand, is. What say you? More on this a bit later. "‘You 're CHUNKY ', ‘you 're F-T ', ‘you 're DISGUSTING ', ‘you 're WORTHLESS!!!"…"OH, GROW UP ALREADY! CAN 'T YOU TAKE A JOKE?" I 'm sure you get the picture. Undoubtedly, derogatory words can pack a punch so powerful their strength with the added touch of malice is a recipe for disaster and has the capacity of knocking someone out cold! It is well documented within the medical community that bullying could have long-term emotional and psychological effects, lasting well into adulthood. Hurtful, taunting and vicious name calling spewed without any forethought can snowball so far out of control it can lead one straight into that dark path of self-destruction. In fact, it could be the very "trigger" that sets in motion a downward spiral, landing one straight into the lap of an eating disorder (ED). Exaggerated interpretations of what beauty really is, continues to be promoted by unrealistic expectations and induced by modern society. The very concept of associating beauty with being rail thin seems to have resulted in a rapid increase of people that are literally dying to be skinny. Teenage girls struggle to fit in with unwavering efforts in their attempt to improve their physical appearance. At the same time, we are constantly being bombarded with messa... ... middle of paper ... ...cs” and there are no diagnostic criteria for Wannarexia nor is it a life-threatenting disorder like Anorexia. Wannarexia is self-diagnosed where one “wants anorexia” out of a pure desire to be thin. Anorexia is glamorized and heavily influenced by Hollywood and the media and individuals might refer to their “new friend or diet” as “ana”. These sites often personify the illness by referring to anorexia as a girl named "Ana" likewise, a girl named "Mia" in reference to Bulimia Nervosa(BN). It seems treating the disorder as though it were a person only distorts reality and trivializes the seriousness of the disease. "Thinspiration" sites encompass unlimited images of celebrities, lifeless and gaunt looking individuals to keep the users motivated. Mercy on anyone with a food craving, these pictures can guilt trip anyone into having their mouth permanently wired shut!
Anorexic: this word is an adjective, a label, and to some, a lifestyle. Medically speaking, it is someone who suffers from the deadly and heartbreaking disease, Anorexia Nervosa. This term translates to “nervous loss of appetite”, but anyone who has battled through this sickness is aware how that is anything but true. Eating disorder patients do not, in fact, lose their appetite; there is more to it than that. Many perceive eating disorders as a choice to be thin, a diet, or a cry for attention; they do not see the mental destruction going on inside of the mind. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, yet only 30% of people fully recover (ANAD). The general mindset that society has about eating disorders walks hand in hand with these statistics, slowing down any advances patients may be able to make. Eating disorder patients are not getting proper treatment because of ignorant misconceptions about the illness.
Bullying has many negative effects on many people such as the victim, the bully himself, and society. Studies show these effects may turn out to be short-term or long-term.
Research, 2016. Bordo implicated popular culture as having a serious negative role in how women of America view their bodies. These images have led to drastic increase change in life altering female disorders and eating. Not only does these images affect Americans but young men and women too which they should be fighting against it, not for
Within the selection A Secret Society of the Starving, Udovitch describes the lives of girls with eating disorders and how websites and society affect them. She interviews girls that have dealt with a personal eating disorder and addresses them by their website nicknames. Claire, Chaos, and Futurebird were only a few girls that she interviewed. She describes Chaos as, “a very attractive 23-year-old who has been either bulimic or anorexic since she was 10.” (Udovitch 561) Chaos practices weird habits such as not eating in front of people and taking an excessive number of laxatives. Chaos also makes a number of trips t...
Binge-eating disorder is defined as an eating disorder in which a person frequently consumes large amounts of food while feeling out of control and unable to stop. Almost everyone overeats every once in a while but for some people overeating crosses the line to binge-eating disorder and it becomes a regular occurrence. Many people who have this disorder may feel embarrassed about eating large amounts of food in front of others however the urge and compulsiveness of this disorder continues to affect their eating habits. Binge-eating disorder is estimated to affect approximately 1-5% of the general population and also tends to affect women slightly more often than men. Binge-eating disorder is often associated with symptoms of depression and people diagnosed with this may often express distress, shame, and guilt over their eating behaviors.
Nowadays, bullying is a lot less physical push and shove. It comes in the form of mean words, unpleasant conversations, and exclusion. These blows hit deeper than any punch or kick could, and they do not always fade with time. One book that describes just how hurtful words can be is Odd Girl Out, a book that looks at aggression in girls in society, by Rachel Simmons. Simmons looks at how mean words can stick with someone, even after many years.
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
Bullying has both short term and long effects on the victim. A victim of someone who has been bullied for so long can lead to them bullying other individuals, making this a never-ending cycle. "Bu...
Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating are extremely serious illnesses that must be recognized before they can be treated. The media is blamed for so many distorted images of the body. People are beginning to refuse the idea, however, that thinner is better. Body shapes are known to go in and out of style. In the 1800s, plumpness was a sign of wealth and class. Thinness became a sign of beauty in the 1970s with the British super-model Twiggy. There are many treatments for eating disorders today. One of the hopes of many psychologists is that humans will begin to feel happy about the way they are, even if it is a little bigger than the media portrays as ideal.
...th the modern era defining beautiful as having less weight. (WiseGeek, n.d.) Another argument is that thin is a feminist issue and they just use this as a headline grabber because 39.4 million of Americans suffer from obesity and the British NHS survey of Disordered Eating noted 620 hospital treatments for anorexia or bulimia (with some patients registered twice or more) for 2005 to 2006 as opposed to 17,458 for the same period for obesity. They also argue that more material is being saved when models are thinner and clothes look more elegant and drapes effortlessly on skinnier models. Most models and designers argue that models are not supposed to eat and they are meant to be skinny to sell more clothes or make them look more appealing.
The effects of bullying, or the practice of coercion by force or intimidation due to specific characteristic, are about as common as its practice in American public schools. Studies over the decades show bullied students are more likely to skip class, disengage socially and abuse substances (Johnson 1).
Christmas eve ended with me crying on our living room floor because my mom wanted me to eat just one of her famous sugar cookies. Her cookies had always been one of my favorite Christmas traditions, but this year when I looked at the cookies, all I could see were calories and guilt. They smelled and looked delicious, but just the thought of taking one bite filled me with anxiety and fear. I consider this the moment I realized my eating disorder had completely taken over my life. I had become obsessed with calories and weight as a way to feel in control of my life and gain confidence. In reality, my eating disorder had slowly stripped me of my independence, health, and happiness. After that Christmas, I finally decided to seek help after months of struggling, and at the age of 17, I began an intensive outpatient treatment program.
Out of all mental illnesses found throughout the world, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate. Anorexia nervosa is one of the more common eating disorders found in society, along with bulimia nervosa. Despite having many definitions, anorexia nervosa is simply defined as the refusal to maintain a normal body weight (Michel, 2003). Anorexia nervosa is derived from two Latin words meaning “nervous inability to eat” (Frey, 2002). Although anorexics, those suffering from anorexia, have this “nervous inability to eat,” it does not mean that they do not have an appetite—anorexics literally starve themselves. They feel that they cannot trust or believe their perceptions of hunger and satiation (Abraham, 2008). Anorexics lose at least 15 percent of normal weight for height (Michel, 2003). This amount of weight loss is significant enough to cause malnutrition with impairment of normal bodily functions and rational thinking (Lucas, 2004). Anorexics have an unrealistic view of their bodies—they believe that they are overweight, even if the mirror and friends or family say otherwise. They often weigh themselves because they possess an irrational fear of gaining weight or becoming obese (Abraham, 2008). Many anorexics derive their own self-esteem and self-worth from body weight, size, and shape (“Body Image and Disordered Eating,” 2000). Obsession with becoming increasingly thinner and limiting food intake compromises the health of individuals suffering from anorexia. No matter the amount of weight they lose or how much their health is in jeopardy, anorexics will never be satisfied with their body and will continue to lose more weight.
Clearly, there is a necessity to curtail the cases of teenagers suffering from body image pressures immediately (Kennedy, 2010). If there are no pressures, there will be surely no obsession with their appearance and there will be certainly no more risks of young women’s health and rise in serious eating disorders.
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words feel more like daggers. This simply says that mere name-calling does give rise to a cause of action. It is not necessary to be physically harmed in order to suffer lasting harm. Bullying is usually the intimidation, the process of intimidating or mistreating someone weaker or in a more vulnerable state. This could be teasing or taunting a class mate because they are in some way different. But what happens when our school yard bully becomes our Facebook harasser? This is definitely nothing new to society but thanks to the internet, instant messaging programs, E-mails, text messaging and social networks teens are now being bullied online. Some may feel that bullying is a part of growing up, they may assume that it builds character but in many cases this form of harassment has become a huge problem and the results have become fatal. The experience of being bullied can cause lasting damages to an individual. Victims of cyber bullying may endure and experience long-term emotional damage, anger, low self-esteem, depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.