Eating disorders are mental health conditions that result in unhealthy eating habits. Its symptoms include food binges, a fixation with food, severe restriction of food, and purging behavior such as over-exercising or vomiting. Factors such as genetics, the pressure to become thin, and exposure to the media can cause eating disorders. Personality traits such as perfectionism, emotional impulses, and neuroticism are also some causes of eating disorders. Desire to achieve a western model of thinness (cultural ideals) can also cause someone to develop an eating disorder. However, most often, people suffering from this self-destructive behavior have an underlying emotional, mental, or psychological problem. There are many different types of eating disorders. World-famous celebrities such as Demi Lovato, Paula Abdul, Lady Gaga, and Jane Fonda have struggled with this mental health condition for years.
Demi Lovato has struggled with bulimia for years. Her eating disorder began at age nine, and it started with purging and binge-eating. According to Praderio (2017), Lovato’s eating disorders are hereditary because her mother and grandmother struggled with the condition. Her father also fought schizophrenia, bipolar, and alcoholism all his life. She suspects that another cause of the eating disorder was being bullied at school by her peers. As a teen, Lovato started self-cutting. She would treat the cuts with alcohol and painkillers.
Paula Abdul is another celebrity that has struggled with bulimia. She began her fame journey back in the 1980s as a cheerleader. Paula eventually became a choreographer. After some years, she began singing and joined American Idol as a judge. Paula started hating her body image from as early as seven years. She thought she has a muscular frame, and when Paula began dancing, she became very insecure. aShe kept comparing her body shape with others and would wonder why he was not as skinny and tall as other dancers. That is when she started binging, purging, and overexercising. She struggled with bulimia nervosa for twenty years.
Lady Gaga, a singer and actress, has struggled with anorexia, depression, and bulimia since she was 15 years. She did not feel good about her weight and the shape of her body and wanted to become skinny. According to Morse (2014), Lady Gaga now considers any eating disorder as misleading, damaging, and dangerous.
Jane Fonda, an actress, political activist, and video pioneer, struggled with bulimia and a poor body image for decades. Tanenbaum (2011) points out that Jane’s eating disorder sprung from her father (actor Henry Fonda), who taught her that her looks mattered, and she believed him. Jane says that such information from a trusted source would have a long-lasting effect. Her eating disorder began when she was a teen and proceeded for twenty-five years. She did not like her body image. All that time when she was struggling with bulimia,
Jane had a great career, was earning awards, helping nonprofits, and had a beautiful family. Her self-destructive behavior began when she was 15 years. Jane witnessed a rape incident against her mother at eight years. Her mother committed suicide when she was 12 years, and those were traumatic events, which two years later led to her self-destructive behavior. Her journey to recovery began at 46 years. She knew she had to do something about it or would die. That was her turning point. Jane started as equivalent of “dry drunk” or stopping to take alcohol but still behave like an alcoholic. She stopped purging and vomiting but was still addicted to the behaviorShe started a workout after four years and began to heal. However, she suffered a nervous breakdown and hurt so bad. It was while recovering that she got healed of bulimia.
All these celebrities have one thing in common; they claim that they did not like their body image. They were struggling to become skinny and beautiful. The most common eating disorder with all of them is bulimia nervosa. Those with this condition eat a large meal and then purge to remove any extra calories that may contribute to weight increase. It is a mental health condition that comes from obsession to attain a slender body shape.
Western Beauty Standards
Melitauri (2016) says that “Being white, tall, and skinny with long legs, big breasts, and full lips are the ideal western beauty standards promoted by the fashion industries, television, and social media.” Though many people question the accuracy of such information, girls from as young as seven years do everything they can to meet these female beauty standards. Most of the pictures on social media and the internet of women achieving the standards are photoshopping, and even after knowing this possibility, women will go through unimaginable pain to fit into the standards set. While some women meet these beauty standards naturally, most struggle to without any success. Men have their part to play in this problem; they prefer women who meet the beauty standards set by the media. Buetow and Wallis (2019) affirm that some men divorce their wives to be with skinny women who meet the standards set. I think the female beauty standards set in the western world are inaccurate and unattainable by many.
The media plays a significant role in this issue. I do not think the female on the cover magazine and products promotion material are as flawless as they appear. They could be real women that cameras exaggerated their beauty to attract many readers. Companies chose women who are naturally skinny and tall to promote their products on television. However, the media will use technology to exaggerate their shape and size to meets the female beauty standards set by fashion industries. That way, men will stay glued on the television, and some will buy the magazines or the product not because they like it but because they are attracted to the exaggerated beauty of those promoting. The result is that these men will put pressure on their wives and daughters to shed off some weight to become like the girls on the cover magazines. Alternatively, they will begin getting attracted to skinny women and eventually leave their families for thin women. Young women engage in self-destructive behavior such as over-exercising, vomiting, binging, and purging to ensure that they do not gain any extra weight.
The media can change the beauty set standards by fashion industries by ensuring that those promoting products are a mixture of skinny and balanced women. The magazine covers should have women with standard balanced weight. That way, it will help change people’s perception of beauty and remove the pressure put on women. Many women will love their body image, appreciate their looks, and direct that energy to other productive activities.