As a result, publicizing humans of all similar (and societally seen as attractive) stature and build, whether it required photoshoping, editing, or effects, builds a culture in which the body people strive for is one that can induce unhealthy habits, possibly leading to eating disorders (MacDonald 2001: 1002).

Anorexia is self imposed weight loss and oftentimes accompanied by over-exercising and the use of laxatives or slimming medicines, which are all results of extreme overvaluation of shape and weight (Morris and Twaddle 2007: 894).

Anorexia oftentimes results from the need for a coping mechanism in highly perfectionist, competitive, and stressful environments, as well as genetic predisposition (Morris and Twaddle 2007: 895).

Many individuals who suffer from or have suffered from bulimia experienced self-consciousness, obesity, depression, or family troubles in early childhood (Bower 1997: 7).

Binge eating is characteristic of eating, in a discrete period of time, an amount of food that is larger than most people would eat in a similar period under similar circumstances and sense of lack of control during the episode (Waller 2001: 343).

Although anorexia is the most physically visible eating disorder discussed, due to the maintaining of an unduly low eight and body mass index of less than 17.5, all three of these disorders are unhealthy and are representative of psychological issues, a point that is imperative to understanding eating disorders and the stigmas associated with them (Waller 2001: 343).

Later in 1873 in London, Sir William Gull recognized anorexia as a disease and proposed his idea of Anorexia Hysterica to his colleagues in the Clinical Society of London, and named the malady anorexia nervosa, meaning loss of appetite (Engel, Reiss Dombeck 2007).

Even after the diagnoses became solidified and the concept of an eating disorder was medically recognized, the disorders were not given much attention, nor were their causes, until the mid 1900s, in fact, binge eating was not recognized as a formal disorder until the 1990s.

Only within the last several decades has the diagnosis, treatment, and recognition eating disorders become a more pressing matter (Engel, Reiss Dombeck 2007).

It is important to understand how many people (in this case looking only at the American population) are affected by eating disorders.

The National Eating Disorders Association predicts that eating disorders affect 5 to 10 million American adolescent girls and women and approximately 1 million American boys and men, meaning that these diseases are affecting a large portion of our population (Weltzin 2004: 42).

Such disorders are most prevalent in girls, ages 12-26, however, it is still very possible for other populations to develop eating disorders (Ray 2004: 98).

Eating disorders are often associated with self-consciousness, insecurity, and self-doubt seen in adolescent girls.

With this being said, men can develop eating disorders as well, which can often attract more judgment than women with eating disorders, due to its irregularity and apparent abnormality.

Young men comprise approximately 10 to 15 of those suffering, making them the obvious minority within the realm of eating disorders (Ray 2004: 98).

Additionally, men who play competitive sports or are struggling with their sexual or gender identity are more likely to develop eating disorder than others.

Men who struggle with eating disorders are forced to face a criticism based on two accounts: first of all, the fact that they have an eating disorder and second that they are men with an eating disorder.

Anyone who has an eating disorder is subject to negative stigma and criticism, but the gender dynamic of men with the disorder amplify the backlash.

For example, the informal term of manorexia has been coined to describe men with struggle with anorexia, suggesting that men who have the disease are suffering with a completely different diagnosis than the women.

Many authors argue that the media has nothing to do with eating disorders and that the media are pathetically incapable of doing anything but contrastingly, many scholars argue that the media, and even the general population, have depicted the ideal body as very thin (MacDonald 2001: 1002).

Rarely can you find an overweight woman on the cover of a magazine or staring in a television show or walking down a runway.

Women and young girls specifically compare themselves to what they see in the media and what they see around them, often giving them false expectations for their own bodys image.

A Strange Harvest Torrent