Are Eating Disorders Culture Bound Or Universal Essay
Are eating disorders culture-bound or universal?
We, in the West live in an image conscious culture, which urges all of us (especially women) to improve our appearance. Although eating disorders are stereotyped as being western cultured mental illnesses this does not necessarily mean that they do not exist on the other side of the world in developing countries. “Eating disorders are characterised by an abnormal attitude towards food that causes someone to change their eating habits and behaviour.” (NHS Homepage) They usually develop in teenagers around the ages of 16 and 17. Teenage girls are particularly affected by eating disorders because of media images describing a size zero model of having the “perfect body” giving a narrow definition …show more content…
Their bodies start to change and they become more self-aware of themselves and their appearance. This is also the age that people start to break away from relying on their parents and start to become their own person who may start bullying or picking on others because of their appearance. Although, in my research I found that eating disorder cases would be more unlikely in countries such as China because of their beliefs, for example “being able to eat is to have good luck”, “gaining weight means good fortune” and “fat people have more luck” (Watters E. 2010) Suggesting that eating disorders are more culture-bound because Chinese culture is against skinny model girls and encourages people to eat more than less. Research has shown that although eating disorders are increasing rapidly in China now, before media and globalization occurred people found themselves wanting to put on weight rather than lose it. Since globalization, research suggest that between 3 and 10% of young people have an eating disorder and children as young as 10 have been starving themselves since media has been writing articles on the disorder. (Watters E.
We, in the West live in an image conscious culture, which urges all of us (especially women) to improve our appearance. Although eating disorders are stereotyped as being western cultured mental illnesses this does not necessarily mean that they do not exist on the other side of the world in developing countries. “Eating disorders are characterised by an abnormal attitude towards food that causes someone to change their eating habits and behaviour.” (NHS Homepage) They usually develop in teenagers around the ages of 16 and 17. Teenage girls are particularly affected by eating disorders because of media images describing a size zero model of having the “perfect body” giving a narrow definition …show more content…
Their bodies start to change and they become more self-aware of themselves and their appearance. This is also the age that people start to break away from relying on their parents and start to become their own person who may start bullying or picking on others because of their appearance. Although, in my research I found that eating disorder cases would be more unlikely in countries such as China because of their beliefs, for example “being able to eat is to have good luck”, “gaining weight means good fortune” and “fat people have more luck” (Watters E. 2010) Suggesting that eating disorders are more culture-bound because Chinese culture is against skinny model girls and encourages people to eat more than less. Research has shown that although eating disorders are increasing rapidly in China now, before media and globalization occurred people found themselves wanting to put on weight rather than lose it. Since globalization, research suggest that between 3 and 10% of young people have an eating disorder and children as young as 10 have been starving themselves since media has been writing articles on the disorder. (Watters E.