What is beauty? It is said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. What if the beholder's perception is warped? Anorexics have an intense fear of being or becoming fat. Though their bodies may be emaciated, when they look into the mirror they either see a fat person, or a person who needs the fat trimmed from specific areas of their bodies.
With anorexia, because of this condition, the anorexic cannot judge when weight loss becomes dangerous. Professional help is necessary to intervene and break the cycle.
Red Flags for Anorexia Nervosa
Some of the markers for this condition include the following:
- Significant weight loss not related to any medical condition;
- Destructive language regarding one's physical appearance despite significant weight loss;
- Obsession with food and relative subject matter;
- Chronic eating patterns/rituals;
- Though starving, refusal to accept the body's hunger messages;
- Intense motivation to pursue strict exercise regimens;
- Gradual withdrawing, socially;
- Mood swings;
- Trouble focusing, concentrating; and
- Physical problems (lack of strength, fainting spells).
America's Obsession with the Perfect Body
The definition of beauty according to Merriam-Webster: "...the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or the spirit...."(beauty. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).
Daily broadcasting bombards the public with images of perfect bodies. Soap operas and programs portray thin, sexy women in important roles. Most commercials present thin, sexy women, or handsome, sexy men to persuade the public to buy their products--cure the imperfections. What's the message behind the glitz? A man or woman, or teenager cannot be beautiful/successful unless he or she looks thin and svelte, unless he or she uses this or that product. Consumers, especially the younger ones, buy into the sales pitches of the media.
It is no wonder over 80% of women in America dislike, if not even hate their bodies. Psychologically, emotionally, the ground is fertile for budding eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating.
The media and related economics (fashion industry) feed off, if not encourage the pursuit of a thin physique. Tell the public they are imperfect through pictures and ad campaigns. Continually, visually, reinforce the perfect ideal. Would it not logically follow that, as a culture, the American populace has bought into the facade?
Anyone, casually people-watching, sees all shapes and sizes. Clearly, the media has a perception problem.
Beauty Deeper than Skin or Body Level
What ever happened to internal beauty? The media would have the public believe it doesn't exist. Where are the commercials exalting positive self-esteem, or, positive self-affirmations regardless of body size?
Marylin Monroe, considered a beauty of the 1950's, would today be considered overweight and probably undesirable as a celebrity because of her extra pounds (no bones visible). She wore a size 14.
"...With all the freedom and prosperity we enjoy women still remain prisoners. "Prisoners", you ask, what do you mean? Women are enslaved to a beauty myth, chained to the false belief that our value is based on our appearance alone." (Christine Hartline, M.A.,"Dying to Fit In-Literally! Learning to Love Our Bodies and Ourselves," no date, website at, "myth" link).
Source
V.L. Cameron, Timothy Walsh, M.D., If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, Oxford University Press, Inc., 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, 2005, pgs. 8-15.
Note to the reader: The information presented is not intended to treat or diagnose a condition.
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