Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder (Eating Disorder Statistics). According to research about the causes of eating disorders, the best-known environmental contributor to the development of eating disorders is the sociocultural idealization of thinness (Statistics and Research on Eating Disorders). Today’s society has created a beauty standard that is so unattainable that it has driven people – primarily adolescent girls – to self-destruction and suicide trying to achieve it. In this photograph, multiple aspects and ideas about eating disorder culture are represented. They include but are not limited to: ways to look prettier (read: skinnier) in pictures, unhealthy habits that are viewed as socially acceptable, the frequent invisibility of a present disorder, and how what starts as a desire to be considered pretty can morph into multiple deadly mental illnesses.
A common theme in any picture taken by adolescent girls is to use angles and tricks to look prettier. When you incorporate in eating disorder ideals, such as having a thigh gap, you will notice in the photograph that the subject’s ankles are spread out in a V from her toes that are touching. That, as well as leaning forwards and pushing the hips back, are tricks used to exaggerate the presence of a thigh gap. The over-the-knee socks as well are a skinny status symbol, as they almost always come in one-size-fits-all diameter better suited for arms than for healthy legs.
Often in society we see small habits such as drinking diet sodas and chewing gum. Both can be seen in the hands of the girl in the photograph. They are symbols of the repression of hunger when it becomes too painful. People without eating disorders engage in these habits possibly because they want to avoid sugar, or chew gum to get rid of bad breath. In eating disorders however, these are tools used to subdue hunger pains and trick your body into think that it’s full. Diet sodas get rid of, for however small a period of time, the cotton mouth that accompanies not eating for long periods of time and are one of few things that taste good that people with eating disorders will allow themselves to consume. The same can be said of gum, although its calories are often counted and recorded.
One of the biggest misconceptions about eating disorders is that they are always visible or obvious to an onlooker. However, people with eating disorders may not be severely underweight, and may appear to be happy and normal. What you do not see are things such as nail polish, a symbol present in the photograph to hide the fact that nails become discolored when a person is malnourished and/or cold. The over-the-knee socks and long sleeves serve another purpose: bruising easily is another effect of malnutrition.
Eating disorders have the highest co-occurring rate. This means that they are nearly always present with other psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and mood disorders. In the photo, the girl is standing by a window with the blinds drawn. The placement by a window where all outside light is blocked off is representative of clinical depression. The clothes that she is wearing tell this story as well; people with depression often wear dark colored clothes, especially black. Self-harm, another self-destructive behavior often present in people with eating disorders and/or depression, are represented symbolically through the cat and the shaving razor present in the picture. They may say “It was just the cat” or “I was just shaving” to avoid suspicion or discovery. The girl’s sleeves emphasize this: they are pulled tightly over her hands to avoid riding up and exposing cuts.
The consequences of beauty standards on adolescent girls can leave them obsessed with looking perfect in every photo, trying to live off zero calorie chemicals, until they must hide behind nail polish and long sleeves in a dark room because they have no energy or will to go out and live. These effects are devastating, and the unrealistic and unattainable ideals that we have created will continue to destroy lives if we do not recognize how much harm they are doing.
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From: Kayla
Advertisements, commercials, and billboards are just a few ways media shapes young girls and women’s minds into what society has deemed as “beautiful” and “acceptable” in this era. Thigh gaps, protruding collar bones, and very small waist are highly sought-after qualities many wish to possess in order to feel accepted. Displaying false images as such can lead to females and males pushing their body through extreme measures to obtain this figure, resulting possibly to even death.
Emily displays anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder where you eat as little as possible to avoid starvation, through a young girl in this black and white picture. This post was most relatable to me on this blog due to my own struggle with being anorexic. This picture being portrayed in black and white resembles to me that there is no in between. When you crave the acceptance of others to fit in and belong, your mind can make unhealthy decisions and see no resolutions or compromises except the goal of that thigh gap that every girl is craving or that extra ten pounds.
The sweater dress is extremely dark in contrast compared to the rest of the image. I view the dress as the eating disorder itself, swallowing the girl whole with darkness of depression, anxiety, and negativity. The blackness can start slowly with just a comment from a friend that you have “bingo arms” (flabby arms of an older woman waving her card when winning bingo), before you are wearing the disorder itself in the form of a black sweater dress, forgetting what a healthy lifestyle is.
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