Eating disorders tend to go beyond the boundaries of needing to
be skinny with restricted-eating habits (most seem to be attached to
their owner psychologically). That is to say - the psychological factor
is often the instigator behind a woman believing she is fat, overly fat,
or even verging on the side of being obese.
Psychological factors
often provoke an anorexia sufferer to act irrational by restricting
their eating habits; thus, causing an insufficient intake of calories,
minerals, and nutrients, etc., that the body so needs to stay healthy.
Even starving by an anorexia sufferer is not such an uncommon practice,
together with purging (eating, followed by forced/self-inflicted
vomiting after-wards). Other symptoms may include: obsessive exercise,
and the use of laxatives to help themselves lose-weight.
So why does anorexia affect more women than men?
The
"media" has much to do with anorexia, as every time one watches the
t.v., or flips through a magazine - the one thing that becomes apparent
is - "the perfect look," where skinny women are "glamorized," and obese
women are "looked-down upon" (a factor that can propel a woman [or
child] into thinking she may be looked-down upon if she does not exhibit
the same perfect profile that the public asks for.
Women are
different to men with regards to beauty - remember, many women will not
leave the house in the morning without putting their makeup on first
(for the fear of not being seen to be beautiful [a psychological factor
that men do not have to live with]). Also, it is quite commonly known - a
man may have two or three pairs of shoes in the closet to combine with
their clothes, whereas a woman may have a couple of dozen pairs of shoes
in theirs (again a psychological factor for women, and considered an
unnecessary aspect of life for most men]).
"Most" being the
operable word here, as a small percentage of men do actually suffer from
anorexia. However, many of that small percentage work in what are
considered to be "women's jobs" by most men - dancers, and models, etc.,
and where there is a need to be fit and slim (although they do exist -
fat dancers and models are not commonly called for by the public eye).
Some
women are naturally thin/skinny, so no real work is needed in dieting
and exercise. However, for most of us (the crowd) that is not the case,
and where not even with dieting and exercise would we end-up with a
finely sculptured
body as those that can be seen on the t.v., and in the many magazines that can be found at the local paper store.
Because
of this, for a small percentage of women, the only option to obtain the
perfect body is to eat less. However, a psychological factor seems to
set-in on this journey where the perception of what is
perfect/slim/skinny gets distorted (at this point, even less food is
eaten, so as to become even skinnier - or more perfect as it is seen).
Also,
subconsciously, an anorexia sufferer might even feel like they have
accomplished something great by being able to control their eating (or
at least that is what they think they are doing). More often than not,
the same person will be so preoccupied with their eating habits
(weight-loss), they may even forget about other important things in
life, or may simply avoid doing them all together.
It is believed
that anorexia sufferers feel a great sense of achievement because they
are able to exercise an extreme degree of willpower over what they eat
(or more so what they do not eat) and their weight (other reasons for
anorexia eating disorders may be heredity).
Conclusion -
The simple fact is that the media, tends to bring out the inbuilt
weakness of a small percentage of women for the need to be perfect
(beautiful), which is nothing more that a psychological aspect that is
less important to men.-By
Philip Albert Edmonds-Hunt
