Riding life in the fast lane….a world of lights and camera, parties and glitter. The paparazzi swarming around every aspect of your life. You have to look good because you are constantly in the public eye and you know you will be judged. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say, but the whole world happens to be just that when you are rich and famous.
An extreme emphasis is placed on beauty in Hollywood. Hollywood causes anorexia because all eyes are on you and you cannot dare to eat another bite of food lest you gain a pound or two. We are not talking average thinness when we say that Hollywood causes anorexia. We are talking about a wispy, thin as a feather, frail thinness that Hollywood demands of you. Those in Hollywood that dare to be of average weight risk the cruel media flashing pictures of them and then posting them to all of the gossip magazines with headlines that poke fun of their every imperfection.
They say that Hollywood not only encourages, but demands a thinness that literally causes many starlets to starve. Anorexia nervosa is a very intricately complex eating disorder that involves many disturbances in the psycho-social aspect of a person. An anorexic will look at themselves in the mirror and will not see what is really there. Their views of themselves are distorted combined with their already fear of gaining weight.
To get rid of excess weight quickly an anorexic will quickly start to take action with such means as laxatives, forced vomiting, excessive exercise and eating less and less each day. Hollywood causes anorexia because they try to take control of your life and there is no privacy. An anorexic then feels that they need to control something in their lives and weight is one thing they can control. Nobody can stick food in their throat. That has to be their decision and theirs alone.
There are several signs and symptoms of anorexia nervosa which include abnormal heart rate, low blood pressure and low heart rate, gastrointestinal disturbances, skin problems sometimes with a yellow tinge, brittle nails and although there is a downy of soft hair growing on their arms and other areas, they tend to suffer from hair loss on their heads.
In the female anorexic the menstrual period will most likely cease especially in severe cases. (Affect on fertility.)
Although anorexics tend to be female, one in every four who sufferers of this eating disorder are male. It is not too often seen in Hollywood though as most do tend to be women.
Hollywood must relax their standards and go back to when sexy was a curvaceous 36-26-36 of beautiful women such as Marilyn, Greta, and Brigitte; before we encounter a dying species of unhappy and stressed women that are literally starving themselves thin.
Resources:
Disordered-Eating: Causes of Eating Disorders
http://www.disordered-eating.co.uk/causes-of-eating-disorders/causes-of-eating-disorders.html
People: Eating Disorders: A Hollywood History
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20112060,00.html
Something Fishy: Associated Mental Health Conditions and Addictions
http://www.something-fishy.org/isf/mentalhealth.php
PBS: What Causes Eating Disorders
http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/eatingdisorders/preventing_causes.html
Hollywood News Daily: LeeAnn Rimes Denies Anorexia Rumors
KidsHealth: Eating Disorders
http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=KidsHealth&lic=1&ps=207&cat_id=&article_set=20422
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