Informative Speech On Eating Disorders

Body image encompasses how we perceive our bodies, how we feel about our physical experience as well as how we think and talk about our bodies, our sense of how other people view our bodies, our sense of our bodies in physical space, and our level of connectedness to our bodies. Over the past three decades, while America has gotten heavier, the "ideal woman" presented in the media has become thinner. Teenagers are the heaviest users of mass media, and American women are taught at a young age to take desperate measures in the form of extreme dieting to control their

In America today, there are unrealistic beauty standards women must face daily. When women can not meet this idea of perfection pushed by society, some women will risk their health just to fit a cultural stigma. Women are held to an insanely high criterion when it comes to beauty which tends to lead to negative body image. Ten percent of women in The United States of America report symptoms consistent with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Which concludes that a total of 75 percent of all American women endorse some unhealthy thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to food or their body image-UNC Medical Department Although eating disorders are not subjective to women only, after reading “Beating Anorexia and Gaining Feminism” Marni Grossman and “Feminism and Anorexia: A Complex Alliance” Su Holmes, I will discuss how eating disorders coexist in the lives of women who struggle with body image, and what feminism can do to give these women a second chance.

“Twenty million women and ten million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life”(What are Eating Disorders, 2016). What can cause a person to develop an eating disorder? The type of significant amount of eating would include bulimia nervosa, or binge-eating disorder. There are other eating disorders that cause dramatic weight loss such as anorexia nervosa. “According to the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action, the risk of developing an eating disorder is from fifty to eighty percent determined by genetics” (Parks 46). Thirty percent of people develop an eating disorder through a traumatic incident such as rape or abuse. There can be other causes to developing an eating disorder. This can be biological factors, sociological factors, and psychological and emotional health. Biological factors can include a person’s brain chemistry, age, gender and genetics; the genes passed on from one or both parents. Adolescents and females are most

Today’s society is a consumers’ society in which trying to obtain perfection is one of the fastest selling businesses (DeLaMater Pg. 12). Mass media, advertising, and fashion industries are being accused of feeding off females dissatisfaction with their bodies by portraying unhealthy thin role models in order to sell their products. This unachievable physique and lifestyle has led today’s adolescence down a dark path of such extreme eating disorders as anorexia and bulimia. Although it may sound nice to be societies perception of thin, there are consequences to these eating disorders such as cardiac failure that lead to horrifying defects or even death.

Eating disorder is a term used to describe several psychological disorders characterized by abnormal eating habits. Some of the most common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is probably the most well-known of these. A person suffering from anorexia nervosa will obsess over weight gain and show unusual anxiety related to weight gain. Depending upon the type (binge-eating/purging type or restricting type) a person will either consume food and then attempt to “purge”, a term used to describe a method of forced removal of food from the body such as self-induced vomiting, or they will restrict the amount of food consumed. In most cases the person will be under healthy weight and often see themselves as average weight or even overweight. In bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders the affected person will eat excessive amounts of food. People suffering from these diseases report feeling out of control during their binge eating episodes. In bulimia nervosa binge eating episodes are followed by some method of purging whereas in binge eating disorder they are not, although the person normally expresses feelings of guilt or embarrassment afterwards. People suffering from bulimia nervosa are usually average weight which can make detection difficult. Those with binge eating disorder are normally

Promotion by the media of the extraordinarily thin body types has been linked to the steady rise of eating disorders, especially among adolescents (Ballaro & Wagner, 2017). Experts believe that there are more than ten million females suffering from some sort of eating disorder and that the problems are happening in patients of younger and younger ages. The gap between the average woman’s body and the ideal body is much larger than before (Spitzer, Henderson, & Zivian, 1999). Ninety four percent of characters in the United States media, are thinner than the average woman (Gonzalez-Lavin & Smolak, 1995). The average American woman is only 5’4” tall and weighs approximately 165 pounds (Martin 2010). The media depicts happiness, wealth and success associated to unrealistic body types (Tiggemann, 2002). Not only does the media display this image, it also exhaustively provides information to encourage achievement of it as well. Whether through dieting, exercise or mild to extreme cosmetic surgery for body sculpting, women are feeling the pressure that they need to be thin and often take even the most dangerous methods to obtain this. Considering that these delusional ideals are nearly impossible for most average women, without choosing unhealthy and harmful behaviors, eating disorder theorists have proclaimed that media is supporting these habits (Levine & Smolak, 1998). It is estimated that 10-15% of girls and women between the ages of 9 and 19 are affected by eating disorders. Though the death rates vary from different studies, one thing is for sure; eating disorders can have many health risks, including death. With the unrealistic ability to achieve the super thin body image many women are still turning to these harmful methods in order to try; thus resulting in death of someone every 62 minutes as a result (Eating Disorders Coalition,

In longing to reach the norm many people fall victim to these detrimental illnesses. Sadly, women are more subject to these eating disorders than men, the number of men suffering from eating disorders is on the rise. Our culture puts pressure on each of its inhabitants to attain this ideal body type that is unrealistic for most people. The images that pollute television and magazines make us all feel inadequate if we don't meet the credentials of slenderness; therefore, continuing the role of our society in the development of eating disorders.

Bulimia Nervosa refers to when an individual over-eats excessively and then takes action to purge the body of the intake. There are five criteria for Bulimia Nervosa in the DSM-IV, which include: recurring episodes of binge eating, recurring actions of purging, the patterns must continue at least twice a week for three months or more, a huge emphasis on body weight in self-evaluation, and the actions must occur apart

Some common eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is an emotional disorder that is characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight; and ways of achieving this is the refusal to eat. Bulimia is when one performs extreme overeating that is followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, or fasting; it is an eating disorder in which a large amount of food is consumed in a short period of time, and then the person attributes feelings of guilt or shame, leading to the induction of vomit. Both of these disorders are caused by anxiety disorders, whether it be “OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), social phobia, specific phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder in childhood, before they developed an

From minor problems to very major issues, eating disorders have a wide range of physical consequences. When a person first develops a disorder such as anorexia nervosa, the side effects can be as small as a tingling in the hands and feet, loss of appetite, and dizzy spells. As an anorexic person falls deeper into the disorder, the effects become worse. People suffering from anorexia often have lack of energy, paling of the skin,

“Michelle M. Lelwica author of The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers Behind Women’s Obsession with Food and Weight declared that ‘Thinness is worshipped in American culture. Unrealistic body images are promoted in the media and entertainment resulting in greater numbers of women and men who feel ‘too fat’ and suffer from eating disorders’” (Shell 1). Eating disorders are characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Eating disorders have several causes including behavioral, psychological, and social factors, and they frequently appear during adolescence or early adulthood, but it may also develop earlier or later in life. In today’s culture media has a more powerful presence than ever before; this causes the individual to be constantly bombarded by what the media portrays as a “good” body. The mass communication transmits both positive and negative messages about body image to the public. The general public unaware of what a positive or negative body image can do in mental and physical health end up trying to meet those unrealistic standards, thus, so inducing harmful lifestyles. Eating disorders can be caused by sociocultural incitements such as unrealistic standards, set by society and culture, and lack of knowledge about positive and negative body image, but regulations and education must be established to help reduce the problems.

Eating disorders have become and extreme issue among women. However, the ignorance to this subjects’ prevalence is common and it is essential that this is compressed immediately. The impact eating disorders currently holds on society is monumental and is defining the current image of beauty. Definitions of beauty have fluctuated extremely throughout time and the unhealthy processes women have put themselves through in order to conform to societies current definition of beauty has remained consistent. From the corset to extremely high heels to severe thinness, achieving the ideal image of beauty is regularly detrimental to woman’s health. Fashion models continue to struggle with eating disorders due to the fashion industry building a pedestal

Our culture has portrayed the “thin ideal” in every avenue of the media such as; magazines, social media, movies, and commercials. In the past 70 years, the number of all eating disorders incidences have dramatically increased. For example, bulimia cases have tripled since 1988 from ages 10 to 39 (Grabe et al 462). Body dissatisfaction and low self- esteem has put

People need to be informed on the issue that unrealistic beauty standards, set by the society, are harmful. These standards cause a “schema that combines three fundamental components: the idealization of slenderness, an irrational fear of fat, and a belief that weight is a central determinant of one’s identity” (Lintott 67). Our society promotes a specific body image as being attractive: being thin. It is represented throughout mass media, both in the physical and online worlds. The media exposes individuals, especially women, to impractical body types. Today, negative body image encourages women to engage in disordered eating behaviors to fit an impractical standard of beauty. In fact, according to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), 20 million females will “suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life” (Lintott 68). We contribute so much time striving to look like what society wants us to resemble. Some individuals believe that this thin ideal is the norm and that the media is not causing any harm. But, this thin ideal is detrimental. It is the main reason for the increase in the development and encouragement in eating disorders, body dissatisfaction in women and a rise in the number of pro-anorexia websites.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association the media has a major influence on what a woman’s body should look like. Every print and television advertisement suggests that the ideal body is extremely thin. However, most women cannot achieve having a super-thin body that the media favors. The resulting failure leads to negative feelings about one’s self and can begin a downward spiral toward an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association).