The Emergence Of The Thin Ideal In America
The Emergence Of The Thin Ideal In America
The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, yet residents of this bountiful country are denied the simple right to adequate nutrition. Citizens are forced to abstain from basic human needs to be accepted members of society. Popular culture suggests that emaciation is not only a fashion statement, but an expected lifestyle choice. The past hundred years have seen the rise of a startling and horrific trend; the thinning of the nation’s young women. One in five college women suffers from a severe case of either anorexia or bulimia nervosa. (Schwitzer et al. 165) With a death rate of up to 15%, anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate among psychological disorders. Those dying are not the poor and ignorant unfortunates from the slums and ghettos of the inner cities--they are the best and brightest of the young generations. They are the future leaders of this country, and they are, literally, wasting away. Yet this epidemic has never made the cover of Time. There is no national council to fight this war against the body. The issue is relegated to daytime talk shows between cheating lovers and make-overs. I maintain that western civilization has knowingly manifested an atmosphere of hostility towards women and their bodies.
95% of those who struggle with eating disorders are female (Wolf 183). The small percentage of men who suffer are almost exclusively athletes or homosexuals. The situation is most prevalent among male wrestlers and dancers who feel extreme pressure to keep their weight low. So, why women? In her book, Beauty Bound, Rita Freedman writes, “A five-year-old confidently tells me that ’girls play at being pretty, but boys play cars...’ The socialization of gender begins in infancy and involves almost every aspect of experience.” (118). A little girl learns early that her aesthetics are her definition. She understands that to be a woman is to be attractive, to be attractive is to be thin, and to be unattractive is to be unwomanly.
The twentieth century brought remarkable technological advances, but it also gave rise to an attitude of unimaginable consequence. Young women are taught that exterior beauty is more relevant than any other aspect of their lives. Female role models teach that young women can...