The skin and bones of America

Anorexia Nervosa is one of the most neglected eating disorders in the United States. It is a very common eating disorder, but is unfortunately unnoticed by the public, social media, and even the community. Many of our health concerns today are so focused on obesity and over eating that the topic of anorexia has been thrown under the bush and completely forgotten. The public is so concerned with what and how much children are putting into their bodies and not enough of what’s not being put in.

Anorexia is the fear of gaining weight and the desire to having an in proportional body figure. It also deals with a personal mental issue, which leads to depression, and an unhealthy obsession with weight. Anorexia should be seen in a more serious light because many boys and girls are losing their lives due to the devotion to become as thin as bones or the deprivation of nutrients.
This disease is believed to be a ‘popular trend’ among teenage girls, but studies have shown that many young men and middle aged women are also suffering with anorexia.
Unfortunately, the media doesn’t help to find a cure for anorexia. Instead, our media portrays the image that women are supposed to be a size 0, with the perfect flat stomach and small curved waist.

There’s rarely ever a plus size model on billboards or catwalks because the idea of a ‘fat’ woman is not condoned and is mortally wrong and shameful. With this ongoing push of what’s “acceptable” to women, it doesn’t seem like a surprise that women are actually changing their eating habits to have this “correct” body image. Recently, the newest trends in pro-anorexia is the infamous "thigh gap." This visible gap provides to many anorexia victims an image of a goal of what they should achieve through their "dieting." The exposure of anorexia amongst young teens are through social media blogs such as tumblr, and twitter. Pro-anorexia blogs are built as forums for pro anorexic girls to support each other and criticize each others bodies as they journey together through the phases of anorexia. A perfect example of a celebrity who is pro-anorexia is Kate Moss. Supermodel Kate Moss is infamously known for her quote “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Young teenagers look up to celebrities as role models so to have a super model publicly support the idea of anorexia is absolutely disgusting.

Anorexia has taken over the lives of young adolescent, and over 50% of the population has admitted to unhealthy dieting to get to their current weight. Many who have suffered with anorexia are left with bulimia or other similar patterns and only small amounts of people actually get treatment for anorexia. There is nothing healthy about vomiting to stay fit, or not eating in order to just stay tiny. Our culture and social media is a huge part and a giant cause of anorexia. America doesn’t want to have a country of fat, obese people so obesity is a big issue for our health rates. America focuses on trying to stop people from over eating or eating excessively that they do not notice the victims on the opposite end of the eating disorder.
Anorexia goes unnoticed very often in the private homes of many victims because parents are able to notice a weight increase in their children but not a weight loss. Most of the times, parents confuse dieting and eating disorders with each other. Anorexia is a very serious issue and needs to be noticed and displayed more to the public eye. Not enough people know about the facts behind anorexia or its life threatening consequences which is a big reason why nobody has made the effort to try to stop anorexia.