issue 4

In our culture today, Do to media  slim is thought to be highly desirable. In young girls especially the thought develops that to be thin is to be beautiful and to be beautiful, is to be popular, and to be popular is to have a happy life. This probably comes from culture role models such as fashion models, beauty queens, and movie stars where skinny equals success. The number of increasing victims is found to come from a certain group with many factors leaving people susceptible to this disease. Anorexia is more common among professions that stress thinness such as models, dancers, and gymnasts. Another aspect the majority of anorexics have in common is that they come from wealthy, Caucasian families. 50% of Anorexics have a history of sexual abuse, thus sending their self confidence to all time lows. Females ages 15-19 make up 40% of all anorexics, with females in general making up 90% (WebMD). From cultural pressures and the universal desire to be thin, more and more people are putting themselves at risk for horrors they are ignorant of. According to the New York Times health guide article Anorexia Nervosa found at http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/anorexia-nervosa/causes.html, “On the one hand, advertisers heavily market weight-reduction programs and present anorexic young models as the paradigm of sexual desirability”. I proposed a solution to this crisis involving educational involvement and better images of body portrayal having the media play a huge role on the way women look at themselves  plays a huge role on why people may become Anorexics.