In today's American society beautiful, thin women are what we consider to be ideal in our society, but not every women in this country has what it takes to be Carmen Electra or Britney Spears. So what happens to the other 99% of society that cannot look that way? The diet and starve themselves to try and gain that appearance. Every year millions of women are hurting themselves trying to be carbon copies of these sex symbols. One way women attempt to get the look they desire is through something that we know as anorexia. In our society we are constantly surrounded with magazines, billboards, movies, and television shows and commercials showing us what the perfect woman should look like, and in our minds most of us have come to believe that all women should look that way to fit into what we consider ideal. .
"Anorexia is characterized by the refusal to eat enough to maintain body weight over a minimal norm fro age and height, an intense fear of gaining weight, body image disturbance, and possible amenorrhea."(Harrison 1997) Basically these women stop eating or cut meals off to just mere portions enough to survive. Originally anorexia was considered to be only prevalent in white upper class women, but today it is in every class and even spreading to other races. More than 20% of girls ages 18-20 attempt to lose weight even though they probable are not overweight, losing usually around 15% of their body weight, and as much as 20%. "To argue that media images of the thin ideal body influences young people's eating behaviors and attitudes toward their bodies is similar to arguing that violent media influences young people's aggression-related attitudes and behaviors."(Harrison 1997) We know it happens but it is sometimes hard to prove, but we have all seen the way that girls look at someone and say that looks so good on her but it would never look that good on me. Over the past twenty years Miss America Pageant contestants and PLAYBOY centerfolds have slowly veered toward the more thin women making it even more difficult for women to fit the bill.
