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 beautiful. Seeing all the beautiful and thin women in the media and society, they may feel insecure about their appearance. Therefore, they try to do everything possible to acquire that look. The methods they use to try to achieve this are self-starvation, known as anorexia, or induced vomiting, known as bulimia. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are just two of the eating disorders that often arise from the incessant desire to be thin and "beautiful." Eating disorders like these also occur among men. However, it is less common. “The standards for males are simply not as extreme or as hostile to normal body size as the standards are for females” (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 8). It is not only the biological aspect, however, that causes this to occur more often in women. Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley argue Even on a practical level, women's self-image, their social and economic success, and even their survival may still be determined largely by their beauty and the men it affords them. attract, while for men these are largely based 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 their desire for social acceptance and success. Women try to meet an unreasonable weight standard because fashion demands it. Men are encouraged to be strong and powerful. As they work to build their power in the gym and at work, they associate "skinny" with "thin" and "weak." Even though models often look fragile (which men hate in itself), female thinness is not classified as "skinny". Instead it is popular and defined as glamorous and sexy. This perhaps helps explain why only 5-10% of people with eating disorders are male. Anorexia nervosa is the constant search for thinness. A person suffering from this eating disorder refuses to maintain a normal body weight for his or her 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 terrified of gaining weight and gaining weight, even if he/she is significantly underweight. Young girls do not start menstruating at the appropriate age, and in women, menstrual periods stop. In men, sex hormones decrease. Additionally, depression, irritability, withdrawal, and peculiar behaviors such as strange eating habits are often included in anorexia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa is the diet-binge-purge disorder. A person with this eating disorder eats uncontrollably and feels out of control while eating. Vomits, abuses laxatives, exercises, or fasts to eliminate calories. The diet is done when you don't binge, but then the subject gets hungry and binge again. He believes that self-esteem requires being thin. Their weight may be normal, unless anorexia is also present. Like anorexia, bulimia can kill. Bulimics act cheerful but are often depressed, lonely, ashamed and empty inside. Additionally, due to feelings of unworthiness and difficulty talking about feelings, anxiety, depression, insecurity, and deeply buried anger are almost always present. There are many other eating disorders, but anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common. What causes eating disorders? There is no simple answer as to why they behave this way on their own. One factor is biological. The researchsuggests that abnormal levels of chemicals in the brain incline some people to anxiety, perfectionism, and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors. These people are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others. 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 thinner weighs sixty-eight kilos in a hospital bed on life support” (Anorexia Nervosa ). Some people with eating disorders use them to try to take 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 external appearance. Additionally, they are often righteously angry and don't know how to express their anger in a healthy way. They turn it against themselves by starving or gorging themselves. Family may be a factor. Parents who overvalue physical appearance may unintentionally contribute to an eating disorder. On the other hand, the same goes for those who express critical, even joking, comments about their children's bodies. These families tend to be overprotective, rigid, and ineffective at resolving conflicts. There are often high expectations for achievement and success that they feel they must meet. Children try to solve their problems by controlling their weight and food. 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 viewers are told, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly by the actors and models chosen for viewing, 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, these days, have been urged to be thin as is currently fashionable. Triggers are other factors that can cause eating disorders. If people are vulnerable to eating disorders, sometimes all it takes to trigger them is a trigger event they don't know how to handle. A trigger could be something as harmless as teasing or as devastating as rape or incest. Triggers often occur at times of transition where increased demands are made on people who are already unsure of their ability to meet expectations. Diet is probably the most common cause of eating disorders. "It's a bit simplistic, but still true, to say that if there were no diet, there wouldn't be anorexia nervosa. Nor would there be the bulimia that is created when you go on a diet..." (Anorexia Nervosa ). We live in a culture where it's normal to feel like we should be thinner, prettier, firmer, and overall better. “We devote our time, our energy, and our obsessive attention—in short, our lives—to trying to “fix” our bodies and make them “right” (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 152). Our troubled relationship with our bodies turns into our problematic relationship with ourselves and is the cause of the onset of eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. The relationship between self and body not only supports women's disordered eating, but is also the foundation of their identity a problem that contains the union of mind, body and culture. The beginning of the treatment of eating disorders is to address the negative body image that!