Posted: 03 Aug 2010 05:00 AM PDT
Eating Disorders: It's Generational
Ginger Emas at ShareWIK.com has written an interesting piece about men and eating disorders. It piqued my interest because a friend of mine once asked me if she should be concerned about her son's eating habits. He counted calories, stayed away from sweets, and was a tad obsessive about a healthy diet. I told her not to sweat it, buying into the cultural myth that boys don't get eating disorders. Now I know they do. To get to Ginger's original article on ShareWIK, click here. I have reprinted it with permission below.
Usually when we talk about body image issues, we're talking about girls. But did you know that more than one million boys and men struggle with eating disorders? More than 80% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. More than 10% of middle school boys have used steroids. These are boys who don't understand why they should brush their teeth every night; how can they possibly understand the repercussions of starving or using steroids?
Studies today suggest that body image is deeply affected by the media - television shows and movies that show buff, brawny young men and the sexy, slim women who love them. And in fact, my own son - who at 15 is tall and thin - can often be found facing the mirror sideways, and sighing over the fact that his stomach is not completely flat. What he sees is the 10-year-old version of himself, when his one chin became two and he had to wear uniform pants marked "Husky." (What marketing genius thought that "Husky" would be a good retail term?") This was the year that his friends at school teased him about needing a "man-bra." But no one needed to tease him; my son was his own worst critic. Except, perhaps, for me.
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