Poor self-image. Low self-esteem. Yearning for a better body. Losing control. These are things that most anorexics have in common. I know, because I’ve seen it in so many teenage girls. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people, especially the teen group (adolescent girls) starve themselves – the main reason is to lose weight and turn lean. Anorexia usually begins in young people around the onset of puberty. Weight loss is obtained in many ways – some harmful also.
The common techniques used are excessive exercise, intake of laxatives/ diet pills, vomiting after a meal and starving oneself to limitless extent. People with anorexia continue to think they are overweight, and will resort to dieting even after they become extremely thin. Many experts believe that the cause of anorexia is because of peer-pressure among adolescents, and I believe it. High school is a place where everyone fights for a good image, hence all the drama there.
Girls are always trying to look better than each other and doing the impossible to gain popularity. But it’s not entirely their fault wanting to look so skinny and “fake”. Society nowadays shoves the photo-shopped pictures of beautiful toothpick-like models into young girls’ faces telling them that this is what they should look like. The world tells us girls that we have to have “the perfect body” and wear the tightest clothing to look beautiful. Whatever happened to being “beautiful just the way you are”?
I overheard these girls bragging to one another a few days ago about losing 10 pounds when they were already underweight. And still they complained about being fat! There are already many people dealing with real weight problems, and here are a couple perfectly thin girls saying that they’re obese. These anorexic teens need help; some just want the attention from their family or friends. Others just need to be told that they’re beautiful no matter what. And that’s the problem! Trust me, I know.
I’ve battled eating disorders and the peer-pressure that comes along with it. It’s hard when no one cares, or when people insult you on the way you look. My brother would call me hurtful things that I don’t even want to say because it’s too embarrassing. Thank God I’m healthy and won that battle with anorexia. But other girls are much weaker and very delicate with these things. Every girl is beautiful in her own way, and I believe the world should do something about it. The world needs to stop making girls feel like they’re pigs, because they are not.
I’ve heard countless stories about anorexic teens being rushed to the emergency room because of the lack of nutrients they had. It’s scary because some of them actually die. It’s sad to see a girl eat a cookie in 45 minutes. Girls are doing this to themselves. Why? Because they’ve been called fat, because they want attention, because they want to look like what society thinks is beautiful. We need to put a stop to this now, before they starve themselves to the point of death. Every girl needs to know that they are beautiful just the way they are.
