Bulimia

            It is quite troubling how so many female dancers today are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and be beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. They are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's ballerina. We, as a society, have created an environment so image obsessed that those with power give approval for being thin and disapproval for being fat, creating a generation of women so self-conscious about their body image, that it is affecting their health. Not only are some dancers pressured into destructive dieting, but they will also ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve these inaccessible standards. This ruthless harm that haunts so many women today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Bulimia is one of the primary diseases that go into the category of eating disorders. .
             Bulimia nervosa, more commonly known as bulimia or binge and purge disorder, is an eating disorder that negatively affects the lives of thousands of women, and is becoming increasingly prevalent in the dance world. The most common misconception concerning bulimia is that it is simply a physical or mental problem. Many people do not understand that bulimia is a disease that affects both the mind and the body, and in its course can destroy both aspects of the diseased individual. It affects a variety of different people, but generally the victims at highest vulnerability to this disease are female dancers. More and more, dancers equate success and popularity with beauty and, especially, with being thin. The media, one of the biggest influences on people, is crammed with images of "the perfect body," and American life seems to revolve around health clubs, diet pills, and fat-free foods. One month ago, ballerina Anastasia Volochkova from Russia's most prominent ballet company, the Bolshoi Ballet, was asked to leave the company because of her excessive weight.