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How does culture and society influence eating disorders
How does culture and society influence eating disorders
Is body image a social problem
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In Susan Bordo’s essay Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as a Crystallization of Culture, she attempts to explain the causes and psychology surrounding the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. In this essay, I will examine anorexia as it relates to our contemporary reality as self-identity, as well as provide a critique of Bordo’s solution to anorexia. Susan Bordo defines anorexia nervosa as a “multidimensional disorder with familial, perceptual, cognitive, and possibly biological factors interacting in varying combinations in different individuals” (Bordo 228). Most people simply understand anorexia as an eating disorder that leads people not to eat so that they can become thin. Bordo examines Anorexia through three axes: the control axis, gender/power axis, and dualist axis. After reading Bordo’s publication, I believe the true source of anorexia lies in the control axis. Anorectics are perfectionists torn apart by contradictory expectations, unable to fulfill all demands made of her. She realizes that her body is one area of her life that she holds total control over, and will ignore the pain of starvation and over-exercise to prove her mastery of her body (Bordo 234). …show more content…
Anorexia nervosa relates to our contemporary reality as it reflects some of the central ills of our culture, “from our historical disdain for the body, to our modern fear of loss of control over our future, to the disquieting meaning of contemporary beauty ideals in an era of greater female presence and power than before” (Bordo 227-228).
In essence, this means that anorexia is an indication of what is wrong with our contemporary society. Specifically, it relates to contemporary body ideals. Historically, the ideal body type for women has been changing every decade. Bordo believes that in the gender/power axis, commercials and advertisements target women and causes them to wish their bodies were similar to those of the ‘attractive’ women in the commercials. (Bordo
243). To examine how the knowledge of this illness defines our reality and shapes our self-identity, it is important to analyze Bordo’s descriptions of the dualist axis. Dualism is the idea that human existence can be separated into two distinct categories. In this instance, such dualism is found through the separation of the mind and the body (Bordo 233). The central features of dualism are that the body is experienced as alien, as a mode of confinement, and as the enemy (Bordo 234). Thus, any sense of self-identity is destroyed when there are two contrasting sides embodied within a single person. According to Bordo, a solution to this problem would be to stop experiencing our bodily desires altogether (Bordo 232). I disagree with this solution, as it simply allows anorexic people to justify their behavior. An anorectic would say that by refusing to eat, he or she is attempting to stop experiencing the bodily desire of hunger. This obviously does not solve any problem, but rather perpetuates the anorectic’s mission to starve him or herself. Finding a solution or treatment for anorexia is so important because it affects a large number of women in the world today. In 1984, it was estimated that 1 out of every 200-250 women between 13 and 22 suffered from anorexia, a number that has surely increased in the past thirty years (Bordo 228). In high school, I had several close friends who suffered from anorexia and I saw how it tore apart their lives and relationships. The disease affected each friend in different ways, but for every girl it was an obsession that consumed her. I believe the media plays an enormous role in the way women see themselves; as the media dictates how women are ‘supposed’ to look. If a woman does not fit this defined standard, her self-esteem plummets. Every woman is affected by the media, so I believe it is incredibly important for the media to send messages of body positivity instead of setting an unattainable or unhealthy body standard for women. Anorexia nervosa is certainly a devastating disorder that affects countless men and women. Anorexia is a symptom of the problems in contemporary society and destroys self-worth. Additionally, Bordo’s solution of silencing bodily desires to combat anorexia is flawed, as it only serves to promote the detrimental behavior of anorectics.
However, these views don’t take social process into consideration. Therefore, they organized a self-help group for bulimics and anorexics known as BANISH in order to determine what societal aspects cause these disorders. The author’s group consisted mostly of college age females which is significant because this is group primarily affected by these disorders. Interestingly, the backgrounds of the women in the BANISH group are strikingly similar in that they are excellent students, good children who have very close parental relationships, from “functional” families - all having been brought up with an emphasis on thin physical appearance. The authors also allude to the fact that in today’s society, slimness is considered attractive and most worthy, while being overweight is viewed as both morally and physically wrong. Society labels heavy people as “lazy, obscene, and unhealthy”. (244) It is noted that when members of the group lost weight, they reported feeling more accepted and
“Eating disorders are ‘about’: yes, control, and history, philosophy, society, personal strangeness, family fuck-ups, autoerotics, myth, mirrors, love and death and S&M, magazines and religion, the individual’s blindfolded stumble-walk through an ever-stranger world.” (Hornbacher, 4)
Anorexia Nervosa has been a problematic disease many women suffer from. The article “The Slender Trap” was composed by Trina Rys who is a stay at home mother with a husband and one daughter. Rys writes the main reasons a woman may develop anorexia from. She states that the psychological pressures, expectations of friends and family and influences of the media all are factors when a woman is inflicted with the disease. I strongly agree with Rys persuading argument that anorexia could be caused by an unknown identity and the overall main focus of the ideal image of a woman. Although, I believe Rys requires a stronger argument on whether food restrictions executed by parents are a major step to developing the harmful illness. She seems to put emphasize on mainly women but does not shine any light on men.
Anorexia is a life threatening eating disorder that is characterized by self-starvation, and the urge to lose weight. The obsession of losing weight and the food one eats can lead to anorexia nervosa which is a serious mental disorder. Ethan Watters opens his arguments with the emergence of anorexia in Hong Kong. Watter argues that before, anorexia was a rare and unknown disorder in Hong Kong until it was replaced by the American version. The Asian community has been known for having an obsession for food whereby they share large amounts of meals with family, the issue of food refusal was not in the picture. This disorder of self starvation, and the urge to lose weight was started by adolescents in distress of gaining weight more than their peers because of western influence. The adolescents were impacted by the new wave of cultural shifts, and individualism. Watters use Dr. Lee w...
Bordo creates a harrowing argument in her essay. “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” shows its greatest strengths when supported by the essayist’s emotional appeals, personal observations, and statistical evidence. In her keenness to employ real facts and statistics, paired with her rhetoric, Bordo grants relevancy to her claim. Providing clarity on the recent development of eating disorders, Bordo shows her ability to argue as she voices her deep concern. Indeed, Bordo’s use of many of the components of a strong argument in her essay accomplishes its goal. Ultimately, Bordo’s selection provides its audience with enough reason to consider or reconsider their stances. Suddenly, the globalization of eating disorders has become global in a new way—in the awareness of men and women all around the
Anorexia Nervosa may be described directly as an eating disease classified by a deficit in weight, not being able to maintain weight appropriate for one’s height. Anorexia means loss of appetite while Anorexia Nervosa means a lack of appetite from nervous causes. Before the 1970s, most people never heard of Anorexia Nervosa. It was identified and named in the 1870s, before then people lived with this mental illness, not knowing what it was, or that they were even sick. It is a mental disorder, which distorts an individual’s perception of how they look. Looking in the mirror, they may see someone overweight
Anorexia nervosa is a psychosociological disease which affects young women. Anorexia is mainly a female's disease which has been evident for centuries-however, in the past twenty years, the incidence of this disorder has risen to horrifying proportions. It is characterized by the refusal to maintain body wight over a minimal normal weight for age and height; intense fear of gaining weight; a distorted body image; and, amenorrhea. (http://www.pgi.edu/hagopian.htm) This disorder becomes a disease when the mind starts to cause problems with one's physical well-being. A connection has been found between sociocultural pressures to achieve, familial characteristics, and individual personality traits.
Anorexia is a condition that goes beyond out-of-control dieting. This psychological disorder initially begins with dieting to lose weight. The excessive drive to lose weight becomes secondary to the concerns about control and fear of one’s own body. An adolescent continues an endless cycle of controlled eating which is then often accompanied by other psychological and emotional behaviors. In an FDA consumer special report, Dixie Farley states, “the anorectic becomes obsessed with a fear of fat and losing weight[…] she sees normal folds of flesh as fat that must be eliminated[…] Anorectics are described as having low self-esteem and feeling that others are controlling their lives. Some may be overactive and her obsession increasingly controls her life. It’s an addiction.” A teenage girl with anorexia often restricts her dieting, sometimes to a point of starvation in order to feel control over her body. As she keeps dieting, a domino of emotional and psychological stress begins to affect her body and the endless cycle of restrictive eating and over exercising begins to lead to depression. In the end, this depression ultimately leads to a cycle that becomes an obsession and an addiction.
As defined by the National Eating Disorders Association, “Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.” (NEDA). The term “Anorexia Nervosa” literally means “neurotic loss of appetite”, and could be more generally defined as the result of a prolonged self-starvation and an unhealthy relationship regarding food and self-image. It is characterized by “resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height”, “intense fear of weight gain or being “fat”, even though underweight”, “disturbance in the experience of body weight or shape, undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight”, and “loss of menstrual periods in girls and women post-puberty.”(NEDA) Among women on a range of 15 to 24 years old, AN has been proved to have 12 times the annual mortality rate of all death causes, and from premature deaths of anorexic patients, 1 in every 5 is caused by suicide, which gives a rise of 20% for suicide probability. (EDV)
Over the years the rise in body image dissatisfaction has grown as both male and female progress to adulthood. This factor can be contributed to societal standards that the media presents to the public daily. These standards continue to rise making the body image more difficult to attain. With these standards comes the push to seek the “perfect body”. This myth of true beauty commonly found in today’s society, is the price that adolescents buy into often sacrificing their health. The perfect body can often present a distorted view of one-self leading to unhealthy methods of weight reduction. The most common methods for weight reduction are the diseases Anorexia and Bulimia. The similarities and differences between Anorexia and Bulimia will be used to prove that the society’s pressure to fit a certain mold contribute to the onset of the disease.
Minuchin, Salvador, et al. Psychosomatic Families: Anorexia Nervosa in Context. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
In 1978, Brunch called anorexia nervosa a 'new disease' and noted that the condition seemed to overtake ?the daughters of the well-to-do, educated and successful families.? Today it is acknowledged and accepted that anorexia affects more than just one gender or socio-economic class; however, much of the current research is focused on the female gender. ?Anorexia nervosa is characterized by extreme dieting, intense fear of gaining weight, and obsessive exercising. The weight loss eventually produces a variety of physical symptoms associated with starvation: sleep disturbance, cessation of menstruation, insensitivity to pain, loss of hair on the head, low blood pressure, a variety of cardiovascular problems and reduced body temperature. Between 10% and 15% of anorexics literally starve themselves to death; others die because of some type of cardiovascular dysfunction (Bee and Boyd, 2001).?
In From Psychiatric Syndrome To “Communicable” Disease: The Case of Anorexia Nervosa by Joan Jacobs Brumberg she argues that since 1950, anorexia has become a contagious disease. Brumberg defines contagion as the spread of affect or behavior from group member to a group member. In this case, the disease tends to spread because of societal norms. If one person in a group of friend is scared to get fat due to excessive eating than that person to revert to eating less, possibly to the point of starvation or bulimia nervosa. This trend then becomes popular from friend to friend. Brumberg also writes about beauty standards and images that are represented in the media. Images of very thin models. Brumberg goes on to write “the increasing thin beauty ideal plays a major role in promoting binging and purging.”
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness; 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from eating disorders and only 1 in 10 of those 24 million are treated (ANAD). Eating disorders do not discriminate; all ages, genders, ethnicities and races can be victim to this mental illness. It’s important to be aware of the impact eating disorders have on societies across the globe and how the media plays a role if we want to fight the source and promote prevention and/or rehabilitation. I’ve known many people in my life who have some sort of eating disorder, whether it’s anorexia(not eating enough), binge eating(eating large amounts of food rapidly), bulimia (throwing up their food) or just struggling with an unsatisfying self-image. Becoming aware of eating disorders and how they are developed is important to me because in a perfect world, I would like to see this illness become less common or diminished completely among those that I love and anyone else in today’s society. Eating disorders hit home for many people, including myself. Raising awareness may decrease the rate of eating disorders by informing the population of the harm this illness causes and hopefully promote prevention and/or rehabilitation. With the 3 theoretical approaches used by sociologists, Eating disorders can be understood which will better inform society on how to raise awareness, prevent this illness and help those who suffer from eating disorders.
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.