Skinny is In
The Causes, Effects, and Misconceptions of Anorexia
By: Aly Johnson
What is greater than God and more evil than the devil? The rich want it. The poor have it. And if you eat it or drink it, you will die. The answer? Nothing. Nothing is greater than God or more evil than the devil. The rich want nothing. The poor have nothing. And what I’d like to inform you all on today is that if you eat nothing or drink nothing, you could die. The loss of appetite and inability to eat is known as anorexia. In its most drastic form, this disorder is characterized by the fear of becoming fat and the refusal to eat, leading to debility and even death. Why do we care? Because the media has construed an inaccurate image of the ideal woman, causing a skyrocketing increase in the number of adolescent girls who are unhappy with their bodies, to the point of self-induced hunger. I’m going to explain some causes, effects, and misconceptions of anorexia so that you all may be better educated in how this wretched disorder has devoured so many women. We will look at how the fashion industry creates unnatural ideals, how young girls resort to unhealthy weight-loss techniques, and how our lack of understanding has prevented us from helping women who silently struggle with wanting to be ideally thin.