Worshiping the Gods of Thinness

What were you thinking the last time you looked at a Victoria secret supermodel? Chances are if you were a male or a female you admired the perfect figure those women maintain. Generally people do set these women as role-models as to how the rest of the women in the world should look as well, and some girls go beyond healthy grounds to achieve the cultural beautiful that is set for them. Most would conclude that a girl that would stoop to thinking she could possibly be as skinny and perfect as a model is probably an insecure outcast whom just wants to be accepted, well they are most definitely wrong, in Reviving Ophelia chapter 9 “Worshipping the Gods of Thinness” four accepted young girls are interviewed and evaluated for serious eating disorders.

The first girl that we are introduced too seems to be as normal as can be or more commonly phrases as ‘perfect’ as can be, she was a gymnast with many friends and was outgoing. She seemed to be happy until she turned about thirteen and the pressures of life began to weigh her down. Her behavior was very maladaptive she takes a big risk by purging her meals in order to maintain in her mind what she thinks she should be. However, the outside influences that forced her to do this are actu

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Violet was a young hard working girl, who has bounced around from home to home and has taken a beating or two. She never seemed to get full she just ate until she could not eat any more then she would eat again. "

Prudence was the next case study whom had a rather different reason as to why she was so addicted to food. Anorexia is a fatal disease in which girls distort their actual figure and believe that they need to be thinner than they already are. Her obsessive compulsion with exercising, weighing her self and loosing weight was life threatening and could cause her to have a heart attack. After Prudence went through therapy and started to manage her, feelings in a different way either talking them out or writing them down she began to get her mind off food. She even learned a slogan-HALT-so she could identify her feelings rather than immediately labeling them as hunger. Life for bulimic Heidi became a relentless preoccupation with eating and purging. She had a bad experience with men apparently and thought that if she ate enough that she would no longer be appealing to them, which is wrong. Heidi in all actuality “[sells her] soul in an attempt to have the perfect body. Her pleasure was replaced by misery, agitation and guilt. Heidi began to avoid the usual things that used to make her happy, she would end dates with her boyfriend and avoid being around ‘normal eaters’. The compulsive disease was damaging Heidi mentally and physically she not only started to develop a social anxiety disorder but the acid was corroding her teeth and her body was becoming weak. However, through examination and self-determination Prudence finally lived through a Binge-free day. I am in control of my fate, even if my fate is starving,” and realize she needed to do something about it.

Approximate Word count = 1453
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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