So I was sitting in the post office thinking about this and figured it couldn't be too much worse than asking how gay sex was natural or saying the freemasons own us (but we'll see).

Anyways, we like to whine and bitch about eating disorders for young women and how our society focuses on beauty in the media. Interestingly enough though over half of adults are fatasses. Perhaps the contrast fuels the flame. "Oh noes I'll look like my parents/relatives in 20 years "

Do you think that if adults were slimmer, on average, that some of the image problems young girls had would be alleviated?

Upon looking at some statistics (the few I could find) it seems as though eating disorders percentages are relatively universal in industrialized nation...so why all the hate on hollywood if thats the case?

I just wanted something fresh to talk about.

11/7/2005 12:38:31 PM

I think if we had adequate health classes that taught kids how to not be fat asses in a healthy manner, there wouldn't be a problem. Like if they channeled their fat kid teenage angst into doing some situps or swimming or something, then they would be fine.

I don't think it's the anxiety about being a fatass that is the problem, it's the method you use for avoiding being a fatass. But then, if you couple that anxiety with laziness (ie can't put down the bag of cheetos and turn off the tv) then you're basically screwed.

[Edited on November 7, 2005 at 12:45 PM. Reason : I can't spell taught lol]

11/7/2005 12:44:50 PM

Anorexia is by and large a physiological disorder that, which perhaps helped along by images in the media, really has much more to do with a chemical predisposition to develop the disorder coupled with high levels of stress and trauma. Saying that images of skinny people (or fat people) in the media or in regular life contribute to anorexia is like saying sad songs contribute to clinical depression.

11/7/2005 12:54:37 PM

sad songs contribute to clinical depression

11/7/2005 1:01:36 PM

especially country songs

11/7/2005 1:04:50 PM

sad songs say so much

11/7/2005 1:20:19 PM

Anorexic girls often motivate themselves by collecting pictures of super-skinny models and actresses. These images come from the media's overwhelming depiction of thin women. It makes sense to place at least some blame on TV and movies.

for example, see this site

http://www.wasted.fabpage.com/photo.html

Quote :

"It will all be worth it if I can one day look like one of these lot.."

11/7/2005 1:35:26 PM

That is really more two symptoms of the same problem rather than one thing causing another.

I mean, let's say a schizophrenic collects pictures of yellow mailboxes because they're out to get him. It's got a lot more to do with the schizophrenic than the yellow mailboxes.


A lot of compulsive/obsessive behaviors can be caused by an acute overproduction of seratonin in the brain, and in some people it can come out as an eating disorder.

11/7/2005 2:04:47 PM

eating "disorders" are bullshit. humans are a product of their environment and society. until we had this fast food shit, the extreme need to make everything faster and cheaper we were doing fine. people not wanting to take responsibility for themselves and their children is the problem. parents need to tighten up and start raising their families like in the old days rather than have kids, divorcing, and making other people raise their kids.

get rid of the garbage food, spend time with your family, get the bullshit off of tv. you'll get rid of these so called disorders along with a lot of other problems

[Edited on November 7, 2005 at 2:11 PM. Reason : reword]

11/7/2005 2:09:11 PM

I agree that it is a lifestyle problem. Almost everything can be done fast and effortless now.

Just think about what we are doing when we work out everyday...

We are imitating/fabricating work in order to burn the calories that our ancestors would have burned just by living/surviving.

11/7/2005 2:16:01 PM

^^I will agree that parents should spend more time with their family. However, if this occurred, I think it would be at the parents' discretion as to what constitutes as "bullshit tv" and "garbage food." As an example (and I don't actually know this), you might think that meat and dairy products are evil, and wouldn't want your kids exposed to them. There are certainly people who would agree with you, but not everybody thinks that way, and some might even advocate the Atkin's diet. Or maybe you think that M rated shows should be completely banned from television. Again, some would agree with you, but some might trust their children enough to let them see that sort of material.

My point is, more of the responsibility should fall to the parent. You can't expect the rest of the community to ban junk food just because you don't want your child eating it. If you want your child to eat the "right" kinds of food, you need to take an active role in your child's life and encourage him/her to make the decisions that you think would be appropriate.

[Edited on November 7, 2005 at 2:21 PM. Reason : Cherokee]

11/7/2005 2:21:29 PM

very good point, and i do agree with that. for instance, i enjoy r rated movies, but i don't want them taken off of hbo because some parents are allowing their kids to watch them. and hell, who knows, some of those kids may be mature enough to watch them with no problems. i just wish there was a way that parents could be held more accountable

11/7/2005 2:42:58 PM

Quote :

"eating "disorders" are bullshit. humans are a product of their environment and society. until we had this fast food shit, the extreme need to make everything faster and cheaper we were doing fine. people not wanting to take responsibility for themselves and their children is the problem. parents need to tighten up and start raising their families like in the old days rather than have kids, divorcing, and making other people raise their kids."

I do agree that in part it is because of the unhealthy lifestyle choices we've made as a society, however, I think we've only further aggrevated the problem by setting the standards higher and more difficult to attain in what we consider "beauty". In particular, this ultra-skinny, stick-figure image of beauty that's most common right now is setting a rather unrealistic standard even for those who live relatively healthy lifestyles.

11/7/2005 2:50:49 PM

i don't agree. i don't think the bar is too high.

the only girls who really are too skinny (Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss, Hillary Duff, Calista Flockhart, etc) don't exactly get praised for it.

11/7/2005 3:12:33 PM

im gonna agree with duke on this one. there really arent that many deadly-skinny girls on ads or tv that are praised heavily for it. most are slim, but not unhealthy. plus you know its more psychological than anything else (mailbox theory) when they go WELL beyond what even the skinny actresses look like.

are we suggesting that eating disorders didnt occur up until the last few decades? cuz thats what it sounds like some of you are asserting. id be interested to see one way or the other.

11/7/2005 3:30:40 PM

Quote :

"A lot of compulsive/obsessive behaviors can be caused by an acute overproduction of seratonin in the brain, and in some people it can come out as an eating disorder."

Quote :

"plus you know its more psychological than anything else (mailbox theory) when they go WELL beyond what even the skinny actresses look like."

Eating disorders do not just come from inside. This is clear because these problems are FAR more common in women than men. I don't know the exact stats, but there must be at least ten women with anorexia for each man. There has to be an environmental trigger of some kind that affects women but not men.

Also remember that for many bulimics and some anorexics it is not obvious that they have a problem. Not all of them look like skeletons. The ones that do tend to get caught and sent to the hospital.

I will say that eating disorders are not all about looking like Calista Flockhart. A lot of girls have other problems as well, such as depression or a history of childhood abuse. They turn to dieting as a way to take control in their lives, and eventually develop a very skewed body image. It is this initial decision to diet that is inspired by the media. Young girls see how successful and happy all those skinny people are on TV and think, 'if I looked like so-and-so then everybody would like me.'

11/8/2005 7:43:33 AM

Quote :

"Eating disorders do not just come from inside. This is clear because these problems are FAR more common in women than men. I don't know the exact stats, but there must be at least ten women with anorexia for each man. There has to be an environmental trigger of some kind that affects women but not men."

while you arent necessarily wrong, your reasoning is terrible. there are tons of diseases, both mental and regular, that affect one gender more than the other (borderline personality disorder, various cancers, etc).

11/8/2005 9:45:41 AM

Of course there are some disorders that are more common in one gender. For example, women are more likely to develop depression than men. But that ratio is about 60/40. My point is that eating disorders are overwhelmingly prevalent in women.

Quote :

"A total of 90% to 95% of patients diagnosed with eating disorders are women (American Psychiatric Association, 2000)."

Are there any other problems that afflict one gender 95% of the time? (of course not counting things like postpartum depression or testicular cancer).

Then there's also the fact that in America, anorexia is far more common in white people than black people. But obesity rates are also higher in blacks. If your theory about young people being afraid of looking like their parents is correct, then black people should be more likely to develop an eating disorder.

The race difference is probably due to the fact that black America isn't a culture of thinness the way white America is. For every Halle Berry you have Queen Latifah, Aretha Franklin and Wanda Sykes. Even the thinner stars like Beyonce and Vivica Fox could probably bench press waifs like Sara Michelle Gellar and Kirsten Dunst.

here are the sites I got my stats from

http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/obesity_youth.shtml

http://jar.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/18/3/223

11/8/2005 11:31:00 AM

again my example of BPD. 75% or so are women. many other places didnt give concrete numbers but said mostly women.

http://www.bpdcentral.com/resources/basics/main.shtml
http://web4health.info/en/answers/border-prevalence.htm


wasnt really my theory either, just a thought (i doubted it was true, but still worth a talk).


after reading reports on stats you would know that (like abuse or rape) eating disorders are not heavily reported compared to estimated total numbers. now i have read before (and im going out, but ill look more when i get back) that people think that the number of male reports is lower than their real percentage.

while men are expected to be manly so they may not develop a disorder(under your theory), that same theory would explain why it wouldnt be reported as often. it is seen as a "woman's disease."

11/8/2005 11:54:32 AM

My experience only stems from girls with a serious eating disorder, but for what I've known, while it does/can start with wanting to be thin or look good, there is a point at which it is no longer about that. It's more like "If I don't do this I will die," because that's just how their mind ends up working. There are certain things in the brain that go haywire after a long enough period of starvation. People begin to obsess over their food (which has also been found in diaries of POWs in Vietnam and places like that--after a while, all they talk about is what they're going to do with the one piece of bread they get or something like that). In addition to that, if you don't eat a certain type of food for long enough your body will stop producing the enzymes to digest it, in some cases forever. Anorexia will fuck you up.

11/8/2005 12:15:50 PM