Anorexia study backs government ban on underweight models

[xchrom]

http://atomiumculture.eu/content/anorexia-study-backs-government-ban-underweight-models-0


Author:
London School of Economics
28 March 2012


Anorexia is a socially transmitted disease and appears to be more prevalent in countries such as France where women are thinner than average, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

This first ever economic analysis of anorexia, using a sample of nearly 3,000 young women across Europe, concludes that peer group pressure is the most significant influence on self-image and the development of anorexia. The findings endorse government intervention to compensate for social pressure on women, regulating against the use of underweight models in the fashion industry and in women's magazines, for example.

The research, by LSE economist Dr Joan Costa-Font and Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet of City University, is due to be published in the academic journal Economica later this year.

Dr Costa-Font explained: "Policy interventions to try to curb eating disorders are increasingly being used, such as the regulation of the fashion industry and advertisements, as well as support campaigns through social networks and the media. In some European countries, there has been increasing debate over the conditions, especially since the Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died from anorexia in 2006.

"More generally, it is becoming increasingly apparent that standards of physical appearance are important and powerful motivators of human behaviour, especially regarding health and food. Excessive preoccupation with self-image is regarded as a contributing factor to the proliferation of food disorders, especially among young women. Anorexia, together with other food disorders such as bulimia nervosa, can be characterised by a distorted body image accompanied by an eating obsession.

[idwiyo]

1. K&R

[mopinko]

2. kicking

not so sure about this. i think our behavior is so much more genetically controlled than we understand now. we could still be programmed to follow norms, tho.

[HuckleB]

3. Kick.

And it's hideous. Once the brain is starved, it is so hard for people to work their way out of this.