The Cultural Idea of Thinness Causes an Increase in the Number of Women Who Are Suffering from Eating Disorders

Recent studies have shown that there are nearly 5 million women in the United States who are suffering from eating disorders. Most young American women are very sensitive to the socio-cultural messages of the importance of being thin that they became so obsessed with dieting and losing some weight. The more the media features women who are ultra thin, the more young women in the United States strive to achieve that desired thinness that is thought to be the ideal body figure for women.

The cultural idea of thinness is so popular all over the country than plus size women are often feel self-conscious about themselves. Often times, many plus size women all over the country would feel that they do not measure up to the standards of society and they need to do something about it. A lot of plus size women would often feel so guilty about their "excess weight" that they would be tempted to undergo a "crash diet" where they try to starve themselves to achieve that thinness that our culture would approve. Unfortunately, crash diets have very harmful effects on the overall health of a woman. Many plus size women all over the country are suffering from various kinds of diseases that are related to crash diets.

Not only have the cultural idea of thinness have caused so much pain and suffering on plus size women, it had also caused a lot of health risks and misery for those women who are already thin. According to studies, about 73% of female models in he country maintains their weight way below the idea weight for their height. Experts believe that models are just as tortured as the ordinary girl when it comes to keeping their weight in check. In fact, female models are often into the binge-eating routine that they eventually develop severe eating disorder. Many models in the country are suffering from anorexia nervosa and bulimia that they are not really able to lead normal lives.

There have been so many sad tales involved in our cultural idea of thinness. Women in the United States have suffered enough because somebody pointed out that thin is beautiful. What is more devastating is that women who believed that cultural idea of thinness often end up destroying themselves in the process. According to studies, about one in 10 women who suffer from eating disorder would end up literally starving herself to death. The statistics is really staggering and is increasing by the minute.