Blog 7: Eating Disorder

An eating disorder is an obsession with food and weight that harms a persons well-being. Although we all worry about our weight sometimes, people who have an eating disorder go to extremes to keep from gaining weight. There are 2 main eating disorders: anorexia nevosa and bulimia. People who suffer from anorexia are obsessed with being thin. They are afraid of gaining weight, therefore resort to not eating. People with anorexia constantly worry about calorie intake and fatty foods. Bulimia is when people eat a lot at one time and purge or use laxatives to remove the food from their systems. The entertainment industry is the reason that many young females and even males struggle with eating disorders. In the entertainment industry it is all about looking thin, even to the point where people question if you eat. Females are criticized if they are not thin enough and a large amount of pressure is put on celebrities to be thin. All these people in the entertainment industry are role models to teenagers and kids so now these kids feel like being thin is the only way to be beautiful. One example of this is celebrity Jessica Simpson; she was criticized for wearing a pair of jeans that "made her look fat". At the time, she said she wore a size 3 jeans. This women was getting talked down on for wearing a size 3 jeans, that's crazy to me. I haven't wore a size 3 jeans since I was 10 years old. Another example of this is the modeling industry. In the modeling industry you are considered a plus size model if you wear a size 5. A size 5 amongst most women would be considered a small body, certainly not plus size. The third example of this is comedian Monique; she is a plus sized women who always seems to be talking about how she is happy with her body and almost in a sense protecting herself against people that say she is plus sized. I feel like plus sized people in the entertainment industry always have to either protect themselves and say they are happy with their bodies, or almost in a sense make fun of themselves. The last example that stands out to me is famous people that lose weight due to the pressure of the business. One person that comes to mind is Nicole Richie. Richie was always a small petite female but was criticized for being fat and then she got very skinny, almost to the point where she looked anorexic.