Anorexia, the pressure of the catwalk girls

Since Operación Triunfo, with its famous plump girls, began to demolish the myth that an ideal figure is necessary to succeed, the obsession to be one of those "catwalk girls" He began to wobble. Since its first broadcasts, various teachers, doctors and educators, think that it has become a decisive asset against the anorexia. Good for Rosa from Spain.

The anorexia it is a serious alteration of the perception of one's own image, with a morbid fear of obesity. Although the causes of this disease remain unknown, more and more people are thinking about social pressure as one of the main factors of appearance. The excessive tendency towards the "perfect body" and the beauty canon of extreme thinness (the Pasarela girls) constitutes one of the paths towards this disease.


The cause of anorexia is unknown, but there are a number of factors that cause anorexia that combine biological elements (genetic and biological predisposition), psychological (family influences and psychic conflicts) and social (influences and social expectations). Weight loss leads to malnutrition, which in turn contributes to the physical and emotional changes of teenage girls and perpetuates the vicious circle.

Anorexia offers a distorted image before the mirror

Adolescence is a vulnerable stage, first of all biologically, due to the changes that are suffered. If that is added to the family problems and combined with a social climate that idolizes the "perfect" figure, this food behavior of the anorexics can be originated. Western society is very influenced by the notion that Obesity is insane and unattractive, while thinness is perceived as desirable.


People with anorexia nervosa they become emaciated until they reach starvation, losing at least 15% to 60% of their normal body weight. The main motivations for their refusal to eat are an overwhelming fear of being overweight along with a distorted image of their own bodies. Even emaciated, women with anorexia are often still convinced of their overweight. Food becomes the enemy.

Half of these patients reduce their weight by severely restricting their diets and are known as restrictive anorexics; the other half, the bulimic anorexic patients, do so through purgation. Although both types are serious, the bulimic type, which imposes additional stress on a malnourished body, is the most harmful. Smoking and compulsive exercise are other risks that are often part of this condition.


Among the multiple causes would be a marked social pressure to thinness ("If you are a top model you will succeed in life"), a turbulent past of "chubby", an internal feeling of fatness (without being necessary a real overweight) or the model of a mother who is considered coarse.

Causes of anorexia nervosa

1. Predisposing factors. Genetic, female sex, age (13-20 years), affective and emotional, personality characteristics, family and sociocultural.
2. Precipitating factors. Potentially stressful life events, separations and losses, sexual contacts and excess physical activity.
3. Maintenance factors. Cognitive, negative affect, purgative behaviors, attitudes of family and friends.

Anorexia increases among men

The vast majority of patients affected by the Anorexia - about 90% - are women. But although only the 10% of adults with anorexia are men, your number is increased. Only in childhood, the 25% of patients are children. Most prepubertal children are aware of this social attitude about thinness and it is estimated that about 50% of children follow a diet or adopt weight control measures.

Unlike women, men-more resistant to diet-focus on physical hyperactivity to lose weight, developing vigorexia. This means that, despite carrying out high physical performance, they are never sufficiently compensated, creating an addiction to compulsive exercise.

The role of journals in anorexia

Juvenile women's magazines can precipitate the appearance of cases of bulimia and anorexia, according to a study by the Pomepu Fabra University, which warns that the period in which there are more cases of eating disorders coincides with the months in which the mentioned publications encourage Your readers prepare their bodies for spring.

The research highlights that these journals, which reach almost 600,000 people in Spain, is one of the main information vehicles for adolescents. According to the authors of the work, they "convey a frivolous image of the adolescent, solely concerned with aesthetics.Thus, important issues in the lives of young people are avoided, such as their intellectual and creative development, participation in civil society, human values, their labor relations or their future work ".

The aesthetics and feminine beauty are present in the 40 percent of pages of these publications and 71 of advertisements. The slender figure, tanned skin, depilated and without cellulite is the current canon of women offered by these magazines, states the study, and "show formulas to reach the ideal figure, through effort -time, dedication and perseverance- and the use of magical recipes like little rigorous diets ".

Slimming methods

One in five Spanish has used slimming methods toBefore reaching 13 years (20% at that age), according to estimates provided by the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC). They also point out that a close relationship with the family doctor facilitates the early identification of disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia: "The family doctor can play a crucial role in raising awareness among parents of the importance of the modification and those behaviors and the revision of the current system of values ​​in which the cult of the body has taken on a disproportionate value ".

Tips to prevent anorexia

1. Since the beginning of puberty, your children should be aware that worrying excessively for a perfect body can create an obsession and trigger anorexic behaviors. And it is a disease, just like if you have cancer.

2. Anorexia does not happen overnight. It can be glimpsed much earlier through behaviors that we should monitor: lack of communication and sincerity, complex, narcissism, low self-esteem, reluctance, little appetite. It is not the foolishness of "posh" girls or boys but a psychological and affective disorder.

3. Communication, dialogue with your children, is always essential, but much more when it comes to detecting a psychological disorder. Talking with them about this disease, about how they look physically and their complexes is vital for their emotional development and maturation.

4. In the case of boys, it is more difficult to diagnose anorexia Because men take longer to recognize themselves as anorexic and, in addition, sometimes the symptoms can be confused with depression or digestive diseases. Thus, the disease can be very advanced when it becomes apparent.

5. Do not saturate daughters Because the pressure to be on guard can affect your self-esteem or generate dissatisfaction and discomfort that can downplay other school or social successes.

6. If your children are not happy with their body and they look fat or puny, it is imperative that they are put in the hands of a dietitian or nutritionist. In adolescence you can take regimens to lose weight, but always controlled by a doctor.

Ricardo Regidor

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