When Lucia was about seventeen years old, she started to gain weight. It wasn’t an extreme weight gain but she was obsessed with the way she looks. By then, she would enroll herself in all kind of sports and activities in order to burn all the calories and energies that she might have on hand. On top of these, she tried every single and possible diet available on the internet, magazine or TV program and even those recommended by her “friends.” I saw her doing the weirdest and most unimaginable diets in the world and obviously she did also bring into play starvation, purging, and exercising excessively (she runs for hours and didn’t stop until she was dehydrated enough to lose weight).
Eventually, Lucia experimented all of the different types and stages of eating disorders. Chasing after the image of the perfect thin, beautiful woman she desperately wanted to be (the one that is accepted and admire by many); she becomes the victim of her own self. It didn’t take long time, as everybody could imagine, for a family intervention to take place. It was absolutely necessary. Fortunately, she was smart enough to discourage herself from this destructive behavior. Although, in the past few years her personality has change a lot and I am always suspicious and scare about her old habits not being totally gone. I noticed that she has periods of dramatic gain and loss of weight.
But, why being overweight is so unacceptable in our society? I think that the concept of thin has been expanded to a twisted new level. You just need to check sites over the internet, portraits in magazines; I mean everywhere. The general message is, “Thin is beautiful” and the portraits just show pictures of women that are extremely thin (mostly if they are magazine’ models) and certainly our Hollywood celebrities are not the exception because many of them look anorexic.
Image 1
Media is being blame for the obsession with appearances and its relation with eating disorders.
Some people think that an eating disorder isn’t a real illness and they may also think that isn’t such a big deal, but the truth is totally different. In our days this is becoming a growing health issue that has already taken many lives (Prah, 2006). Victims of eating disorders have an obsession with food and they fear of getting fat. While, anorexics refuse to eat to the point of seeing themselves as fat even when they are extremely thin; bulimics used to eat compulsively and then induce the vomit, exercise excessively or use large amounts of laxatives, diuretics or enemas in order to lose the weight gain. Binge eaters eat compulsively but they don’t purge their food (Prah, 2006). Statistics also shown that while millions of Americans suffering with eating disorders are starving themselves, the United States is also facing an obesity epidemic (Prah, 2006).
In 1980 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association finally recognized anorexia and bulimia as mental disorders. Still, obesity and binge are not recognized as eating disorders just yet (Prah, 2006).
“Eating disorders are considered serious mental illnesses” (Prah, 2006). In fact, anorexia has the highest rate of mortality in relation to any other mental illness and is often cause by suicide (Prah, 2006). Moreover, experts and further researches say that the causes for eating disorders are complex and related to many factors (social, psychological, cultural) and that genetics might also play a big role on the development of these illnesses (Prah, 2006).
Image 2
Anorexia is a dangerous self-destroy mental illness
Perhaps, I think that the real dilemma started from how we view ourselves. How or what do we see when we look in the mirror. Most women don’t love the way they look and this is when the ghost of an eating disorder could easily reach to them.
Image 3
Anorexics see themselves as fat even when they are dangerously thin.
I considered myself an advocate of women’ health and I agree that maintaining a healthy weight by exercising and keeping good eating habits is very important for our bodies. If losing weight is necessary there are a lot of healthy and natural ways to do it without harming ourselves. I also think that is necessary to educate and create and awareness on the young to prevent them from being victims of this nonsense.
We should become active critics of the media and its message and encourage ourselves to make use of this critical thinking to do what is good for us rather than playing their game as simple puppets. In my opinion, is essential for women not just to accept or follow the perspective and standards of others as our own. We need to have a voice against the pressure offered by media on their views of what a woman should look like and their constant messages on how we need to diet and be thin to “look good.”We need to understand that having a particular body size or shape doesn’t precisely ensure a life of happiness and self realization.
Certainly, women are much more than just appearance. Good looks are not what it gives us self-worth. Putting special attention to our own attitudes and behaviors about food, weight and body image can help us to avoid being a victim of an eating disorder. Building a strong self esteem is a very important part of creating an appreciation and respect to ourselves.
Citation
Prah, P. (2006, February 10). Eating disorders. CQ Researcher. Retrieved March 17, 2011 from CQ Researcher Database.
Image 2 (n.d.) Retrieved April 5, 2011, from http://www.natural-holistic healthsunion.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment