What we do to please

The most recognized eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia. Starvation dieting, excessive exercising, weight below what is considered normal, and intense fear of weight gain characterize anorexia. Bulimia is characterized by intense fear of weight gain and episodes of dieting and bingeing, as well as purging of the food from the body by vomiting, fasting, dieting, diuretics, diet pills, excessive and compulsive exercise.
             In a sample of male and female high school students, two-thirds of the girls believed that being thinner would have an impact on their lives. The majority of girls believe that being thinner would positively impact their lives, while the majority of the boys believed that being thinner would negatively impact their lives (Paxton, Weethiem, Gibbons, Szmukley, Hillier, and Petrovich, 1991). Isn't it odd that women assume they are supposed to be thinner, and men assume they are supposed to be bigger and stronger? If men are thin they are teased, they are also teased if they are overweight. Yet, if they are thin and muscular it is acceptable to our society. Women think they must be thin and fit as well.
             For women this stereotypical world never gets any better. We are haunted by the fact that women earn more money than men in only two job categories, those of modeling and prostitution (Wolf, 1992). Both of these positions are prided on being thin and sexy. It is pathetic that this fact is true. Even now, where women are receiving high positions in companies, they may still be paid less then the men working below them.
             Sixty-nine percent of female television characters are thin, while only five percent are overweight (Silverstein, Peterson, Perdue & Kelly 1986). Another study found that sixty-eight percent of a sample of Stanford undergraduate and graduate students felt worse about their own looks after reading women's magazines (Bugard, D.). Ninety to ninety-five percent of all anorexics and bulimics are women.