Over years of eating disorder research and studies, Sharlene Hesse-Biber, a professor in the sociology department, has heard her share of young students explain how having the perfect body is everything to them, and that they will go to any extreme to get it.
What's worse, she added, is that far too often the desire driving college-aged men and women into the growing number of eating disorder diagnoses today is simple acceptance.
"One BC girl said rather directly to me, 'call me vain, but my eating disorder lets me know that when I'm at Mary Ann's, the boy I'm interested in will be looking at me, and not her,'" she said.
It is a difficult concept for many to grasp. And today, many still prefer to turn the other way. But as the bubble of silence surrounding the eating disorder endemic in America comes closer to bursting, more people are starting to open up the conversation in an effort to disprove stereotypes attached to the illness and to help those suffering get the treatment they need.
"There's a lot of stigma around eating disorders," said Julie AhnAllen, staff psychologist at BC's University Counseling Services. "People view it as very hush-hush. They don't think it's OK to talk about. But we all struggle with it to a certain degree. Everyone thinks about their body image."
While eating disorders are often caused by other emotional or psychological trauma ranging from stress to depression to physical abuse, Hesse-Biber made the clear distinction between those incidences of the illness and others that are "culturally induced eating problems." It is through the study of these situations - when the negative effects of a particular culture skews judgment - that researchers have determined the powerful role environment plays in eating disorder development.
And the college campus setting is about as worse as it gets.
"College campuses - BC especially - are semi-enclosed environments," Hesse-Biber said. "When you're seeing the same people over and over, it becomes a very visual culture, and people pay close attention to what others look like."
Hesse-Biber said the pressures of entering adulthood and the search for gender identity that continues from childhood also creates an atmosphere at colleges that promotes heightened awareness of one's physical appearance. And despite efforts at better media literacy, most 20-somethings turn to the media when trying to figure out how they should dress, look, or act.
"We're so wound up in this idea that thinness and being pretty for girls, or strength and being muscular for guys will give us the power or attention we want, that we can't break this addiction to the media and its perfect images," Hesse-Biber said.
But because the illness can be and often is the product of culture, a change in that environment is needed before real progress toward prevention efforts can be made.
"As a campus, we can dispel this perception of perfection - whether it's about body image or being better than someone else in your class," AhnAllen said. "There are things we can do to create a more supportive environment here, and that's something we here all need to work on."
AhnAllen applauded the efforts and strides made by the annual Love Your Body Week campaign currently underway at BC, but said more needs to be done on an individual level as well.
"We all care about our looks, but there's a fine line between being healthy and unhealthy about it. And we need to remember that when dealing with this issue. We need to be more open with each other, have more conversations about our feelings surrounding it," she said.
When confronted with the challenge of dealing with the disorder firsthand - either through a friend or personal experience - AhnAllen said it is important not to place blame or judgment on anything or anyone, but to start a constructive dialogue.
Friends of eating disorder sufferers often contact the University Counseling Services, she said, looking for ways to help someone close to them they fear may be struggling with the illness. AhnAllen suggested opening the door for conversation with that person, while realizing that there are certain ways of probing that are more helpful than others.
"Despite your concern, don't focus on their weight or food or exercise when speaking with your friend. Don't make a comment about how many times they've been to the gym that day, or how little they ate at dinner. Focus on their emotional state. You have to see them as a whole person and not just someone with an eating issue," she said.
Often just breaking the barrier emotionally is enough to start the healing process.
"You may never get to the topic of eating in your conversations, but you may get to discussions of stress or others problems - and that's a great start toward a more trusting relationship," AhnAllen said. "And it is so much easier for people with an eating disorder to realize they might have a problem when they hear from someone who cares and knows them well."
A single concerned voice can be extremely effective in the fight against eating disorders, but until the society at large can better control the growing "cult of thinness" as Hesse-Biber described it, preventing the problem all together will continue to be a struggle.
Be the first to comment on this article!