If it seems that eating disorders are confusing, just think for a moment about the confusing messages we receive about food. Meals are supersized, physical activity is restricted for personal safety, and people are criticized for obesity. We tell little kids to eat less, but worry if teens aren't eating enough. Babies are "good" if they eat the whole jar, but when they're older they're teased for being chubby. Studies have shown that overweight people face discrimination in school and at work, but that people in general are growing more and more overweight in the early 21st century.
The pressure to be slim is especially strong among teens, who tend to judge by appearances first. In junior high and high school, the pressure to look good translates into wanting to be the "right" shape and fit into the "right" clothes. This can be tough, when everyone is built differently and teen bodies are changing so fast. Since young people who are vulnerable to eating disorders tend to be lonely and isolated, they may be willing to adapt their appearance to fit in with a group of peers.
Triggers. For those already vulnerable to eating disorders, it may take just a small push to set off the disorder - and pressure to fit in with peers is a lot more than a small push. A trigger can be any kind of event a person doesn't know how to handle - from something as "minor" as being teased to something as major as assault or family death. A trigger can be something that sets off feelings buried in the past: A coach's criticism may make you feel the way you did when your dad made fun of you; a friend's departure may make you feel the way you did when your childhood pet ran away. Or a trigger can be an event that places new and unexpected demands on you - the loss of a family job, or the departure of an older sibling, or just starting a higher grade at school.
Have you ever been in a situation where you feel inadequate, and look around you at others who seem to be so together? That's a perfectly natural feeling for someone in a new situation who feels a need for support. Now extend that feeling, and look around you at all the messages and demands you get from the media that surround us and permeate our lives.
Media as trigger. Many experts feel that the media - TV, the Internet, magazines, blogs - have a major influence on eating disorders. Think about it: Did you ever buy something you saw advertised on TV? Of course you have: Advertising and attractive images are designed to be triggers - triggers to buy, but also triggers to want to look like the attractive people in them. Whatever the specific causes of eating disorders, they all have to do with disordered perceptions of the body.
It would be hard to find anyone in modern America who thought she had a perfect body; who didn't compare herself unfavorably with models or actors. But for the vulnerable, a distorted body image is a key factor in triggering eating disorders. Advertisers heavily market weight-reduction programs and present skinny young models as the ideal. At the same time, advertising floods the public with attractive ads for foods, especially junk food.
Even when fashion is criticized for using too-thin models, clothes are designed and displayed for bodies that few real women could match. One study reported that teenagers who tried hard to look like celebrities were more likely to be constant dieters. The media's influence on eating disorders lies in the idealization of thin as perfection. Andrea believes her celebrity heroes are happy because they are thin. Living in our celebrity-mad culture, it's not surprising if teens especially feel they have to look a certain way to be happy or even healthy.
The media factor is growing as an influence. In the early 21st century, an average American child was seeing more than 30,000 TV commercials each year, as well as more than 21 hours of TV a week, plus dozens of magazines and many movies every year. In those media, happy and successful people are almost always portrayed by actors and models who are young, toned, and thin. Their makeup and hair are always perfect. More recently, all the forms of wireless media have created networks for information that are not verified facts - and for images that are easily just imaginary!
According to a 2007 survey, even so-called health-oriented magazines can contribute to the problem. Five years after reading magazine articles about dieting, teenage girls were more likely to control weight by fasting, vomiting, smoking cigarettes, or abusing laxatives than girls who never read such articles. There are even Web sites that promote eating disorders. Everywhere they look, boys and girls as young as six are affected by images of the "ideal" lean male or female. Some might eventually try to match those images by going on a diet.
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