The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

What are eating disorders? Are eating disorders a reality for cheerleaders? Is cheerleading a sport that causes females to develop eating disorders? Ron Thompson explains in his book Eating Disorders in Sport that, “Eating disorders are not simply disorders of eating. Also, they are not simply a misguided attempt to be thin; nor are they simply a sport participant’s means to reduce body weight or body fat in an effort to enhance sport performance. They are mental disorders that manifest themselves in a variety of eating and weight-related signs and symptoms” (7-8). I believe that eating disorders are a true and tough reality for cheerleaders especially females. Cheerleading is known as an aesthetic sport, such sport has a higher risk factor to develop eating disorders. Cheerleaders are judged for appearance and wear revealing clothing causing them to

1,445 student athletes from multiple different Division 1 schools participated in order to see the prevalence of eating disorders in a variety of different sports. The student athletes were asked questions about their athletic involvement, eating behaviors, drug and alcohol behavior and attitudes about their body image. The first set of results showed that 16.19% of females and 12.57% of males binge ate monthly (Powers, 1996). 81% of females reported feeling out of control of eating while only 45% of males reported feeling out of control. 23.9% of females reported vomiting as a form of purging but only 5.93% of males reported vomiting. When it came to diet pills, 14.30% of women reported usage while 2.16% of males reported usage. Although males’ results were always smaller than women, they are still at rise and suffering from eating disorders. With this study it is obvious that all athletes experience demands that push them to turn to abnormal and dangerous eating patterns.

Obesity has become an epidemic across the United States. Americans have continued to gain weight, increasing the amount of people that are considered obese by millions every few years. More and more experts have come to a consensus: weight needs to be addressed and changed in America. Many experts, however, have not found a way to completely solve this problem at large. In the article, “Rethinking Weight”, senior writer Amanda Spake directs attention to the barriers our society has built for obesity treatment. Through this attention, it becomes evident these barriers have developed from the changing ideals in our society. Roberta Seid, a lecturer at the University of Southern California, argues in “Too “Close to the Bone”: The Historical Context for Women’s Obsession with Slenderness” how our body ideals have changed the way our society views obesity. Both authors emphasize the problem our society faces with obesity becoming an epidemic, and how that needs to be changed so our society can live happier and healthier lives. Although both authors are achieving the same point, Spake concludes that obesity has stemmed from pharmaceutical problems and biological factors, while Seid holds that obesity has come from the changing fashion and body ideals in our society. By reading both articles in conjunction, it becomes clear that the root of this problem is our societal issues, obesity has become an epidemic because of the way our society neglects obesity from all aspects.

Numerous studies have shown that athletes are more prone to developing eating disorders than nonathletes, as well as female athletes being more at risk than their male counterparts. Disordered eating is seen in athletes of all sports. (Johnson, 1994). The prevalence of eating disorders in the female athletic population ranges from anywhere between one and forty percent, depending on the athletes questioned, and the methodology used (Sundgot-Borgen, 1994). Rosen and Hough (1988) found that 32 percent of athletes practiced at least one pathogenic weight-control technique(141). A study done by Sundgot-Borgen, in 1994, controlled for the possibility that self-report data could be unreliable in numerous ways, including not informing coaches of their intentions, and assuring 100 percent confidentiality to the athletes who participated. It found that the risk for eating disorders is increased if an athlete's dieting is unsupervised, if there is an early start to sport-specific training, and/or extreme exercise (Sundgot-Borgen, 418).

Without a question, it is not fair that overweight people go through their entire lives being criticized and taunted for their weight. Worley explains how rude comments discourage fat people from exercising because they are embarrassed and “they don’t have the support they need to continue” (494). It is the stares and snide remarks that give overweight people low self-esteem. Worley justly states that “you’re entitled to the space you take up” (496). No person should feel like they need to hide away from the world.

Eating disorders have been a topic of controversy for numerous years. I myself have struggled with an eating disorder for three years, not only as an individual but as an athlete. Being a competitive cheerleader for fourteen years has opened my eyes to many different experiences and primarily developing an eating disorder. The last three years, I was apart of one of the most prestigious all-star cheerleading teams in the world. My team was known for winning numerous national championship titles and four world championship titles. My team was raised on a pedestal by other coaches, teams, athletes, and judges; therefore, my teammates and I were expected to reach a certain expectation. I am known as a flyer, the one who gets thrown in the air,

In the American culture, obesity is seen as a bodily abnormality and deviance that should be corrected. Obesity has indeed become one of the most stigmatizing bodily characteristics in our culture (Brink, 1994). In the Western culture, thinness does not just mean the size of the

After viewing the video “Dying to be Thin” and reading the articles on eating disorders, I felt as though my knowledge was broadened on this topic. Because I plan to work with adolescents, this awareness is crucial to my future career. Some of the statistics that the video shared were alarming; 8 million people suffer from eating disorders, with majority being women. The video shared that 80% of women are unhappy or not satisfied with their body. Eating disorders also hold the highest death rate of any psychiatric illness, with anorexia nervosa being the deadliest. The video also gave me insight as to what professional athletes and dancers experience, as well as valuable feedback from survivors.

In the article “Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance” author Mary Ray Worley, a member of the NAAFA, begins her commentary by shedding light on how society views overweight people. She states that in our society fatness signals self-contempt and lack of resolve, and that a multitude of people never consider another alternative way of thinking (Worley 163). She also explains that overweight people are often weary of going to the doctor because doctors are the most prejudice people out there; treating ones weight problem before treating their cough (165). Worley recalls when she attended the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (163). While at the convention, Worley witnessed multiple overweight people buying fashionable clothes that they cannot find at regular stores, and having fun trying things that they had not been able to attempt anywhere else because of their weight.

For somebody who does not have sociological creative energy being overweight is the consequence of awful individual decisions or hereditary inclination. Being overweight may have been the aftereffect of past individual battles that were brought about by wrong individual basic leadership or conduct. Weight's impact in the public arena can find in the quantity of long lasting and conceivably life-debilitating infections and conditions, similar to hypertension, coronary illness, and diabetes. Likewise the effect on stoutness that is connected to maladies that add to early passing. A sociological creative ability may accuse these to people in general strategies that add to the issue fast food restaurant that serve cheap and simple get to sustenances

Background on Obesity informs readers that, “high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and its complications, coronary heart disease,stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and respiratory problems, as well as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancers” are all health hazards that are capable of developing if an overweight individuals does not take care of themselves. A Day in the Life of an Obese Person explains that everyday tasks became very hard for him to do when he weighed at 344 pounds because he was “carrying around a recliner with me everywhere” (Shawn). That caused him to develop a “horrific hunchback.” This supports the idea of physical damage as the gravity of the extra fat on an obese individual pulls down on their spin causing it to bend and not being able to fix it because of the lack of shedding the excess weight. However, it is no surprise that obesity comes with health hazards, but what most of the human population that is not obese does not see is that it can affect a person’s mental health as well. Background of Obesity states “Obesity isn’t just an epidemic hazardous to our health it also has a lot of mental, emotional, and social repercussions associated with it.” When a person becomes obese the outside world begins to look at them differently because

In this day and age, Americans seem to put much emphasis upon physical appearance, which of course includes weight. There is a term known as “lookism” that is defined as the type of discrimination that can occur based upon a person’s weight. Simply based upon an outward appearance, these individuals have faced issues psychologically and physically as a result. Society has a tendency to shun and mock those who do not fit within the realms of what is considered to be acceptable in terms of appearance. Common stigmas associated with this group are that they are lazy, unhealthy, sloppy, gluttonous, unkempt, and weak.

It is funny how so many girls and women today are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and be beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. Women are dieting more today then they have ever been before. They are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's women. It gets worse. Not only are women dieting unlike ever before, but they will ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve these inaccessible standards. This ruthless harm that haunts so many women today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating

Even though there a numerous advertisements for high-calorie and unhealthy meals that cause obesity there is a stigma against obesity. When one searches for the word obesity onto google the first definition of the word is “the condition of being grossly fat or overweight.” In this definition degrades a person who suffers from obesity by describing them as “grossly”. The denotation of the word “grossly” in this definition means excessively however the connotation of the word can reduce it to mean something that is unacceptably as in this term unacceptable to society. Thus this definition implies that obese people are unfit in society. In western standards of beauty an ideal woman is thin and beautiful and the ideal man is fit and toned. Thus

Weight hysteria in our culture has mostly been created by groups and researchers with particular interests such as the diet and the pharmaceutical industries. This is because there has been a lot of perceived stereotypes about weight in the society. Most of the obese people are noted as unsuccessful, lazy and weak-willed. This belief about obese people is then translated into weight discrimination, negative attitude and physical assaults (Puhl and, Luedicke 2012).