For This Assignment the Social Problem I Have Chosen to Write About Is Eating Disorders

Section One:

For this assignment the social problem I have chosen to write about is eating disorders. My interest in this topic came about early on in my youth. Growing up I suffered from Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome (CVS). CVS was something that was unexplainable by many doctors and that is still simply diagnosed as such because it is the only effect that is primarily noticed. From the time I was four I would get sick once a week, vomiting four to five times each hour. This lasted until a couple years after I started menstruating and then just disappeared. When doctors heard of my behavior they automatically assumed that I was bulimic. However, I was four and I am sure that needing to throw up like that was not because I thought I was not skinny enough. Since the illness sounds very similar to bulimia I do have an interest in this particular topic; mostly because after suffering from continually vomiting for a different reason than from those people who suffer from bulimia, I wonder how my experience compares to theirs.

Section Two:

Eating disorders are becoming increasingly popular in the United States due to society’s overemphasis on appearance of the individual. This problem not only affects females but also males. “In the United States as many as ten million females and one million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Approximately twenty-five million more are struggling with binge eating disorder.” (Neda 2002). These numbers are only growing because of various reasons in our society. For two eating disorders in particular, anorexia and bulimia, the numbers are undoubtedly increasing as time goes on. “[There has been] a rise in incidence of anorexia in young women 15-19 in each decade since 1930. The incidence of bulimia in 10-39

1 year old women tripled between 1988 and 1993.” (Neda 2002). Eating disorders are an unnatural escape for people to take and are fueled by the mass media, family, and peer groups.

Mass Media:

For many people who suffer from eating disorders we find that the reason for such behavior is pressure the individual feels to live up to the expectation of physical appearance that the media creates. All around people there is a constant reminder of the desire to be thin, such as advertisements that support new dieting tips or looking at magazines of unnaturally thin models. “The average American woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds.

Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women.” (Neda 2002). The disparity between women in society and what is idealized in society is certainly a feeder to the problem of eating disorders. Women in society look to these models and begin searching for ways to become like these models that are extremely thin; often their search ends in developing an eating disorder. According to Charles Horton Cooley and his idea of the Looking Glass Self, we learn who we are by interacting with others. Many people compare themselves to models so they undoubtedly feel a lack of self-assurance. With the constant worry of not being able to live up to the ideal, these feelings will definitely impact how the individual perceives himself or herself when they interact with others, throughout the interaction the individual may feel unsure of themselves or worried how the other person perceives them, therefore creating a false sense of insufficiency in the individual. The media creates the wrong role model for many people and until this

2 changes we will continually see individuals who are unhappy with themselves because they can not attain society’s ideal.

Family:

The family is considered the primary group in socialization for most individuals with a few exceptions. It is the job of the primary group to make sure that the individual feels he or she has people to rely on, however in many cases, in which the individual has an eating disorder, the primary group has either failed to create a strong relationship with the individual or even has created problems for the individual to turn to eating disorders for. It is important for the family to live up to the expectations as the primary group and for the family to avoid dynamics that can cause an eating disorder. “[G]irls and women who diet severely are eighteen times more likely to develop an eating disorder than non- dieters. And children are at risk for dieting if they are surrounded by family members or friends who diet, […] dieting is the most common trigger for an eating disorder.” (Segal

2006). Just as George Herbert Mead and his Stages of Self shows how infants imitate people around them, that imitation does not altogether cease to exist in later years of the individual, parents and family members can still influence the individual even at later ages, so it is important for parents and family to avoid habits that can trigger an eating disorder.

Peer groups:

Peer groups are very important to the individual, and though the people in these groups may change as the individual grows older, peer groups are always capable of having a very strong influence on the individual. “[A]dolescent-developed Web sites that

3 promote anorexia and bulimia are increasingly prevalent. These pro–eating disorder (pro-

ED) sites are communities of individuals who engage in disordered eating and use the

Internet to discuss and reinforce their activities. […] [M]ost share similar content, including ‘thinspiration’ (images of thin and cachectic women), poetry, weight-loss advice, methods for avoiding detection by family and health care providers, forums, merchandise, and links to other, related sites.” (Hardy 2006: 1637). These types of websites can attract many adolescents and become a peer group for these individuals.

These websites can influence many people to either continue having an eating disorder and/or even persuade people to start developing an eating disorder. The existence of websites like these is troubling because supporting such abnormal behavior and eating habits is not healthy at all.

Relating this issue to Differential Association, which says that deviance, is learned in groups and that exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts leads to a violation of the rules. These websites are an example of how eating disorders (which are not necessarily a crime but a negative habit nonetheless) are learned by groups of individuals through blogs on websites and that the exposure to these websites, creates or leads to eating disorders in individuals. So, in order to stop these individuals from continuing their dysfunctional eating patterns and to stop individuals from developing an eating disorder they must not participate in the activities that are described in the websites. To stop people from having an eating disorder we must keep them away from people who already have eating disorders and who promote these behaviors.

Section three:

4 In order to stop an increase in the number of eating disorders and to take away the desire to have an eating disorder the media should no longer idealize unrealistic representations of women and in some cases men. Family members should realize their importance as an individual’s primary group and stay away from having family dynamics that can cause eating disorders. Peer groups such as the one mentioned above should definitely be taken away from an individual’s life so that they no longer associate their habits with other individuals and so any previous appeal in eating disorders is lost to the individual.

I think that eating disorders are a sad escape from problems an individual may have and this needs to be changed since eating disorders are a problem themselves. I think the main solution to solving eating disorders is to change what the media idealizes for individuals. If people see more realistic people on fashion magazines and fashion runways they are probably going to be more satisfied with themselves and they won’t feel the need to change. While writing this paper I was stunned at the amount of people who suffered from eating disorders, I had no idea ten million women are unhappy with the way they look and therefore resort to unhealthy habits. Reading about the lifestyle of people who suffer from eating disorders really saddened me because these people think that what they are doing is actually good for them or that it will make them happy. The most practical way I can apply what I have learned from this paper is in parenting. I will be sure to try to maintain healthy family dynamics that in no way support eating disorders, because as this paper shows eating disorders are in no way healthy and do not serve as a solution to any type of problem.