“This week's topic is: eating disorders. Is it quite prevalent only in the united states? is it prevalent *only* in females or are there quite a few guys that only suffer from these disorders? is it because of the idea that image is most important?” –cybermolehost

“I've had friends that have gotten so frail and thin that it was scary. Sure they looked good for a while, but pasted a point of looking good and they just started looking unhealthy. I can say from experience with these friends that the problem is rooted much deeper than self-image. The problem usually stems from something else and all the people that I know that are anorexic or bulimic all admitted in time (after counseling) that the problem was much bigger than losing weight” -larry

“I believe that eating disorders do not belong to any certain age group, sex or location. Where there are people that are uncomfortable with their self-image, you're going to find people vomiting up their meals or whatever else they do to 'fix themselves'. It doesn't matter if they're 80 or 200 pounds, you can help them if they *think* they're fat.” -annette

“It's definitely not just females who suffer from eating disorders. Although females might suffer from them more often, male cases are greatly undereported. Daniel Johns, the lead singer for Silverchair, was anorexic. He attributed his problems to the pressures of being famous and the expectations it brings, including looking a certain way. So in his case it was image that led him to it. Whether or not this is the case most of the time, I can't say.” -jason

“My gut instinct to this would be, yes, our country is probably one of the highest in the world for this disorder. Why? We're so visually oriented. I mean, look at the big celebrities, most notably the likes of Calista Flockheart, Courtney Cox, Jennifer Anniston, et al. By and large, the women considered to be beautiful by Hollywood's standards all weigh, like, 91 pounds. Courtney Cox in particular, she looks awful. I'm not saying the three listed above have eating disorders... but the fact that their skinny arses are generally part of the most beautiful people lists probably gives some people who _don't_ weigh 93 pounds a complex. So in order to look "chic", they stop eating, or make themselves blow chunks, or whatver.” –john

“I just wanted to add that eating disorders do not only involve people starving themselves. They can also involve over-eating. Food can be comforting. It's something that people turn to in order to feel better. It's like Fat Bastard said, something like, ‘I eat because I'm depressed, I'm depressed because I'm fat.’ It's a strange thing, some people turn to food. I'm just the opposite, I've had some things happen where I was very upset and I physically could not eat for a long time. Maybe that could be considered an eating disorder” –jason

“Jason brought up a good point down there. Generally, when I think of eating disorders, I think of people who _don't_ eat, or do the binge and purge thing. The whole thought of an over-eating problem didn't really hit me until Jason mentioned it. And as a result, that makes a nice segue into the question of which gender suffers most from said disorders. This is not based on any scientific data or research -- it's just my opinion which, when coupled with $2.00, can get you a gallon of gasoline these days. Anyway, my gut reaction would be that disorders dealing with losing too much weight would be prevalent in women; while disorders dealing with eating too much would be prevalent in men. That's probably way off base, but how many men do you know who are worried about not being overweight? Me, I'm 6', around 170... I used to exercise a lot, but recently, I haven't worked out nearly as much, and my waistline is beginning to show it. I'm not too thrilled with it and plan to start working out again, but it's also not something that has bothered me all that much. As a whole, I don't think society looks at fat men as being unsavory, or what have you. Don't think we can say the same thing for women, and I do believe the end result is more women having issues with trying to drop too much weight.” –john

“I think that a group of athletes that are the most affected by eating disorders are Cheerleaders. I know a lot of people don't consider cheerleading a sport, but it takes a great deal of athleticism. Either way humor me. I'm speaking mostly about college cheerleaders. These girls must have themselves on display on a regular basis. They are judged and there weight is very noticeable in those uniforms. And haven't we all seen those chunkier cheerleaders and made at the very least a mental comment about their poor stunt partners. I remember the tiny cheerleaders almost starving themselves during the season. And it has less to do with getting to a certain size and more to do with looking a certain way in their minds.” –larry

“While I do agree with cheerleading, I would think that wrestling and jockeying being more so. At least with cheerleading, they don't weigh the girls and say "Oh, too bad! You're 5 pounds over (or under) the limit. You can't cheer today!". However, with jockeys and different categories in wrestling, they're put on a scale before the match to see if they 'qualify'. That would cause a lot of stress, I would think, to make sure your weight is at a certain level at *all* times.” –annette

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