Jon Derek Croteau, was diagnosed with an eating disorder when he was in his 20s. No one had ever talked to him about eating disorders in men, so he was quite uncomfortable to label it as that. Eating disorders were, and still are, considered a disease more common in girls, and with his already self conscious feelings about his homosexuality, revealing he might have a 'girl' disease was almost too much. And the fact that no one even considered it didn't help him to realize the truth. When he went to the doctors, they referred to it as 'runner's' hematuria (blood in urine) due to an excessive amount of running. 20 years later, his friend started to show signs of eating disorders (depression, anxiety, loss of appetite, constipation, etc), and lost 50 pounds in a matter of months. The countless doctors and and specialists figured it must be something part of his diet, so they started to take many things out and he ended up with hardly any food left. At that point, no one knew what to do. Over time, he was able to find a psychologist who was willing to consider the fact that it might have been an eating disorder, and treat him based off of the inference and helped him to get better.
Connection: In health class, we went over different eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, etc, the symptoms of these eating disorders, the outcomes, and the effect they had on the people. We also talked about how many models tended to have eating disorders, and how it was mostly found in girls due to the online representation of women.
Question: Do you believe that more women have eating disorders then men? Why? Do you believe in the future we will be able to consider eating disorders not just a disease found in women, but a disease that doctors would recognize for all genders?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-derek-croteau-edd/men-get-eating-disorders-too_b_6023872.html
I am not very familiar with the science behind eating disorder, so I'm not sure if it is more common among women over men. However, I do think that because of gender separation and gender roles there are a lot of men with eating disorders that just don't want to admit that they have it. I think as society learns how to work together more and realizes there is no need for gender roles then doctors will start to recognize the disease in men.
ReplyDeleteI believe more women have eating disorders than men because of the way the media tells them how to look. The media tells them they need to be skinny, they are not good enough, and they have to look like models. Ive not seen this happen to men as much but I do know some guys can feel self conscious about their weight. I think this may change in the future if the views of men and women are the same and eating disorders don't become out of control.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that eating disorders are more common in women. I think it's found more often in women because they have more pressure from the media to be the idea of "perfect" when "perfect" doesn't actually exist. Women are always comparing themselves to the billboards and posters and magazine covers and striving to be like the women on the front with "perfect" bodies and "perfect" faces. But those "perfect" bodies and faces aren't actually "perfect" because of this thing called photoshop. The "perfection" women strive to be like, will actually never get there because nothing exists. But some women (or men) never realize this and keep starving themselves no matter how skinny or unhealthy they may become.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that more women have eating disorders than men because, the media shows you all these photoshoped thin women all over the place including billboards advertisement on television and computer and much more.The doctors were obviously not smart because they seem like they are using Google for their research because they just looked up most common diseases in men at age 20. Doctors probably consider eating disorder something both male and female can get but they were looking up something that would be most common with him.
ReplyDeleteI do believe most women have eating disorders than men, because of society and how the media believes you should look. The media is showing pictures of so called models that are supper skinny, have nice legs, have beautiful hair, have a flat stomach, and have beautiful skin, and young girls look at this and believe they should look like this, and society supports the media in doing this, by calling girls ugly if they don't look like this. Society is having a big impact on women now a days. I do not believe in the future that doctors will fine that men have eating disorders just as much as women, if society never changes.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that women have more eating disorders than men. This is because women are more judged by people, both men and women. Most of the time, women try to lose weight because they think that they won't be loved by that special someone. The fact is that doctors do accept men that have eating disorder, but it's the men that don't want to go to the doctors for their eating habits.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that women are more likely to have eating disorders then men because society influences more on women then men. women are judged so much more then guys and care more about what others think. Women are constantly trying to look like other people (models) which causes eating disorders. Men seem to not care about what others think about them but on the other hand women do extremely care about others options. Judging others can hurt them so much.
ReplyDeleteI believe that more women have eating disorders than men because of the media. Eating disorders will be considered in all genders in the future because the media is basically controlling what people are doing with their bodies. People are making themselves look unnatural and unhealthy to look like models. There are pictures of models everywhere which everyone wants to look like because people feel like that is what is socially acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI think eating disorders in women are more common because the media makes women have a lot to live up to which involves being very skinny. I also think that in the future, eating disorders will be considered for both genders because this article shows how eating disorders in men are an actual thing.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, as many people above have said, society influences women's self esteem much more than it influences men. Movies show a moderately attractive man getting an insanely attractive woman, Carls Jr commercials show an overly objectified woman eating a hamburger, Rolling Stones magazine covers sexualize women but treat men like people... the list goes on.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see by the fact that you had an article on this topic, people are starting to notice the men who face this struggle. For other genders, well, we'll need to wait until the media acknowledges their existence. We still have a long way to go, but if you look closely, you can see the improvement.
I think that for women there is a lot more shaming into them looking a similar way. They must be skinny, but not to skinny, curvy, but not fat, and have perfect skin. The goals that has been set by Photoshop have made our societies beauty standard unobtainable. This has caused the women in or society to shape into a more insecure , but also judgmental group of people. Even though it is less common because there is less on men looking a certain way people will always find imperfections which can lead to eating disorders as well. I think it is important our society accepts not only that it is a problem for all, but it is a problem set by fake things and we need to accept ourselves before anyone else will.
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