Measuring...

Being thin is emphasized in our American culture.  Social media bombards the citizens with images of individuals who are thin and our culture tells us that this thinness is beautiful.  The size of someone’s waist becomes a major determining factor on whether society views that person as beautiful or not.  These images convince people that they need to look this way in order to be accepted and people start striving for this “beauty” in any means necessary.  Starvation, purging, and over exercising become a way to obtain this image.  This mentality causes a stereotype against those who are thin.  Being naturally thin can be a curse because people automatically assume that if you are thin then you must be starving yourself.  Dr. Jennifer Trunzo brought up the argument that fat genes and skinny genes actually exist and that these genes are switched on in part due to environmental factors.  When faced with starvation, like anorexia, the fat gene may switch in order to prevent death and when this occurs in the situation of an eating disorder this can be dangerous.  The people suffering of anorexia are desiring to become thin and beautiful and when weight is gained drastic measures to lose weight may be taken.

Many myths and stereotypes surround eating disorders.  Growing up I was taught that women were the ones that had eating disorders.  The thought that a man could also suffer from a disorder had never crossed my mind because our society’s image of beauty is focused primarily on women.  When I took wellness my freshman year of college, my textbook Fitness and Wellness by Werner Hoeger and Sharon Hoegar stated that “eating disorders are not limited to women.  Every 1 in 10 cases exist in men” (Hoeger 146).  This shows that the myth stating that only women have eating disorders is incorrect.  It is important to realize that there is an effect on men because the signs are typically ignored.  There is also a stereotype that eating disorders are found only in middle class white women.  Growing up in a middle class white family, I was never told that I needed to watch how I ate.  There is one situation that strongly sits at the front of my mind when someone brings up eating disorders.  In middle school and high school, I had a Hispanic friend that was constantly told by her family that she needed to watch her weight or no one would find her beautiful.  In “Not Just ‘a White Girl’s Thing’” by Susan Bordo, Bordo argues that family dynamics influence eating disorders (Bordo 470).  My friend was not white yet she struggled with weight issues due to certain dynamics in her family.  In “Not Just ‘a White Girl’s Thing’”, Bordo describes a young Japanese female named Jun Sasaki who developed an eating disorder after a friend commented on Jun looking pregnant even though Jun was already thin (Bordo 46).  There is a stereotype towards eating disorders developing in those individuals who are either average weight or larger.  Jun’s story not only disagrees with the fact that eating disorders are for white girls along with contradicting that naturally thin women do not develop eating issues. 

It’s important to note when facts challenge stereotypes.  Stereotypes limit peoples’ understanding of situations and in the absence of these myths issues can be properly mended instead of being pushed aside.