Why are more girls anorexic than guys?

Question

It seems like there are hardly any anorexic guys, but tons of women and girls who are.

Answer 1

because women are fed a certain body that they are supposed to have, and society has a certain image of what women should look like, so women and girls feel pressured into it...however, guys are told by society that they should be muscular and "macho"...so most guys would be ashamed to have a skinny body

Answer 2

It all has to do with what we call our "perceived ideals." And these ideals vary greatly, in fact, almost oppositely, between the two sexes. For men, we are brought up to believe, and society encourages us, to be strong and masculine. Thus, a strong, buffed, defined body type is perceived as favorable. Men equate skinny as being weak and femanine, like the old 97-lb. weakling in the Charles Atlas ads.
Women on the other hand, are greatly influenced by the fashion industry and by celebrities. Thus, women like Kate Moss and Jessica Alba and Paris Hilton and all of those twigs are looked to as an ideal to aspire to--at least physically. Of course, the lower your self-esteem the more vulnerable you are to the pressures of society. This is why anorexics ALWAYS have low self-esteem. Someone who is happy and confident with themselves just says: "To hell with that, they're too skinny." And men of course, usually care far less than women do as far as what other people think about how they look.
Too, remember that anorexia is a pretty modern illness. It was all but unheard of back in the '40's and '50's. Guess why? Right: because models and celebs back then were full figured.

Answer 3

Women are the ones who are judged more harshly based on appearance and weight. Look at the average sitcom: the wives tend to be young, pretty, and thin, and the men can be positively trollish. It's never the reverse. This is also why women spend so much on beauty treatments and clothes compared to men. It's survival for us- if getting the job, getting the man, and having the children all depends on how goodlooking you are, you will do your damnedest to be pretty.

It is getting worse for men. More and more men are becoming anorexic. However, their ideal body type does not depend on you being able to see all of their bones. In general, they'd be more likely to use "performance enhancing" drugs and work out way too much, as men are supposed to be muscular. It's sad, though. When we fight for equality, this is _not_ what we meant.

Answer 4

Because there is more pressure being put on women to be extremely thin. The media is out there with images of very thin women, magazines, movies, tv and billboards etc. Mind you there are more images of boyish type models so the pressure is just starting on the guys. So, from what I see people seem to be more accepting of fat men than women. Look at all your weight loss ads. They usually show women being on the ads and also telling them that it is desirable to be a size 4 and lower. And that being a size 14 is unacceptable. But fact is the average woman in the US is a size 14. This is my take on it.

Answer 5

There is more pressure on girls to look good. This is because boys are visually-oriented. This is also because somegirls can be quite harsh when judging other girls. This is also because girls care more about what others feel. Supposedly, we are the communicating sex (even those of us who are avoiders compared to most girls/women may be better at communicating than the average boys/guys/men). This is also because society puts that kind of pressure on us, and not the self-enabling pressure that boys are used to getting (reason why men feel that the world is on their shoulders at a younger age, or that they have to try harder to attract a woman than a woman has to try to attract a man). Lastly, I'd like to point out the uniquely feminine and masculine defensive mechanisms. Women deal with things by communicating. Men deal by burrying. This is not just societal pressure but a biological mechanism. And it's one reason why it's easier for men to fool themselves. Women are more introspective. (Generally. As always, I have to include exceptions to the rule.)

Answer 6

i was watching the Tyra show last week where she did an experiment on what type of women the men found more atractive as far as weight and it turns out the women were more critical of each other than the men were of women. the men prefered bigger women. so i think we women are to mean to each other when it comes to appearance. we should be happy with our own bodies instead of worring what others think of us, we women are always trying to fit in and not loving ourselves as we are.

Answer 7

As far back as the first societies of groups of cavemen go, humans have assigned themselves society-specific gender roles. Women attract mates, men find mates. The fairer sex has traditionally been passive- her job in the courtship ritual is to present herself as attractive and desirable, while the man must hunt the woman down and initiate a relationship. Thus, a woman's success in finding a mate has not come down to her audaciousness and personality, but her physical beauty. As women compete for mates, they modify themselves to become more desirable partners. Men compete with each other in an active, contest-like manner, while women compete with each other passively, by trying to be prettier than each other. As the image of a beautiful woman has changed from era to era, women have tried to mold themselves into the image of a desirable partner. With the modern conception that thinner women are more beautiful, women try to compete with other women who vie for the attention of desirable mates. Thus, as men seek out mates rather than passively attract them, they need to worry less about their appearance. Women become anorexic and men do not because of the traditional active/passive gender roles that are deeply ingrained in all of us, whether or not we like it.

Answer 8

Well, it seems that being overweight is a more "normal" for guys. I really don't know exactly, but this is a very good question. God Luck!

Answer 9

beecause to look pretty girls want to lose wieght, they always think theyre too fat, but guys always think theyre too skinny and want to get stronger