"Manorexia:" The Media, Celebrities and the Development of a Misnomer

Although anorexia was first recognized as a disease in the mid to late 19th century, it is usually thought to be a modern phenomenon. Indeed, anorexia often went undiagnosed in the United States as late as the 1970's, but Karen Carpenter's death in 1983 brought the problem to popular consciousness. Since that time anorexia has been rising steadily in women, and it is now estimated that one in 200 women suffers from the disease.

The most popular culprit for the rise in anorexia is the media. Indeed, when women are bombarded with an images of waif-like models and actresses on magazine covers, television, the internet, and other sources, it seems like an easy conclusion to come to. As a result, anorexia is seen as a diet that has gone too far, with a victim obsessed with losing weight for vanity's sake. In addition, anorexia is also seen as a "women's" issue.

However, in an interview with Best Life magazine in March of 2006, Dennis Quaid asserted that men suffer from anorexia nervosa as well. He claimed that during a period in the 1990's, he became afflicted with the disease, relating that ""For many years, I was obsessed about what I was eating, how many calories it had, and how much exercise I'd have to do." Most importantly, in the course of the interview he dubbed the eating disorder "manorexia."

It's amazing what the little letter "m" can do. In this case, it makes a crucial implication--the implication that anorexia for women and anorexia for men are two drastically different things. So different, in fact, that you need an entirely different word for men with anorexia.

The continued use of the word "manorexia" demonstrates that most of us do view the disorder as different for the two sexes. As mentioned above, it is well discussed how stringent beauty standards are for women, and how much risk there is to develop this debilitating disorder. Hand-wringing over this phenomenon happens everywhere, from popular tabloids (featuring images of Nicole Richie and worried captions stating her current weight) to the ivory tower (with nth wave feminist descendants of Naomi Wolf). Anorexia in men is far less talked about, and far less sexy.

After all, there is a hidden comfort for women in being told that they are much too thin. This means that they are not overweight, they are not even average, they dangerously below average. In our culture, this is a mark of the highly virtuous. For men, though, the disease is shameful. Men are supposed to be large and strong and, well, manly. So, for men, anorexia is not virtuous behavior, but rather a perversion of what they should find important.

But wait. . .if anorexia is women who are dieting to the extreme, and it's a result of the drive to be sexier and sexier. . . Then how does a man ever become anorexic?

Therein lies the proof that "manorexia" is nothing more than a misnomer. If anorexia was simply about losing weight to be more attracive, "manorexia" would not exist. The fact of the matter is, anorexia is a very complicated psychiatric disorder, not just a case of extreme calorie counting. As mentioned before, the disease was not even understood enough to be properly diagnosed until the 1980's at the earliest, and while the psychiatric community struggles to understand the roots of the problem, they have revealed what some possible causes of anorexia.

For example, mental health experts speculate that anorexia often strikes people, especially adolescents, who feel overwhelmed and powerless. For these people, anorexia is a way of exercising some kind of control. Physical or sexual abuse can lead to anorexia. Life transitions or trauma also can result in the disease. Although pressure to adhere to beauty standards is an influence, and probably affects women more than men, all these other causes can strike men or women.

"Manorexia," in other words, reflects a false distinction between anorexia in men and women. It indicates a misunderstanding of the complexity of the disease, and reinforces that misunderstanding by asserting difference. Though men and women experience anorexia in different ways in our culture, this is not to say that anorexia in men is an entirely different and subordinate problem. It is important to remember that men suffering from anorexia do not feel any less "pressure" from their disorder; that just like women, it consumes their life, reflects a serious problem and, most importantly, demands immediate attention from loved ones.

References:
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/anorexia_signs_symptoms_causes_treatment.htm
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1172023,00.html