The obsession with food is world-wide with varying forms; however in first world countries this obsession is causing extreme disorders which have grave effects on our health. For millions of people, food is simply for survival and they have no choice of eating for pleasure. They are thin because there is simply not enough to go around. Food literally means life or death, “As the 21^st century begins…there are over 800 million chronically undernourished, food insecure persons in the world. They do not get enough to eat on a daily basis”(Senauer and Sur, 2001, p68). The juxtaposition of the starvation of millions and those with eating disorders is shocking yet it is allowed to happen as for so many, food is a personal and freely available choice.

The cultural obsession with food and the body across first world countries across the world is huge and contrasting.  On the one hand, we are bombarded with images of the ‘perfect’ body which can have big impacts on the way young people in particular imagine they should look like. As Rothblum suggests, “Media portrayals establish standards of attractiveness”(1994, p63). On the other, fast food advertising is particularly persuasive leading to many choosing to eat calorie ridden food on a daily, obsessive basis. These two factors have caused three main eating disorders; anorexia, bulimia and obesity. Indeed for many people, “the shape of their lives depends on the shape of their bodies” (Seid, 1994, p3). We are all in some way or another affected by the way we look and all have certain beliefs and ideals on what our form should be, particularly for women. As a society we have been programmed to associate fat with negativity, thereby excluding many people who struggle with their weight, “The fat body stands as a symbol of gluttonous obsessions, unmanaged desires and the failed self” (Murray, 2004, p239). The desire for thinness became predominantly important in the 1960’s in response to new models, in particular Twiggy, “her image became one that women thereafter aspired to meet. Female beauty had come to be represented by a gawky, bare-boned adolescent”(Seid, 1994, p7).

(Ideal Beauty Academy, 2013)

This desire to be shockingly thin in comparison to those who have no choice into how thin their bodies become, is quite horrifying.

In contrast, moving beyond obesity is a new obsession of the body in which select people deliberately become overweight in an attempt to satisfy their fetish. Feeders and gainers gain pleasure and fulfilment by either gaining weight or helping a partner gain weight. In interviews, they view the stomach as a ‘sexual organ’ which becomes more appealing the bigger it becomes. How has this fetish come about in a society still obsessed with the perfect body? In the past, the perfect body was perceived very differently as Seid comments, “fat was seen as a silken layer that graced the frames of elegant ladies…regarded as stored up force equated with reserve of energy and strength” (1994, p5). Is this perception towards fat becoming popular again or is this obsession a new fetish of the 21^st century?

Works Cited

Fallon, P., Katzman, M., and Wooley, S. (eds.) (1994) Feminist Perspectives on eating disorders. USA: The Guilford Press

Ideal Beauty Academy (2013) The Evolution of the Supermodel. [online] USA. Available from http://idealbeautyacademy.net/evolution-of-the-supermodel/ [Accessed 28th November 2013]

Murray, Samantha (2004) Locating Aesthetics: Sexing the Fat Woman. Social Semiotics Vol 14 Issue 3 p 237-247

Senauer, Ben and Sur, Mona (2001) Ending Global Hunger in the 21^st century: projection of the number of food insecure people. Review of agricultural economics, – Vol. 23, p 68-81