University of Wisconsin La Crosse - La Crosse Yearbook (La Crosse, WI)

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n the media, reports USA Today, television gives women the message bout having the perfect body, as do magazines and newspaper ads. But it a double message. They show a thin model in a bikini and also a couple avoring dinner together. Society tells women they must be thin - but 1150 eat - to be acceptable. Our entire social lives and much of our gratification is geared to food consumption - yet magazines and other nedia tell us we must be slim, said Herta Babcock, a social worker at Durdue Student Hospital, to USA Today. 'The residential college environment itself, a community of peers without barents around, provides endless opportunities for pass-along behaviors o soften classical collegiate depression, reports Ms. magazine. n one study on eating disorders at Ohio State University, researchers ooked at 944 sorority women, 38 uppeplevel dance majors and 244 egular coeds. Their overall findings showed that 16 percent of the orority women showed eating behavior indicating the symptoms of Lating disorders; 23 percent of the dance majors showed the same ehavior; and nine percent of the regular coeds showed behavior com- t'ron to anorexics and bulimics. They explained the differences in their mdings by saying sororities - organized for social reasons - create nore social pressures on the women involved in them. The dancers, they prlained, focus on their body for their profession, thus increasing their endency to be affected by the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. . here do these unusual eating habits lead to for the anorexic or bulimic? extreme Cases, anorexia is reported to end in death in about two rcent of the cases. The deaths are either caused by Cardiac abnormality r suicide. In most cases, however, those effected by the eating disorders re referred to both psychological counseling and medical care. But often 'mes eating habits still remain disrupted even after the unusual behavior, haracteristic of the disorders, is overcome. Recovery is often long and low and relapses are not uncommon under stress. It ibulimial seems like the magic solution, said Janis Stanek, a counsel- .r at the UW-L Counseling and Testing Center who leads an eating isorders support group. Although bulimia may seem like the answer to neing able to eat as much as you want without keeping the pounds, the - Bob Hammerstrom disorder has many short- and long-term effects, according to Stanek. Often times bulimia may lead to an electrolyte imbalance which in serious cases can lead to heart trouble and even death. The disorder can also cause a potassium deficiency and cause the glands and stomach to swell. Bulimics will experience extreme fatigue due to the lack of nutrition and also see severe mood swings. Bulimics who vomit to purge themselves may suffer from ulcers or hernias. Also, one of the more obvious side affects is the loss of tooth enamel caused by the stomach acid. For bulimics who use laxatives to purge themselves, the laxatives will do a number on the digestive system, said Stanek. Womenis menstrual cycle is disrupted by the disorder and in serious cases of bulimia, may prevent the recovered bulimic from having children. Symptoms of the disorder, caused mostly by malnutrition, include insom- nia, irritability and lack of concentration. More obvious symptoms that are often overlooked are extreme weight-loss and graying of the teeth. A recovering bulimic said she can pick but a bulimic by her actions. She has unusual eating habits and consumes large amounts of junk foods. Effective treatment for the disorders is just developing. Doctors and psychologists agree that many of the cases are caused by social pressures and that they are psychological disorders. But other research has indicated that the disorders may come from chemicals within the body, thus making them biological. Presently, treatment includes both psychological counseling and medical care. Recent research has shown that these disorders, anorexia and bulimia, are not limited to only females. Males are also affected, although such cases are rare in comparison to the number of women affected. Reasons for the disorders being female-dominated could be explained by more social pressures on women to be thin. Research also has shown that 80 percent of all adolescent girls have been on a diet by age 18. With todayis media messages and social pressures put on women to be thin, it might be asked; Why aren't more women affected by the eating disorders? - Mike McBride 13

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12 Eating disorders may affect 3570 of UW-L women Recently, bulimia, the disorder involving the binge and purge cycle, is causing counselors on college campuses a great deal of concern. USA Today has called it the New fad disorder of the 805, while Newsweek reports, Pigging out and vomiting is treated as if it were the latest fad. Bulimia differs from anorexia, characterized by self-starvation, in that bulimics eat excessive amounts of food and then use either laxatives, diuretics or vomiting to purge themselves. A UW-La Crosse student who had bulimia explains the extent of her disorder, At my peak of the disorder, I was throwing up about four times a day, and if I didn't throw up, it was because I hadn't eaten anything. I was taking about a box of diet pills, diuretics and caffeine pills each week. I was also going through a box of laxatives every day. The eating disorder bulimia, may affect as many as 35 percent of the women on the UW-L campus, according to a recent study conducted here. The study found that 17.5 percent of the women on the UW-La Ctosse campus answered questions indicating they had bulimia. Another 17.5 percent showed symptoms of this eating disorderi and could be affected by it. This means that at least 800 women on the UW-L campus are affected by the disorder and as many as 1600 may be affected. The 17.5 percent Figure is in line with recent research which shows that nationally, bulimia effects 20 percent of the women attending college. The typical target for the eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia, sounds like a description for the Girl Most Likely to Succeed. The disorders usually affect ambitious, young, white, middle-class women. They are often perfectionists with low self-esteem. Often times bulimics and anorexics come from overprotective or abusive homes where they were not able to develop their own identity. I was anorexic for a year until my mom sat at the table and made me eat. So I figured fine, I Can throw it up. What a ticket! This opened up a whole new dimension on food. That was six years ago that this UW-L student became a bulimic. Her battle would not end until she was hospitalized. She began to use food as a coping mechanism when she was a high school freshman. I was athletic and just started dieting with three other friends. But I dove into it and they didn't . . . If I did something in life, I - Bob Hammerstrom always did it better than anyone else. This bulimic, like most bulimics, admits that she is a perfectionist. This bulimic may not have had all the traits of the typical bulimic, but she appears to be like most who are affected by the disorder. She is a white, athletic female who felt tremendous family pressures. I was the person everyone always looked up to; the one who had everything going for her in high school; the one who never had a problem. I was willing to go to all ends to please my friends; I always had the 'luck on my side'; we were the outstanding family'; I was a people-pleaser and appeared confident. According to Dr. Louis W. Stamps of the UW-L psychology department, persons are Clinically defined as bulimics once they eat excessive amounts of food and then purge themselves. Thus, many women, and some men, fit the clinical definition of this eating disorder. This bulimic was seen by others as having it all together. But, she said, I am sensitive, lonely, scared and unsure of myself, have a lot of emotions . . and I'm not a good coper. To add to the pressure she already felt, she felt she had to keep up the facade she had Created for everybody. Her struggle can be seen in her journal entry of June 2, 1983, the day before she sought help and was admitted to the hospital: Where's the hope? Where's the source for the sparkle and sunshine they all see in me? I'm completely drained, yet I keep trying to please them. I'm the shadow trying to be that image they so admire. Dear l God, I'm tired of pretending when I only want to explode. Why can't they see the emptiness behind this facade? Please let the show be over. For her, it was soon over when she was admitted to the hospital for medical and psychological treatment. Researchers have come up with one broad cause for the disorder: social pressure. They cite more specific pressures affecting bulimics such as high expectations from parents and family, the pressure to gain control over their own lives, the pressure from increased responsibilities when leaving home, increased academic pressure and media and social pressures to be thin. These pressures often lead the bulimic or anorexic to feel they don't have much control over aspects of their lives. To gain some control, they often times resort to controlling what goes in and out of their bodies.

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Sex in the 803 Attitudes h Bob Hammerstrom It is difficult to pinpoint exacdy what attifudes college students h about sex in these complex times. Sometimes attitudes seem quite an tional while at the same time some very radical sexual attitudes come the surface. The traditional attitudes cenzer around the facr that the men are expec to ask the women out anti the women are expected :0 play hard :3 get the story goes . . .but not always. Today both women and men hhve a npmber of options to pursue in sexual realm. Women on the university level ali around the country h begun to ask men out and are begmning to reach beyonaifthe stereotype of men always asking the women out. Men, of course, have option to either wait to be asked out, if that IS uh: geared, a: go do asking themselves. . 7 Vrhomdgaxuah an this: - Alfonso Tobar