“Poor Little Rich Kids”
In 1983, American’s were stunned to learn that Karen Carpenter had been pronounced dead at a California hospital. While being only 32 years old, she weighed only 108 pounds and her death was caused by cardiac arrest due to a strain placed upon her heart by anorexia (Young). Karen Carpenter had suffered from anorexia for most of her life; her father, Richard Carpenter recalls that she was a “chubby teenager” (Young). Not until she collapsed performing in Las Vegas and was told she was “35 pounds underweight” did she realize that she needed help (Young). Even now in 2009, this is not an unusual scenario in the US; many celebrities have been treated for or watched for eating disorders. While the media flashes the images of emaciated Mary Kate Olson or Lindsey Lohan young teenagers sit at home wishing they could look just like them. The number of eating disorders diagnosed in the US has been consistently going up over the past few decades-particularly in affluent areas. Why are eating disorders more prevalent in affluent areas in teenagers? I believe that eating disorders are more prevalent in affluent area teenagers because of new diagnostic testing, pressure by the media to look like celebrities, pressure by men to be model skinny, and pressure by high-income parents to succeed.
Over the past 50 years, the ability to diagnose eating disorders and other psychological disorders has increased which has lead to an apparent increase in the eating disorders being diagnosed. In the 1970s people finally began to publicly discuss a mental disorder that had been around since the 1870s (Kahrs). Over the past 40 years, the disease has been studied extensively in both the United States and Britain (Kahrs). Now in the 21st century, the ability to diagnose various mental disorders is so much greater. In a phone interview with an eating disorder specialist, Dr. Jamie Gayle said that there is usually an underlying psychological disorder such as “bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders or other addictive behaviors” (Gayle). Since technology has advanced over the past few decades, the ability to diagnose these disorders has improved, therefore the perceived number of cases has gone up. Because of increased ability to diagnose psychological disorders, the number of people with eating disorders has increased.
In this new age of technology, the media constantly alters women’s ideas about
how their bodies should look based on how celebrities bodies look. Teenagers in affluent areas “ [know] a thing or two about dieting, fitness, and cosmetic surgery” and they learn these things from various media sources (Martin 95). But what they do not know is that every photo is retouched: a process by which editors remove excess body fat they do not like, put in ripped abs and cover up any blemishes. Vanity Fair, US Weekly, and People Magazine, regularly have articles about the latest celebrity diet fads and exactly how to get that look the celebrities have. After watching the covers change week by week, it seems that these magazines virtually never place pictures of an average sized woman on the cover. As L.A. Times reporter Emili Veslind points out in her article, “Fashion’s Invisible Woman”, “The average American Woman is size 14.” Instead what these magazines offer are images of “miraculously disappearing Nicole Richie” or the “once full-cheeked Lindsey Lohan” (Martin 144). The media is manipulating the minds of young girls into believing that skinny is the way to be and that they should do whatever it takes to be that way. A study done by Anne E. Becker M.D. in 1995 on people in Fiji, saw an increase in dieting between 1995 and 1998. She interviewed some young teenagers in affluent areas of Fiji, and they cited “the appearance of the attractive actors on shows like ‘Beverley Hills 90210’ and ‘Melrose Place’ as the inspiration for the weight loss,” (Derenne & Beresin). The pressure that the media places on young girls to be skinny and look like the celebrities causes young girls to develop eating disorders to fit the mold.
Boys and men place pressure on women to be the “ideal standard of beauty” (Worsnop). Finding a true love or soul mate is always on the minds of young women from the time puberty hits. One of the main things that most women worry about is that “they will never be able to attract the hypercritical male sex” (Martin 184). This idea of attracting the hypercritical male makes most women worry about their body so they begin to diet excessively to keep their idea of what size a man wants. Courtney Martin interviewed many men, in her book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. She found that none of the men lust for “women who spend the bulk of their free time obsessing over the size of their thighs” (Martin 187). Why do women still believe that men want a skinny mate? It is believed this stems from the 1950s when women were expected to be skinny and the perfect housewife. Even though most men will not admit that they want this “ideal” woman as a mate they do still hold that idea on a pedestal. The pressures placed on women by men to have the perfect figure causes young women and women to stress more about their weight.
