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It seemed to me that the older I got, the more obsessed people seemed about their

bodies. Whether it was the diet soda boom of the 80's, or the fact everyone has always

been unhappy with his or her natural bodies; it just took me a while to comprehend. It always seemed like there were diets here, diets there; these drugs can do this, or

these herbs can do that… "Stop the insanity!" This paper is going to discuss anorexia nervosa, an alarming disease that is usually developed during puberty of both boys and girls. Like bulimia, in which the subject binges and then disposes of ingested food by purging or use of laxatives, those suffering anorexia nervosa have an obsession with the amount

of fat on her body (although one of every ten suffering this disease are male, I

will use the female pronoun since they are the majority). This results in the

loss of appetite completely and dangerous weight loss. More than thirty years

ago one of this century's major sex symbols sang, "Happy Birthday, Mr.

President," on television. With her size fourteen to sixteen figure, it is doubtful

that society's standards would approve Marilyn Monroe today. Back in those

days men and women alike ate what tasted good or what the body needed

and simply bought clothes that would hide any unwanted weight gain. Today

the story is different. Psychologists that study the influence of television on

children say that television is the most influential medium in our "visually

orientated" society (Velette, 1988, p.3). With the influence of television and

celebrity role models, children don't care that they see a variety of sizes

outside of their home, what they care about are the majority of...