Eating Disorders and the Pressure to be Attractive

Eating Disorders and the Pressure to be Attractive In today’s society many people strive to have the “model” attractiveness, a skinny body and gorgeous face. Many men and women want to obtain by taking completely unhealthy and sometimes life-threatening measures. Thus, eating disorders, among other things, are formed. Of the eating disorders one can acquire, anorexia nervosa is one of the most common (Lonegran et al. 1). Western societies’ emphasis on appearance pressures many men and women to seek out ways to become what many consider attractive in today’s world, but at what costs? A person who suffers from anorexia nervosa adversely copes with stress, anxiety, unhappiness, and other negative emotions by not eating the way they should or sometimes not eating at all( Anorexia Nervosa 1). Women most of all want a thin figure, probably due to the fact that the most attractive women, according to most people, are very thin. If you were to compare Scarlett Johannson, a very skinny actress, to Honey Boo Boo’s mother, which one would a majority of people consider attractive or beautiful? Since the emergence of mass media, women have been pressured to set unrealistic goals towards an unattainable beauty that they see daily (Lonergan et. al.1). “Several studies have discussed the relationship between mass media and the development of body dissatisfaction from the assumption that the ideal of beauty can deeply impact a person’s body attitudes and behavior” (Sepulveda & Calado). These pressures set forth by media are why so many people have developed eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (Lonergan et. al.1). However, eating disorders are not the only extreme measures that mass media and sociocultural goals have caused us to resort to in a pursuit to reach that unreachable goal of “beauty”. A lot of people go to tanning beds multiple times a week just to look tan and beautiful. People who have used tanning beds are 75 percent more likely than a person who has