According to Judith Rodin, Lisa Silberstein, and Ruth Striegel-Moore (1984), the concern American women have with weight has become "a normative discontent." Consider the mother, sister, or friend who is perpetually on a diet to lose "those last five pounds." Such widespread concern with body shape (or "body-image disturbance") is a relatively new historical development that mirrors the increasing tendency for media outlets to feature dieting information and images of extremely thin characters and models.

Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are less common than body-image disturbances, but they too are increasing in prevalence. Rates of occurrence of eating disorders among females in the United States range from as little as 1 percent (for anorexia) to more than 20 percent (for bulimia). Rates of occurrence of eating disorders among males in the United States are smaller (about one-tenth that for...