There she is walking through the Quad. Skin and bones. Her tight, gaunt face staring ahead. What is she walking towards, I wonder? Or better question: what is she running from?
Every student on the Wake Forest campus has seen this girl. But here’s the thing-she’s not just one person. “She” is the hundred or so girls at Wake Forest with a full-blown eating disorder. Eating disorders, over-exercise, and body dysmorphic disorder are all-too-common problems on this very small, very southern campus, and these dangerous diseases plague an alarming amount of young women in the Wake Forest community.
The problem has grown too prevalent: It’s time for this issue to come into the public eye.. With multiple students being sent home every semester due to unhealthy food consumption or exercise, the campus can no longer blame the problem on the individuals themselves.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, 20% of college students believe that at some point they have suffered from an eating disorder. On a personal note, I can say that over half the females I know on campus admit to having struggled with a disorder at some point. These eating hang-ups are everywhere, and there are a number of specific reasons why this problem is extra-prevalent on this campus.
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We have all heard of Wake Forest referred to as a “bubble”. Simply put, that’s because it is. The “bubble” mentality is a dangerous one because it forces girls to critique themselves harshly on a daily basis against the people around them, not the greater population (outside Wake) as a whole. And with eating disorders, beauty really is only skin-deep.
Firstly, the sheer amount of wealth and beauty that abounds on our campus can make some students feel materially inferior. It is difficult for girls to maintain a sensible level of self-worth when other people seem to be continuously ahead of the curve in fashion, beauty and other “faddish” objects and are consequently praised for their prevailing tastes. If they are unable to keep up with the latest trends, girls thus begin to feel that they must instead turn to something they can control, their body. They begin to supplant their feelings of self-worth with their weight.
This competition with other young women on campus only intensifies when college males enter the picture. At Wake Forest, as on most college campuses, there is a heavy amount of binge drinking and sexual activity. The prevalent fraternity scene here offers an atmosphere where these things are not only accepted, but encouraged. Pushing the limits is praised. Females feel a need to win male approval by looking “hot” at parties and by stripping attention away from other females. Looking good in front of males is very important because many women glean their self-esteem solely from the opinions of guys they know. This need to impress leads to females not only succumbing to the standards of a few men for their bodily image, but also leads them to flawed standards with regard to sex and alcohol. They begin to feel obligated to not only look a certain way, but to act in a way that will impress men, which can lead to abuse of drugs or alcohol, unwanted sex and overall unhealthy lifestyle patterns.
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Men are not the only problem that the women of Wake Forest are facing, however. Societal standards in the professional arena are also amping up the necessity to be a fit young professional. Many Wake Forest students succumb to the idea that they can and should have it all: an active social life, good grades, campus involvement and a prestigious job or internship opportunity. With a such a packed schedule ,it can be hard to fit in exercise and so, as an alternative, many girls choose to minimize their food intake ,often to an unhealthy level.
Furthermore, as the students of Wake Forest are pushed closer and closer to their limits, they can fall deeper into their obsessions with food. Compulsion and anxiety about both academic and professional life augments these symptoms and the cycle continues. For seniors, as graduation approaches and critical decisions about relationships and careers ensue, the pressure to be perfect has never been higher. If Wake Forest placed more emphasis on healthy, balanced lifestyles, they would have a happier and healthier student body.