Eating disorders and self-esteem
By Brooke Boniface
When my cousin came home for winter break during her sophomore year of college, my entire family was in shock. The formerly healthy and athletic looking girl was suddenly gaunt and frail. Each cheek bone and eye socket in her face stood out with new prominence, no longer hidden by fat and barely covered by skin. When we hugged her we could feel her spine and ribs, as fragile as a bird's bones and protected by only the thinnest layer of flesh. Ever since that visit and her subsequent diagnosis with anorexia nervosa, she has been transformed in my mind from simply my cousin Katie to my anorexic cousin Katie.
Anorexia nervosa is defined by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating disorders to be an eating disorder most commonly characterized by restrictive dieting, distorted body image, extremely low weight and fear of weight gain. In the United States alone, it affects anywhere from seven to ten million women and about one million men, most frequently teens and young adults. If it goes untreated anorexia may ultimately lead to death, but even with treatment there are often repercussions such as hair loss, malnutrition, organ damage and low self esteem.
In a society where thin sometimes seems to be the only standard of beauty, many young girls feel pressured to look like their favorite actress or like the popular girl who gets the attention from guys.
But the pressure that often times leads to an eating disorder does not only come from society or from the media. It can also come from those who are simply trying to help.
After she was diagnosed with anorexia, each family gathering became like a test for Katie. Our numerous aunts and uncles would examine her to make sure she had not lost any more weight. When she would take her food, people would check her plate to see that she was eating enough. There was always a thick layer of tension whenever Katie was in the vicinity. During family conversations, family members were either on edge for fear of upsetting someone who was considered unstable or very forward in saying she was too thin.
All of their reactions, of course, were grounded in love, concern and good intentions. But, in the end, were they being helpful to Katie or merely pushing her further along the destructive path of anorexia?
Recently, there have been many attempts to celebrate a more accessible, attainable and real type of beauty to which a wider range of women can aspire.
The Dove beauty video, which has become a widespread Youtube hit, shows the multitude of changes that are made to models photos in almost every advertisement and magazine cover today. How are women supposed to compete with or look up to a computer-generated ideal that is not at all attainable in real life? This new campaign is helping to give society a wake up call.
It is opening up people's eyes to what real women look like and what true beauty is. Though the fight against eating disorders is far from over, each positive step made in the public will give more girls the strength to overcome their body image issues. As girls gain greater confidence in themselves, eating disorders will gradually lose their hold upon the minds of young women all over the world.
Brooke Boniface is a sophomore political science and history double major.