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Taylor Pedro Destacamento

Humanities-
16 May 2014
Body Perfectionist
Germaine Greer once said, Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other
achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful. When Germaine said this she was implying
that women are nothing without their beauty. This quote helps to explain how important beauty
is to young girls and society in general. Teenagers will go to extremes to achieve society's idea
of a perfect body often resulting in a variety of disordered eating and exercising habits. Some
teens who deal with high stress situations and anxiety also tend to develop eating disorders as a
way to help with the negative feelings they have about not only their bodies, but there stressful
aspects of life. Even though society typically views eating disorders as a phase in the teenage
years, many do not know it is an illness affecting over half a million teens in the United States.
Therefore society needs to educate teenagers and adults about the damaging effects of eating
disorders before disordered eating behaviors begin or become a physically and emotionally
damaging addiction.
Teens develop eating disorders for various reasons including the promotion of unhealthy
body images by the media that influence teenagers to think in a negative way about their own
bodies. The portrayal of perfect slim bodies as throughout media leads teens to feel pressured
into having their bodies look a certain way. As a result, many begin developing eating disorders
in attempts to achieve the often unrealistic standard of beauty cultivated in society. For example,
Nearly 70 percent of girls in grades five through twelve said magazine images influence their
ideals of a perfect body (Pearson). This quote shows how easily media can affect teenagers into
believing that being perfect means being extremely thin. When teens compare themselves with
the photos of extremely thin models in magazines, they develop an unhealthy opinion of their

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body, causing the eating disorders to begin. A common belief is that the most effective way to
achieve the magazine look is to ultimately starve themselves until they look like the thin models.
However, this is not the only reason behind the prevalence of eating disorders in teens. For
instance, More and more research is showing that mothers with eating disorders pass the illness
on to their children (Levine). This quote proves that many teens simply have eating disorders
because they have learned unhealthy eating habits from their parents.When a young child sees
their parent avoiding food or throwing up in the bathroom after dinner, they become teens who
think it is even normal and or necessary, to do the same. Eating disorders can be understood by
young children and as they grow up they begin to imitate their parents actions. There are many
different reasons a teen will suffer from eating disorders, but two main causes are the media and
genetics.
Effects of eating disorders on the body are harsh and have life threatening conditions that
can affect the teen struggling with it for the rest of their life. For instance, Eating disorders are
serious, potentially life threatening conditions that affect a persons emotional and physical
health (Health Consequence of). This quote explains how damaging eating disorders can be
on both the teen body and his or her mental health. When teens stop eating they are denying their
body essential nutrients forcing it to slow down to conserve energy. This alteration of bodily
functions lead to health effects including muscle loss, weakness, digestive problems and, in some
cases, death. However, health problems are not the only damaging effects that eating disorders
have on teens. Tanner further highlights the dangerous mental effects that eating disorders can
have on teens as well. More than half the affected teens had depression, anxiety, or some other
mental disorder. Sizeable numbers also reported suicidal thoughts or attempts (2011). In other
words, eating disorders often affect the teenagers mental health. Teens who suffer with eating

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disorders are highly likely to become depressed as a side effect of the disorder and insecurities
about their bodies. An outcome of teens who are depressed because of eating disorders is a
higher likelihood of having suicidal thoughts and actions. This downward spiral of mental health
and quality of life is a huge issue because many teens are not educated on the addictive and
obsessive effects of eating disorders when they initially try the behaviors. Eating disorders cause
many health and mental problems that are damaging to the teens body.
There are solutions for teens to seek immediate attention at an early stage in order to get
necessary treatment or to help prevent eating disorders in teens. For example, Researchers are
also studying the effectiveness of family-based therapy to treat children and teens with
anorexia and bulimia. In family-based therapy, parents play an important and active role in a
childs treatment (Understanding Eating Disorders). Teens who receive treatment at an early
age have a better chance of recovering from an eating disorder. This quote suggests including
family therapy as part of a teens treatment plan.When teens agree to family therapy their
chances of recovering increase because their family can provide him or her with a much stronger
support system and plan. When the family becomes involved in helping the teen recover it also
helps the teens family to better understand what their child is going through and teach them
healthy strategies for helping the teen when he/she is outside of treatment. Therapy helps to teach
the teen how to control their emotions, rely on other less self-destructive coping mechanisms,
and reliable support systems. However, there are many other ways teen eating disorders can be
solved. For instance, To help protect your teen, understand the possible causes of teen eating
disorders and know how to talk to your teen about healthy eating (Teen Eating Disorders).
People need to talk to teens about realistic and healthy body image, low self esteem and
unhealthy eating habits teens, and the severities of eating disorders so that teens can understand

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the misconceptions that media and society portray regarding beauty. Modeling healthy and
happy lifestyles and warning teens of the devastating mental and physical effects of eating
disorders need to be integrated into teen education as preventive measures against the illness.
These efforts can help them to be more aware of their own eating habits, choices, and ideas of
beauty. Awareness and education also help teens who are already struggling with eating
disorders by letting them know that there are resources and solutions available to aid them in
recovery. Teens will then also have the knowledge and resources to help educate others about
eating disorders. The solution for teens who have eating disorders is definitely to seek treatment
while the solution for teens who do not have eating disorders is to educate them about the
severities of the disorder to help reduce the amount of teens who do struggle with the disorder.
Society has come to view unhealthy standards of thin as an ideal body image for young
teens. Because of this, teens turn to eating disorders to attain this unrealistic image. Eating
disorders happen for many reasons including media influence, anxiety, and genetics. Regardless
of the cause, teens that have eating disorders can suffer from harsh physical and mental effects
including depression and bodily harm. Teens who have eating disorders need to seek
professional help in order to overcome the disorder, but all people can benefit from learning
about eating disorders, its causes and solutions in order to help educate teens who may have not
yet developed the illness but are at risk.



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Works Cited

Eating Disorders: Why Do They Happen? ULifeline. 9 May 2014
<http://www.ulifeline.org/articles/400-eating-disorders-why-do-they-happen>.

Fashion And Eating Disorders: How Much Responsibility Does Industry Have? Huffington
Post. The Huffington Post.com, Inc. 13 Sept. 2011. 13 May 2014
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/13/fashion-eating-disorders-industry-
responsibilit
y_n_955497.html>

Health Consequences of Eating Disorders. National Eating Disorders Association. 5 May
2014
<http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/health-consequences-eating-disorders>.

Levine, Hallie. Bulimia: All in The Family; Children Pick Up Eating Disorders Through
Imitation. New York Post 2014 NYP Holdings, Inc. 30 Mar. 2000. 13 May 2014
<http://nypost.com/2000/03/30/bulimia-all-in-the-family-children-pick-up-eating-
disorders-t
hrough-imitation/>

Magazines, Media, and Teen Body Image. Scientopia. Neurotic Physiology. 25 April 2011. 13
May 2014 <http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/author/scicurious/>

Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders. National Eating Disorders Association. 9 May
2014
<https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders>.

Novotney, Amy. New Solutions. American Psychological Association. 7 May 2014
<http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/04/treatments.aspx>.

Overview of our Evidence-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders. Regents of University of

California. 7 May 2014 <http://eatingdisorders.ucsd.edu/patient/to.shtml>.

Tanner, Lindsey. Eating Disorders Hit More Than Half Million Teens. The Associated Press
The San Diego Union Tribune. 7 Mar. 2011. 13 May 2014
<http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/07/eating-disorders-hit-more-than-half-
millio
n-teens/>.

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Teen Eating Disorders: Tips to Protect Your Teen. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education
and Research. 22 May 2012. 7 May 2014
<http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teen-eating-
dis
orders/art-20044635>.

Understanding Eating Disorders: Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge-Eating National Institutes of
Health and the Friends of the National Library of Medicine. 2008 [17-19]. 5 May 2014
<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/spring08/articles/spring08pg17-
19.html>.

What is an Eating Disorder? Northwestern University.10 May 2014
<http://www.northwestern.edu/counseling/about-us/services/eating-concerns/what-is-an-e
ating-disorder.html>