A Thin Figure Is Not the Key to Happiness – Research Paper – kimberlyanne21
Search
Essays
Sign up
Sign in
Contact us
Tweet
Index
/Social Issues
A Thin Figure Is Not the Key to Happiness
A Thin Figure Is Not The Key To Happiness
We live in an era where society judges us by our looks and how much we weigh. They do not care about our personality, they only care about what we look like on the outside. The magazines that are stacked on top of the coffee table all show certain types of women, but all of these women are the same; maybe, not the same in personality, skin color, or race, but the same in body type. Social media encourages women to perfect their bodies by looking like a doll. They must dress a specific way, look a specific way, and weigh a specific weight. All of a sudden there comes an article that states anorexic women, and society seems to not understand the importance of this disorder in women. Why do we let society control what we eat, how we act, and how we dress?

Women are “terrified to gain weight and are continually reminded by the media about various new diet products on the market, and the value in weight loss” (“Negative Body Image – Understanding and Overcoming | Center for Change”). Women face impossible images of beauty on a daily basis when they watch television, see a movie, or even view a magazine. Social media has done so many things in order to expose women to a criteria that society sets. Women feel insecure about their bodies and their physical appearances; they often believe that they must change their bodies to gain self-esteem. According to the Center for Change, a recent survey found that only 2% of women in the world would describe themselves as “beautiful”. The rest of the women consider themselves as “ugly” or “fat”, and because of this, they start trying to change their bodies, hoping that they will someday be the girl on the front page of Seventeen.

There are two types of anorexia nervosa: restricting type and binge-eating/purging type. The restricting type of anorexic patients are the patients that restrict their calorie intake. They take about a few hundred calories a day or just drink water. On the other hand, the binge-eating/purging type of anorexic patients are the patients that eats a certain type of food, and then regrets eating it and vomits it right out of their system. By far, the binge-eating/purging type of anorexia is the most dangerous type; it can be fatal.

Some people may not know that there are health consequences to anorexia. Due to self-starvation, the body is denied of the essential nutrients that it needs in order to function normally; the body is forced to slow down all of its processes to conserve energy. Some of the serious medical consequences that may occur due to anorexia: the abnormally slow heart rate and low blood pressure means that the heart muscle is changing, the risk for heart failure rises, osteoporosis occurs, muscle loss and weakness, severe dehydration resulting in kidney failure, fatigue and overall weakness, and dry hair and skin (“Anorexia Nervosa | National Eating Disorders Association”). These symptoms can hurt one’s body and can lead it to multi-organ failure.

Society’s judgements for the looks of our bodies contribute to the development of diseases. One would be anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa—also known as anorexia—is an eating disorder characterized by an abnormally low body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of body weight. Some studies are conducted in order to figure out why many people (mostly women) tend to have anorexia nervosa; but, there are also some studies that look at anorexia in a different way.

“[Anorexic patients] are ruled by the heart, not the head…” (qtd. in Barton). A team of psychiatrists argued that anorexic people were not just psychologically impaired, rather, they were passionate about what they did. There were some recent studies that suggested that the brains of anorexic patients may “have [had] overactive self-control [centers], faulty reward circuitry and dulled responses in regions important for body awareness” (Barton). In other words, Barton was stating that anorexia sufferers might have “rewarded” themselves by starving, but in reality, they were hurting their bodies by not giving it sufficient nutrients. Barton talked more about the view that anorexia sufferers may have had. She stated that anorexia sufferers may not actually be suffering from anorexia because they wanted to look like the models on television, but because they experienced pleasure from it.

Furthermore, anxiety might also be a cause that contributed to the development of anorexia. According to the British Medical Journal, anxiety is one of the many common causes of anorexia. Anxiety caused many people to “fall off the wagon” and start losing their appetites. This then led to depression, which also caused many people to become anorexic. Although, some people might think otherwise when someone says that depression

Continue for 6 more pages »
Read full document
Download as (for upgraded members)
Citation Generator
MLA 7
CHICAGO
(2015, 07). A Thin Figure Is Not the Key to Happiness. EssaysForStudent.com. Retrieved 07, 2015, from
“A Thin Figure Is Not the Key to Happiness” EssaysForStudent.com. 07 2015. 2015. 07 2015 < "A Thin Figure Is Not the Key to Happiness." EssaysForStudent.com. EssaysForStudent.com, 07 2015. Web. 07 2015. < "A Thin Figure Is Not the Key to Happiness." EssaysForStudent.com. 07, 2015. Accessed 07, 2015. Essay Preview By: kimberlyanne21 Submitted: July 15, 2015 Essay Length: 1,639 Words / 7 Pages Paper type: Research Paper Views: 381 Report this essay Tweet Related Essays Step one Fling Away Happiness for Momentary Passion (the Painted Door and the Birthmark) Motivation is the driving force behind all actions and reactions. In both Sinclair Ross’s “The Painted Door” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” motivation is the 688 Words  |  3 Pages Google Key Factor of Success 1. What were the key factors behind Google's early success? The key reasons for Google's success is a belief that good ideas can, and should, 448 Words  |  2 Pages Key People of Wwi Key People & Terms People Prince Max von Baden The chancellor of Germany during the final months of the war. As Kaiser Wilhelm II lost 1,040 Words  |  5 Pages Happiness and Social Connectedness Key to Long Life Happiness and social connectedness key to long life Lindy Kerin reported this story on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 08:18:00 This report focuses on the researching 292 Words  |  2 Pages Similar Topics CocoCola Key Success Factors Key Assumptions One Theory Psychodynamic Get Access to 89,000+ Essays and Term Papers Join 209,000+ Other Students High Quality Essays and Documents Sign up © 2008–2020 EssaysForStudent.comFree Essays, Book Reports, Term Papers and Research Papers Essays Sign up Sign in Contact us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Service Facebook Twitter

Get Your Essay

Cite this page

Types Of Women And Body Type. (June 12, 2021). Retrieved from https://www.freeessays.education/types-of-women-and-body-type-essay/