Body image and how it is a contributing factor toeating disorders.
Q. why do I want to study body image as being a cause of eatingdisorders?A. The reason why I wanted to investigate this topic is that Ihave a limited under standing of it and I am empathetic towardsit. I personally have altered my weight to change my body image,but not through any of these methods. Also it is a growing issuewithin young females.
As well it has always intrigued me as tothe extent that body image can effect people in their everydaylife’s. In this also the media are a contributing force, in theway they portray body image with the male and female models withthere prefect and flawless bodies. But this is a topic I may notcover the media and the part they play. Q.
what I hope to find out and what is my aim?A. My goals are to find out how it starts what cause it in thebeginning, what are the signs and symptoms how and what it canaffect in peoples lives. Eg: social, work and family evenleading to death. my aim also was to gather the actualdefinitions of body image and three disorders concerning bodyimage.
Two of them being eating disorders and the other one,more to do with a physical visual appearance disorder. Tryingalso to briefly look at the media. My main goal is to validatemy hypothesis that body image is very linked or the main causethat lead people to eating disorders. Q.
What is body image?A. People often talk about body image, but what is it exactly?O’Dea (1995, p. 56) defines body image as a concept or schemeincorporating a collection of feelings and perceptions such asoverall awareness of the body, perception of body boundaries,attention to parts of the body as well as the whole, perceptionof size of the parts and the whole, and position in space andgender-related perceptions. Body image includes an individual’s perception and judgement ofthe size, shape, weight and any other aspect of the body whichrelates to body appearance. O’Dea (7995) p. 56Q.
What is body Image in young women?A. A woman’s body image encompasses her physical appearance,size and shape. Our body image is formed out of every experiencewe have ever had- parents, role models, and peers who give us anidea of what it is like to love and value a body. Image isformed from the positive and negative feedback from people whoseopinions matter to us.
It is also the way we ourselves haveperceived our body to fit or not to fit the cultural image. Many women have a distorted perception of what their bodies looklike. They may look in the mirror and see a larger body than theone that they have. Adolescent girls are repeatedly told thatthey must adapt to socially acceptable norms. Body Image includes more than weight. The cosmetics industrytries to sell us the idea that we need to improve our skin tone,hair colour and hair style.
The clothing industry tells us eachyear that, to look good, we need to change our wardrobes. Body image has been studied from numerous and variedperspectives, such as psychological, philosophical andsociological. It has been well documented that in Westernculture, females are more concerned than males about eating,body weight and appearance (Pliner 1990 as cited in Murphy1997). From an early age, children learn that Western culturejudges attractiveness and social acceptability using body shapeand size as important criteria.
The ideal of slimness for malesand females and the undesirability of fatness is learned fromchildhood (O’Dea 1995). Q. What are eating disorders? . Anorexia Nervosa . Bulimia Nervosa . Compulsive Eating .
Binge Eating -Over Exercise or Compulsive Exercise . Body Dysmorphic DisorderI am only defining three of the eating disorders above, the twomost common disorders Anorexia and Bulimia. Then the BodyDysmorphic Disorder, which I see as a relevant disorderconcerning body image. Q. What is Anorexia?A. Often called Anorexia Nervosa – A person who suffers fromanorexia is one who refuses to maintain a healthy body weight.
They have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat andstrive for perfection. Due to the loss of fat and weightgirls/women may suffer repeated missed menstrual cycles. Peoplesuffering from anorexia are probably very restrictive in theireating habits. Q. What is Bulimia?A.
Often called Bulimia Nervosa – A person who suffers frombulimia is one
