Anorexia Not Essay Research Paper Anorexia Not

  • Просмотров 294
  • Скачиваний 10
  • Размер файла 17
    Кб

Anorexia: Not Essay, Research Paper Anorexia: Not Just A Women s Disease Oh I m so fat . This is not something we normally think of hearing out of a man s mouth. Women are thought to be the only ones that obsess over their appearance. Therefore, anorexia is commonly thought to be a woman s disease. But in reality, there are many men fighting it. Out of the estimated eight million people in the United States with anorexia, about ten percent of the cases are men (Something Fishy, par.1). These are only reported cases. It is assumed that there is more, but the men haven t come forward, since it is very hard for a man to admit to having this disease. Nevertheless, there are a growing number of men in America with this disease, and it needs to be dealt with. This paper will

address the causes, affects, reason why they hide it, and treatment of anorexia in men. It is not known for sure what exactly causes anorexia in men. But there are a few theories on it. One theory on the cause of anorexia in men is our culture today. Most people think our culture only influences women with the constant pressure to be skinny, with the magazines, and the skinny models, and everything. But actually, society influences men to be thin quite a bit too. What s acceptable for a man s body shape is very limited here in America. More and more magazines for men are about fitness, weight lifting, and body building(Highlights, par. 6). The media and entertainment industry really focuses on a nicely built, in shape man . So some men do feel pressure to be physically fit. Of

the men that are overweight, some may choose anorexia as a way to diet. Anorexia in men is rare of course, but it does happen. Another possible cause of anorexia in men could be the sports that they participate in. Some common men s sports that are thought to cause anorexia are wrestling, ballet, ice skating, horse racing jockeys, and gymnastics. In fact, one third of high school wrestlers starve themselves to make weight (WebMd Health par. 14). High school wrestling coaches encourage less eating, and low water intake, so that the wrestlers can get into a lower weight class. And unlike with most sports, where the athletes stop their behavior after the sports season is over, wrestlers tend to continue there behavior all year round. An average wrestler s body fat is three percent

lower than a normal high school student s(WebMD Health par. 14). For example, my brother has been in wrestling for nine years now. Although he s not anorexic, he has done some crazy, and very unhealthy things for wrestling. His coach makes the wrestlers spit all the time. I ve witnessed this at school. I could always tell who the wrestlers were, because they would be walking down the hall and all of a sudden spit into the garbage can. This was one of their many ways to dehydrate themselves to loose weight. The wrestlers rarely ate anything at lunch when I was in school, and if they did, it was hardly anything. I often noticed my brother wouldn t eat dinner with us at home, and I got really worried. When I would nag him about eating, his response was always the same, I have to

make weight . This making weight as they called it, involves losing enough weight so they can wrestle in a lower weight class, and therefore have a better chance at winning. They are really pressured by their coach and fellow teammates to loose weight. So I can see from my brother how a lot of wrestlers end up anorexic. Most men will not admit to being anorexic, because it is commonly thought that anorexia is a woman s disease. But there is another big reason why anorexic men will not come forward. Society has always thought that a man who was anorexic, must be homosexual. But society is mostly right about this. It is a fact that forty two percent of men with anorexia are homosexual(WebMD Health, par. 5). This is thought to be because of the high level of importance that gay men