The Problem of Female Body Image

[Olp_waited]

To be in control, to free oneself of anything, to prove you need nothing and nobody.

[Dr. Hobo]

Why did you ask me out for pizza?

heyyyyyyyyy josh
wanna go out for pizza some time?

[joe_canadian]

Jesus Christ, I need to go out and see if my animal magnetisme today extends into real life.

[Dr. Hobo]

probably not
well
i dunno that
but based on me
no
im just on crack

[joe_canadian]

[saman]

Jesus Christ, I need to go out and see if my animal magnetisme today extends into real life.

[Dr. Hobo]

:crying:

there there

[crustine]

lol josh we can go for coffe at bio sci it would be mucho fun

[happening fish]

Yes Josh, let's go for coffee at bio sci!

[crustine]

party at bio sci

[mosaik]

steroids kill too you know.

[Olp_waited]

oh boy...didn't we already discuss this?

whats bio sci??

[beautiful liar]

To combat the assertion that bodybuilders die of steroids, which is different than malnutrition I have to say that actually, people with bigorexia (and similar disorders) usually are also bulemic. They carefully control their diet because they are trying to acheive a certain look - but this leads to binging and purging in an attempt to bring a balance. By overworking the body the end result is usually the same amount of malnutrition that acompanies any eating disorder, as well as the weakened heart and early heart attacks that are symptomatic of those conditions in their extreme stages.

Men and women are under the same pressues. We react as human beings to external pressures, each one of us differently. Yes, hormones play a role in the formulation of emotions, but to say that estrogen causes females to be more emotional, I'd argue that socialization plays a larger role in any percieved gender differences. We see woman's body image as a bigger issue because it has the spotlight, while the question of body image should be applied equally to all. Everyone deals with an image of their body; hundreds of thousands of people of both genders deal with disorders directly related to that. Furthermore, people with eating disorders, both men and women, tend to be obsessive, compulsive, or both. Studies have drawn parallels with obsessive compulsive behaviours and eating disorders (in which I'm including bodybuilding disorders for all intents and purposes).

I think part of the problem is that men's disorders tend to have less advocates, and therefore less media attention. Therefore, people assume that women are in more danger from them. This is simply not true.

As to the assertion that women are more emotional - well this is not necessarily true. It always depends on the individual. The way we emote is determined by a complex series of hormones, of which the sex hormones are being proven to be less influential over. If, as you say, women were more emotional because of the estrogen and other female hormones, mood disorders would most likely be the sole territory of women. It is simply not true.

[happening fish]

Claire, reread the article at the very beginning of this thread.

...anorexia is spreading rampant throughout Western society and bleeding into the rest of the world, killing 150,000 women a year in the United States alone (Wolf 175).

That's from Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth. Feel free to check it out for her cited statistical sources (I don't have it handy).

[crustine]

just remember its not about food or thiness it is about control

that being said...coffee

[Axtech]

But doesn't social pressure about appearance cause that need for control to manifest itself in an eating disorder rather than some other behaviour?

[beautiful liar]

Claire, reread the article at the very beginning of this thread.

...anorexia is spreading rampant throughout Western society and bleeding into the rest of the world, killing 150,000 women a year in the United States alone (Wolf 175).

That's from Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth. Feel free to check it out for her cited statistical sources (I don't have it handy).

I know Alex, I'm not arguing that. All I was trying to do was point out that men too suffer eating disorders, and men too die from them. Assertions were made to the contrary, and I think that too is a problem - the belief that they are the sole territory of women.

I'm sorry if I made it seem like I was undermining the statistics. I know the stats, I just hate seeing this issue collared as a 'females-only' problem. It oftentimes prevent the men who deal with it from getting help, becuase the mindset is often that it only affects women, so people tend not to recognize the symptoms in a male.

[Olp_waited]

But doesn't social pressure about appearance cause that need for control to manifest itself in an eating disorder rather than some other behaviour?

yes and no. I mean obviosuly the thin look is not skeletal, so it wouldn't explain that. I also believe that if you are doing this just as a crash diet or "fad" or whatever, then your a poser.

[half jill]

[saman]

i agree with dommy