Eating Disorders - Do Women Die to Be Beautiful? Many women worry about their appearance. Too many of them are caught up in the image of being thin and pretty. Seeing all the beautiful and thin women in the media and society can make them feel insecure about their appearance. Therefore, they try to do everything they can to acquire this appearance. The methods they use to try to achieve this are self-starvation, known as anorexia, or self-induced vomiting, known as bulimia. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are just two of the eating disorders that often result from their incessant desire to be thin and "beautiful." Such eating disorders also occur in men. However, it is less common. “The standards for men are simply not as extreme or as hostile to normal body size as the standards for women are” (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 8). But it's not just the biological aspect that makes this happen more often in women. Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley argue that even on a practical level, women's self-image, their social and economic success, and even their survival may still be largely determined by their beauty and the men it enables them. to attract, whereas for men, these values ​​are determining. based largely on how they act and what they accomplish. Appearance is simply of secondary importance to male success. (9) Beauty and fashion are also partly linked to one's desire for social acceptance and success. Women try to meet an unreasonable weight standard because fashion imposes it on them. Men are encouraged to be strong and powerful. As they strive to build power at the gym and at work, they associate "thin" with "skinny" and "weak." Even though female models often appear fragile (which men hate in themselves), female thinness is not classified as "skinny." Instead, it is popular and defined as glamorous and sexy. This perhaps helps explain why only five to ten percent of people with eating disorders are men. Anorexia nervosa is the persistent search for thinness. A person suffering from this eating disorder refuses to maintain a normal body weight for their age and height. He/she weighs eighty-five percent or less than expected for his/her age and height, and denies the dangers of low weight. He/she is afraid of gaining weight and becoming fat, even if he/she is clearly underweight. Young girls do not start menstruating at the appropriate age and in women, menstruation stops. In men, sex hormones drop. Additionally, anorexia nervosa often includes depression, irritability, withdrawal, and peculiar behaviors such as strange eating habits. Bulimia nervosa is the disorder of diet-purge-purge. A person with this eating disorder eats excessively and feels out of control while eating. He vomits, abuses laxatives, exercises or fasts to get rid of calories. A diet is followed when he is not binging, but then he gets hungry and binges again. He/she believes that self-esteem requires being thin. Their weight may be normal unless anorexia is also present. Just like anorexia, bulimia can kill. Bulimics are happy but are often depressed, lonely, ashamed and empty inside. Furthermore, because of their feeling of unworthiness and their difficulty in talking about theirfeelings, anxiety, depression, self-doubt and deeply buried anger are almost always included. There are many other eating disorders, but anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common. What are the causes of eating disorders? There is no simple answer to why they do this to themselves. One factor is biological. Research suggests that abnormal levels of chemicals in the brain cause some people to experience anxiety, perfectionism, and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors. These people are more vulnerable than others to eating disorders. Another factor is psychological. People with eating disorders may have unrealistic expectations of themselves and others. For them, everything is good or bad, success or failure, fat or thin. “If fat is bad and thin is good, then thinner is better, and thinner is better, even if the thinnest weighs sixty-eight pounds in a hospital bed on life support” (Anorexia Nervosa) . Some people with eating disorders use them to try to gain control of themselves and their lives. They too often lack a sense of identity. They try to define themselves by developing a socially approved and accepted exterior. They are also often justifiably angry and don't know how to express their anger in healthy ways. They turn it against themselves by starving or gorging themselves. Family may be a factor. Parents who overestimate physical appearance may unintentionally contribute to an eating disorder. On the other hand, so can those who make critical comments, even jokingly, about their children's bodies. These families tend to be overprotective, rigid, and ineffective at resolving conflicts. Expectations for achievement and success are often high and they feel they have to meet them. Children try to solve their problems by controlling their weight and diet. Another factor is social. Television, movies, and magazines are examples of media that bombard people with messages about the "benefits" of being thin. "Impressionable readers and spectators are told, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, by the actors and models chosen for the exhibition, that goodness, success, power, approval, popularity, admiration, “Intelligence, friends and romantic relationships all require physical beauty in general and thinness in particular” (Anorexia Nervosa) Women are affected by eating disorders and cultural demands for thinness. women are advised to be as thin as current fashion Triggers are other factors that can cause eating disorders If people are vulnerable to eating disorders, sometimes all it takes is to trigger them. a trigger event that they don't know how to handle. A trigger can be something as harmless as teasing or as devastating as rape or incest. Triggers often occur at times of transition. Increased demands are placed on people who are already unsure of their ability to meet expectations. Dieting is probably the most common trigger for eating disorders. "It's a bit simplistic, but nevertheless true, to say that if there were no diets, there would be no anorexia nervosa. Nor would there be the bulimia that people create when they go on a diet..." (Anorexia nervosa). We live in a culture where it is normal to think that we should be thinner, more!