According to a blog entry by Dr. Joseph DeSoto, appearing on the website of the Martinsburg Journal (Martinsburg, West Virginia), anorexia is largely caused by a society which has learned to judge people solely based on appearance, and a society in which thinness is equated with success. According to Dr. DeSoto, "The identification of thinness with success regardless of achievement or merit has led to the development of a culturally based mental illness called anorexia nervosa."

Dr. DeSoto argues that because genetic factors play a small role in the risk for development of anorexia nervosa (he says 2 percent to 6 percent), the disease is almost entirely environmental. Dr. DeSoto believes that "Dysfunctional family relationships, perfectionist or overprotective mothers, withdrawn and passive fathers and overvaluing of mass media are some of the environmental risk factors for the development of anorexia nervosa."
(Source: www.journal-news.net)

Labels: pressures, body-image, society

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According to a recent article appearing in USA Today, media hubbub over Jessica Simpson's apparent weight gain is angering nutritionists and health experts. Simpson's current weight is estimated to be between 130-135 pounds. At 5'4", this puts her in the middle of the healthy weight range for her body frame, say health experts. Nutritionists point out that media and tabloids are calling the young star fat, when the average weight for a woman who is 5'4" in the United States is 164 pounds.

Nutritionists and health experts blame media scrutiny and the impossible standards imposed by the media culture for the ubiquity of eating disorders among young women today. Sharon Lamb, a professor of psychology at St. Michael's College in Vermont, commented to USA Today that the media is subjecting Simpson to a "public shaming for putting on a little weight."

Lamb, who is also the co-author of Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes, believes that the media sends mixed and potentially damaging messages to young women in the way that they "criticize stars who have anorexia, which is a disorder, and then in the same issue they shame a star who puts on a little weight." (Source: www.thecelebritycafe.com)

Labels: media, healthy-weight, body-image

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