Eating Disorders In Today's Society

Decent Essays
Eating Disorders vs. Today’s Society
“Eating disorders are like a gun that’s formed by genetics, loaded by a culture and family ideals, and triggered by unbearable distress.” -Aimee Liu Eating disorders are not a topic one hears about in the evening news every night, and has been commonly unheard of in the media up until only a few years ago now. There are three different ones: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. These eating disorders can be present in both men and women, although rates are 2½ times greater in women.

The main underlying reasoning behind eating disorders in today’s world is social and cultural factors.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    This is no joke, eating disorders are very serious and a lot of girls especially around my age, (18) have suffered from this because we have it in our heads that we have to always look a certain way. In her essay, The Globalization of Eating Disorders, Susan Bordo emphasizes the seriousness of eating disorders. Ultimately I agree one hundred percent with what she has to say in her essay. When I was a child, I used to think that being…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), the rates of eating disorders have been growing rapidly in the past two decades. Eating disorders are a growing problem due to society’s obsession with thinness and impact over 20 million women. They can have a drastic impact on one’s health, including consequences such as bone loss, kidney damage, and an abnormally slow heart rate (“Getting the Facts on Eating Disorders”). Furthermore, NEDA states that “females with anorexia between ages 15-24 are 12 times more likely to die from the illness than all other causes of death” (“The War on Women’s Bodies”). Therefore, with eating disorders having such dire consequences and drastically impacting young females, it is imperative that this topic is further researched in order to better understand and control the problem.…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Ellen has aleast five of the following symptoms: 1. Ellen has not been able to forget about being depressed and obessing about thoughts of suicide. She has a depressing mood most of the day, nearly every day for over a month. She tries to disguise her thoughts with work even though she feels overwhelmed. She recently lost her mom and then found out her boyfriend was cheating on her with a student.…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    What is sociological imagination? From C.Wright Mills Sociological imagination is the realization that personal troubles are rooted from public issues. The distinction between personal and public issues is that a personal problem refers to problems that individuals blame on themselves due to own failings. While public issues are social problems that affect several individuals.…

    • 1846 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eating Disorder Abdul-Aziz Al-Adsani Psychology 101 Emily LaFrance February 5, 2018 Eating Disorder…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Eating disorders cause a detrimental impact on those effected, however, they have become a wide spread phenomenon in modern society, especially among females because of an exaggerated focus on body image. Media has shaped a society in which an eating disorder can easily be developed due to the obsession with being skinny and how access to this information has become so easily distributed. The consumption of media has become highly prevalent in society due to the continuing developments of modern technology. In turn, media has become more accessible than ever, causing certain negative factors to arise, such as an unhealthy mentality concerning body image. Main stream, American media, in particular, is riddled with the over repetition and commonplace image of a thin woman which causes the circulation of the belief that a woman must be skinny to be considered attractive.…

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The nature vs nurture debate is one of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology. It is the study of what particular aspects of human behavior are influenced from external factors from exposure and experience (McLeod, 2015). Nature is often defined as being shaped by genetics and biology, while nurture is described as the environmental influences. For the purpose of this paper, the topic of eating disorder will be specifically examined to see whether particular aspects of behavior are genetic or acquired. Eating disorders are described as an illness characterized by irregular eating habits and serious distress about body weight or shape (eating disorders, 2015).…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    While they occur around the world across all ethnic and socioeconomic groups, eating disorders are more common in industrialized nations and in urban areas of the world. This is due of course to our culture that places a high value on thinness. TV, movies, magazines, pretty much all of our media, gives the message that being thin matters. For example, one study found Canadian children in grades three and four said they would rather lose a parent, get cancer, or live through nuclear war than be fat. Because of all of this, people with eating disorders may see getting thin as the key to success and happiness.…

    • 2030 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eating disorders and the causes behind them is my wicked problem because 8 million people in the United States are effected by eating disorder, which is approximately three percent of the population (“Anred: Eating disorders statistics,” n.d.). I will trace this problem through the eyes of psychologists and sociologists through peer reviewed articles based on research of eating disorders in these two fields. I will evaluate where the causes of eating disorders through societal factors such as family upbringings and media influence. As a psychologist, I would look at the individual factors in order to understand how eating disorders come about and why people are more prone to them than others. My research would allow me to address the importance…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eating Disorders Modern day eating disorders in Western culture are not solely to be blamed on the “ideal image” that the media creates, however, such an image can still be incredibly harmful to those even those not predisposed to the disorders. Mainstream cultures as well as subcultures can all glorify thinness. Religious cultures such as the Mennonites and Amish community have patriarchal eating orders, by the time the young women eat, little food may be left and the amount of time to eat the food that they are given. The “perfect body” may be idealized in different cultures, and may look different for different cultures, however it is usually unattainable and could be harmful to try to attain. Although religion is not a concrete reason…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I feel that eating disorders are one of the important research to do for adolescent teens. This is an area which continued studies are vital to the health and welfare of adolescents, being this is a time that shapes their dietary habits in the future as adults. It is also a time that bodies are growing and need to consume adequate calories, and more if playing sports. Teens also need to eat the right type of foods to fuel their bodies with vitamins and nutrients that are essential for proper growth. However, due to the many social pressures in the world today, many teens, both male and female, feel the pressure to conform to the ideal body image as seen on models and in fashion magazines.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Perfection is a disease of nation. Society praises thinness even as Americans obesity rate grows. At some point in life people will worry about their weight, some more than others. Eating disorders do not discriminate: men and women, all economic classes, young and old are affected. The National Institute of Mental Health says eating disorders primarily affect girls and women.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eating disorders bring significant psychological and physiological harm to individuals who suffer from the disorder. Eating psychopathology is defined by distinctive disruptions in eating habits and weight-regulation behaviour, (Fairburn, C. G., & Harrison, P. J., 2003). This particular form of psychopathology, although a general term, manifests itself through several characteristics. From anorexia nervosa, characterized by excessive pursuits of weight loss and selective food restriction, to bulimia nervosa, characterized by recurrent binge eating and frequent episodes of self-induced vomiting (Fairburn & Harrison, 2003). Both types of eating disorders display psychopathology that involves a multifactorial system of biological, familial, and social variables.…

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When I say the words eating disorders what comes to mind when you here those two words? I always think about girls who try to starve themselves to make themselves look like a celebrity or one of their role models. But the real definition of what an eating disorder is “any of a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits (such as anorexia nervosa). ” We were asked to choose a social problem or topic that interests us and I chose how the media influences eating disorders and the way we look at ourselves. The population that I am seeking to assist would have to be mainly women because women tend to view themselves less then they truly are.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many may think eating disorders are not a problem, or many may think that we should look beyond eating disorders. They are a problem of our time and could be for a long time. In fact, “In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or an eating disorder not otherwise specified” (Wade, Keski-Rahkonen, & Hudson, 2011). It is a huge issue as to what causes these eating disorders or why people just won’t stop. The causes are one of the most important steps as to getting starting to one of these eating habits, and this bad habits can lead to a devastating outcome on one’s body.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays