Never too rich...or to thin

This weeks reading called "Never Too Rich... Or Too Thin: The Role of Stigma in the Social Construction of Anorexia Nervosa" written by Karen Way, tries to bring more light about what is "normal" dieting behavior and weight concern and what is anorexia. Many psychologist and social researchers agree that there has been a trend toward a feminine ideal of unstopping slenderness over the last 30 years. This is becoming a very serious societal issue. One of the reason might be that woman are scared of being overweight since it may lead to social rejection. Studies show that overweight people are often attributed to be morally and emotionally impaired, socially handicapped, lazy, and less intelligent. It even lessens the chances of a woman to get married.  Many industries such as the corporate beauty industry, fashion industry, beauty magazines earn profits by taking advantage of the cultural obsession of thinness.  If they are able to undermine a woman's self-esteem, induce high anxiety in respect to a "feminine" appearance, the product will sell itself.  Another problem is that these companies have so much influence on society that they now define what is a "normal" physical look. As time goes on, they portray woman being slimmer and lighter as being normal and this physical aspect becomes almost  unattainable for a woman unless she has an eating disorder.  Saddening facts, 1 in 25 American females have an obsession with thinness that turns into a life-threatening eating disorder such as bulimia and anorexia.


I found this reading to be very interesting even though I was already aware of most of its content.  I have to point out that most of the citations and studies are from 20 years ago which means that it is probably not the most reliable source of information since our society changes extremely fast.  The writer mentions that "there has been no official response to the problem of eating disorders by a governmental agency, institution, or other influential group, no official investigation and no proposal for reform". I do believe that steps have now be done into solving this problem.  The fact that I am already well educated about this eating disorder proves my point.  A lot of work have been done into making anorexia and bulimia into the required topics covered by most of our public high school's health classes.  Informing young girls (and guys) about the negative aspects of these eating disorders at a young age is a very good measure for solving the problem. I also believe that actions have been recently taken in the modeling industry to stop the trend of ever-increasing thinness.

Questions:

Is anorexia today as frequent as in the 1980s and 1990s or has it slowed down by recent measures taken?

How is the increasing obesity in our country affecting eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia? Are the cases of these eating disorders decreasing because we see more fat people around us and view our normal weight as being more acceptable?