10 Sex and Gender

Sex: The Biological DimensionHermaphroditesfTranssexuals Sexual OrientationGender: The Cultural DimensionThe Social Significance of Gender SexismGender Stratification in Historical and Contemporary PerspectiveHunting and GatheringSocieties HorticulturalandPastoral Societies Agrarian SocietiesIndustrial SocietiesPostindustrial Societies GenderandSodalization Parents and GenderSocialization Peers and GenderSocialization Teachers,Schools, and Gender SocializationSports and GenderSocialization Mass Media and Gender SocializationAdult Gender SocializationContemporary Gender InequalityGendered Division of PaidWork Pay Equity (Comparable Worth) Paid Work and Family Work Perspectiveson Gender Stratification Functionalist and Neoclassical Economic PerspectivesConflict PerspectivesFeminist PerspectivesGender Issuesin the Future

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T

odaywas myfirst appointmentwithDr. Gold[apsychiatrist] .... Dr.Gold asked if I thought the girls at school who diet are overweight.It was such a stupid question....

''OJ

course

theyaren't overweight,didn't I already say that theywere

popular?"...

Dr. Gold ...gave me[some] paper and asked me to draw my"ideal" of what Iwanted to look lik e....SoI pick edup the pencil anddrew a girl Iwant to look lik e.She was tall and sk inny, but shehad my face andhair. When Dr.Goldtook the drawing back ,hedidn't nod. "Thisisa stick figure," he said, lik eI didn't understandthe assignment the first time. "Try to draw a

realistic

picture of how you'd lik eto look . Don't worryifyou aren'tvery good at art." He must havethought I was terrible at art.I tried explaininghow that was

exactly

the way Iwantedto look ,butDr. Goldsaid Iwouldn't bealive if I looked likethat drawing.... [During another appointment, Dr. Golddecided that I had tobehospitalized so that Iwouldgain weight. At thehospital,I had to follow a bunch of rules, like getting weighed every morning,being watched byanurse during meals,not being allowed toexercise, and not being allowedto look

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in a full-length mirror.Mter I began eating more, I started being allowedmore privileges, however, one of which was being allowed out ofthehospital to attend mybrother's graduation.]Mter the ceremony, we all wentout to dinner at thisf ancy prime ribplace,[and] my stomach started hurting becauseI wasn't used to eating so much at the hospital.I had to go thebathroom pretty bad.... Thefirst thing I saw whenIwalked into the bathroom was a really skinnygirl who looked just like the pictures in Dr.Katz's book .Whoever decorated the ladies'bathroom was madlyin love with mirrors,so I kept seeing theskinny girleverywhere.

She

wasa stick figure,...but when I turned around to look ,I was the only person in thebathroom.Except the girlcouldn't bemebecause she was soskinny.... SoIwalked closer to thesink to get a better look, but the skinny legs in themirror k ept moving at thesametimeas mine. Then I smiled, andso did themouth in the mirror....FinallyI turned on the hotwater and washed all [the] mak eup offmyface. That's when I knewf or sureit was me.Icouldn't believe it! I looked disgusting. I used towant to be a stick f igure,butnow I'm not so sure.

-Lori Gottlieb,who weighedonly fif ty-five pounds at age eleven,describing herexperiencewithanorexia nervosa (Gott"e~

2000:112-114,151-152,204-208)

Eatingdisordersareaconcern acrosslinesof race andclass. Celebritiessuch asMary-Kate Olsen makeusmore aware of theprevalence of thisproblemwhentheyannounce that they arebeing treated f or anorexia orbulimia. What societal f actorsmay contribute to women andmenfeeling differently about their bodies?

S

adly, we know that Lori's situation isnot an isolated case of an eating disorder. Many people-including celebrities such as Mary-Kate Olsen-havereceivedtreatmentfor such disorders,which are a growing problem, es- pecially among young women.Lori's comments are similar to those foundin numerous sociologi- cal studies,including research by the sociologist