Most of us recognize the strong link between eating disorders and women. Women account for 90 to 95% of all cases of anorexia nervosa and 80% of those who struggle with bulimia nervosa. While those numbers may be dropping, there is no doubt that eating disorders have affected women far more than men. Why such a huge gap?
Eating Disorders and Women's Body Image
One cause is nearly beyond argument: The cultural emphasis on body image has soaked into nearly every pore of what we see every day. While body image may be important to many men, it's a far more powerful influence on women.
Men don't always need to be fit to acquire most jobs, command respect from their peers, and appear attractive to women. On the other hand, women who are overweight (or have other "flaws" in appearance) often have limited choices because many men (and some women) write them off immediately.
So it might make sense for women to be more conscious of appearance in our culture, but why are eating disorders the result when this self-consciousness goes too far? Quite simply, it's considered feminine to be thin. This wasn't always the case, and it might change again (check About.com's Plus Size site, a helpful resource, for some perspective). But, too often, the only body shape that seems acceptable to many women is "thin."
A desire to be thinner in our culture doesn't always lead to an eating disorder. Many other factors, including genetic influences, contribute to an eating disorder's development. But when these other factors are present, the overvaluing of thinness in our society creates the environment in which an eating disorder can take root.
The Feminist Perspective on Eating Disorders
Sexism can't be helping the issue, as feminists have pointed out. In a review of feminist literature on eating disorders, Tara Eastlund presents competing (though equally grim) feminist opinions.
As Eastlund reports, some believe that an eating disorder represents a loss of power. According to this line of thinking, as women gain power in other places in society, they give it away in their bodies by becoming thinner.
Another feminist perspective described in Eastlund's review is a theory that an eating disorder is a bid for more power rather than less, as a move away from a more developed feminine body is a move away from a "reproductive destiny" that is seen as "constraining and suffocating."
Biological Differences in Women's and Men's Body Image?
A study cited in December 2006 suggested that women respond to pictures of ideally-shaped women by eating less, and men respond to ideally-shaped men by eating more.
This result seems fairly predictable, but it seems to have been lauded as a significant finding. It would be, but ideally-shaped women and ideally-shaped men are hardly similar in size today. Even men who don't have bulky musculature still require some muscle definition to appear masculine.
A Society Not Seeing Clearly
Boil it all down, and women deal with far different expectations for their bodies than men do. Though men are beginning to deal with other body image problems, like muscle dysmorphic disorder, women have a much larger stake in conforming to norms imposed on them by others.
Back to What Causes Eating Disorders
Sources:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.
Eastlund, Tara. "Eating Disorders: A Feminist Issue." Accessed 26 January 2007.
National Eating Disorders Association, 2002. "Bulimia Nervosa." Accessed 26 January 2007.
Science Daily. "Study Finds Gender Differences Related To Eating And Body Image." At sciencedaily.com. Accessed 26 January 2007.
