2008 Woodie Awards
Male anorexia in America: My struggle against the unseen beast and what you can do prevent or treat a pervasive disease
Jaime Zepeda
Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: Opinion
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Cosmo, Vogue, and Eighteen do to the female self-esteem what Castro residents do during Mardi Gras: drag it down.
Studies have shown time and again the effect these magazines have on women aspiring to be the size of a thimble, even though most of those models are airbrushed 10 times over.
America is continuously assaulted by a parallel universe. The universe that is Anorexic America.
Anorexic America is viciously promoted in the realms of Hollywood, magazines, and OCiety, but their impact is widespread. They trim down the waist, push up the bra, and bring down the self-esteem.
Anorexic America is not exclusive to women.
While women try to become as thin as possible, men go for either the massive, muscular build, or the extremely lean, defined look. Both can stem from the same issue.
Look at Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, Details, and Rolling Stone, and you will hardly see husky hunks on the cover.
Think of any overweight leading males in movies or headlining rockstars.
Are you drawing a blank? No surprise (although, John Mayer perfectly captures the skinny-fat look). The point is that fat men are also segregated (to a lesser degree) from the spotlight as non-waifer women are.
Living in America, and owning a mirror, made me aware of this trend.
I was fat. Pretty fat.
I shopped in the husky section for as long as I can remember. The emphasis is on was. I like to think of myself as average weight now, and somewhat in-shape. But even then, I hesitate to go that far. The mere fact that I am so judgmental of the five pounds. I want to lose in order to get the six-pack flaunted on screen and on print is an indicator of how powerful this trend is.
Let me rephrase: the five pounds. I need to lose.
I have been jokingly called anorexic by some of my close friends. I laugh and tell them I just like to go the gym and cringe over every calorie I ingest.
Deep down, however, there is more going on than calorie counting and meat-headedness.
Although I don't eat like a rabbit, and don't go to the gym everyday for two hours (I used to, though), I am still shackled by Anorexic America's constraints. What I eat and what I do with my spare time will be judged by others. I have often told myself not to eat that peanut butter and jelly sandwich, because I had a bagel in the morning. I often feel guilty for not going to the gym five times a week, because I need to go that often. This is coupled with the fact that I sometimes binge eat because I have deprived myself of food beforehand.