Anorexia In The Teens of
America
With more and more teenage girls suffering from eating
disorders, it almost seems that we can do nothing but blame
ourselves for creating a society in which one can never be too
thin or too perfect. When a teen begins to suffer from anorexia
nervosa, it is never just a random snap into having the
disease. There are always conditions that have led up to the
teen feeling like she can’t be good enough, or that she needs
to change her own image. These conditions come from every
single aspect of a teen’s life.
The main culprit blamed for teen anorexia is the media. Many
media images depict women as being extremely thin and busty.
This is an image that seems to pervade through the media, and
may create the delusion in a young girl that this is how all
women were meant to be. Lots of girls are naturally a bit
chubby during their younger years. When they look at themselves
in the mirrors and compare themselves with the magazines and TV
ads that they are constantly assaulted with, it can seem like
there is a huge deficiency.
This perfect image created by society is not really what a
girl should look like, and this should always be made clear to
young girls who have grown up around these sorts of images.
Models in magazines are usually modified by computer programs
extensively, and not even the models look how they look in the
magazine. It is a strange and double-sided standard that
society had drawn up, and it should not be endangering the
health of young girls.
Many girls can also be affected by their peers. Girls at a
young age are often extremely brutal in their teasing. A few
insults that another girl says or hints at in passing could
leave the other girl completely crushed, thinking of nothing
but the negative comment. It is unfortunate that girls can be
affected so much by the thoughts or comments of a peer, but it
is true. In order for anorexia to truly be taken care of,
everyone in a girl’s life must be supportive. Not just her
family, but her peers as well. Once all of these influences can
be altered or removed from the lives of young and
impressionable girls, anorexia will quit being a problem.
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