There are so many different body types, but most girls just want one. They want to be like the models they see in magazines or on TV. Unfortunately many girls fail to realize that this body type isn’t a healthy one. There’s a difference between being skinny and being skin and bones. Who’s to blame for all of these eating disorders? Is it the media or is it everyone’s constant obsession with their weight?
Eating disorders are very common in teenage girls and young adult women between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. This is due to the fact that during this time period for girls, they’re growing and just trying to figure out where they fit in. Many of these girls fall victim to Anorexia or Bulimia because they become obsessed with body image, their weight, and food. Anorexia is just one of many different eating disorders, but it is actually the leading cause of death for girls of this age. The number of hospitalizations due to eating disorders has increased by twenty-four percent in the last ten years, and although Americans are known to be overweight, an estimated seven million American women are thought to have an eating disorder right now. It’s sad to think that so many girls view themselves as overweight and go to such desperate and unhealthy measures, but the media is one of the main places that girls and women see their ideal body type. Media portrayals of what is “pretty” today are false advertisement to our younger generations. Only five percent of all people actually naturally have the body type we see. Because of how much we see of these models, we are starting to see even young children wanting this body type. A reported forty-two percent of six to eight year olds have said that they want to be skinnier. These children will be the adults of tomorrow, so the problem will just continue. As this number increases so will the death rate due to eating disorders.
A majority of the people with eating disorders are female. Being a young girl normally means that you look up to your mom or the older females in your household. Although it does become harder to lose weight and maintain your weight as an adult, the obsession with weight and dieting might be going too far. As young girls look up to these people they are seeing them be uncomfortable and dissatisfied with their own weight which then makes them think that their own body is not okay. Although the older women may not have anorexia or bulimia, they are still influencing the children to be happy with their own weight. If we end the obsession with weight, the problem with eating disorders may decrease.
Eating disorders are becoming more and more serious. Girls need to realize that no matter what body type they have they are beautiful. What the media is showing is actually unhealthy, and if they do want to lose weight there is a healthy way to do so. There are so many healthy diets to use to lose weight, or it may just take a lifestyle change to get rid of those few extra pounds. With so many younger people reporting that they feel “fat”, something must be done. No girl any age or any size should ever feel like they aren’t beautiful.