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QUEST FOR PERFECTION TAKES TOLL ON SOME FEMALE APPLICANTS
Ventura County Star , CA
May 8 2007
Young women are applying and being admitted to college in record
numbers, and on most campuses across the nation they are outnumbering
men. According to the NACAC (National Association for College
Admission Counseling) State of College Admission report published
in 2006, 58 percent of college applicants, and college students, are
women. However, many of these women are checking into their college
dorms with some heavy baggage: eating disorders.
Courtney E. Martin, author of "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters"
(Free Press), says eating disorders are epidemic among young women,
and she thinks the pressure of college admissions can exacerbate
eating disorders among high school girls.
"The quintessential candidate for anorexia is the high-achieving young
woman," she says. "For young women who want to control every facet
of their lives, controlling what you eat can be a very satisfying,
very finite focus. You may not have any control over whether you get
into Harvard, but you can sit and cut your one piece of cheese for
the day into 10 tiny pieces, and in that realm you are in control
and have transcended the messiness of life."
Martin says the scrutiny of college admissions creates young women
who want to appear flawless, both on their applications and in life.
"Girls think they have to be perfect. They have to have a resume that
includes every possible angle, and in terms of body image, that's
where all that anxiety can resonate. It's about being the beautiful,
smart, athletic, popular girl, and that's all tied up with being
thin. It's an ambition project that the college admissions process
really encourages."
Martin says the roots of perfectionism and eating disorders begin in
childhood when young girls are told that they should reach for the
stars. "My generation was raised to believe we could be anything, and
we heard in our own distorted reception that we need to be everything."
But much of the pressure to be thin, or perfect, comes from within.
One girl, an immigrant from Armenia whose family struggled financially,
tried to become the "perfect" daughter. She tried to embody the
American ideal by becoming thin, rich and educated. Though she is
now successfully putting herself through college, she laments her
"love handles and cellulite" and says she feels "deeply ashamed"
at her failure to have a perfect body.
Martin, a graduate of both Barnard and NYU, recalls the women in her
undergraduate dorm monitoring their food consumption or vomiting to
purge the calories. She tells of girls who exercised obsessively to
ward off weight gain.
Martin explains that her peers rationalized their eating and
exercise disorders using "irony and humor," claiming that while "being
Barbie-like is unoriginal, resembling the (thin) actress Chloe Sevigny
is hip."
Martin says that a typical "Perfect Girl, Starving Daughter" would
be the girl who appeared to have it all together.
"It's the girl who everyone thinks is really smart and can go to any
college she wants," she says. "She gets high grades and is good at a
couple of sports and is maybe the captain. She's maybe artistic music
or writing she's attractive, thin, and all of this looks effortless;
it seems like she's doing this without a lot of energy being put
into it. But the starving-daughter part is that underneath all of
that illusion of perfection is someone who probably feels tremendous
pressure to excel in all these areas."
Martin's book offers a comprehensive list of resources and treatment
centers for young women with eating disorders. And though she offers
some good advice aimed at self-acceptance and change, she also says,
"For real girls with real lives, eating disorders and real problems
may not have the perfect ending."
Ventura County Star , CA
May 8 2007
Young women are applying and being admitted to college in record
numbers, and on most campuses across the nation they are outnumbering
men. According to the NACAC (National Association for College
Admission Counseling) State of College Admission report published
in 2006, 58 percent of college applicants, and college students, are
women. However, many of these women are checking into their college
dorms with some heavy baggage: eating disorders.
Courtney E. Martin, author of "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters"
(Free Press), says eating disorders are epidemic among young women,
and she thinks the pressure of college admissions can exacerbate
eating disorders among high school girls.
"The quintessential candidate for anorexia is the high-achieving young
woman," she says. "For young women who want to control every facet
of their lives, controlling what you eat can be a very satisfying,
very finite focus. You may not have any control over whether you get
into Harvard, but you can sit and cut your one piece of cheese for
the day into 10 tiny pieces, and in that realm you are in control
and have transcended the messiness of life."
Martin says the scrutiny of college admissions creates young women
who want to appear flawless, both on their applications and in life.
"Girls think they have to be perfect. They have to have a resume that
includes every possible angle, and in terms of body image, that's
where all that anxiety can resonate. It's about being the beautiful,
smart, athletic, popular girl, and that's all tied up with being
thin. It's an ambition project that the college admissions process
really encourages."
Martin says the roots of perfectionism and eating disorders begin in
childhood when young girls are told that they should reach for the
stars. "My generation was raised to believe we could be anything, and
we heard in our own distorted reception that we need to be everything."
But much of the pressure to be thin, or perfect, comes from within.
One girl, an immigrant from Armenia whose family struggled financially,
tried to become the "perfect" daughter. She tried to embody the
American ideal by becoming thin, rich and educated. Though she is
now successfully putting herself through college, she laments her
"love handles and cellulite" and says she feels "deeply ashamed"
at her failure to have a perfect body.
Martin, a graduate of both Barnard and NYU, recalls the women in her
undergraduate dorm monitoring their food consumption or vomiting to
purge the calories. She tells of girls who exercised obsessively to
ward off weight gain.
Martin explains that her peers rationalized their eating and
exercise disorders using "irony and humor," claiming that while "being
Barbie-like is unoriginal, resembling the (thin) actress Chloe Sevigny
is hip."
Martin says that a typical "Perfect Girl, Starving Daughter" would
be the girl who appeared to have it all together.
"It's the girl who everyone thinks is really smart and can go to any
college she wants," she says. "She gets high grades and is good at a
couple of sports and is maybe the captain. She's maybe artistic music
or writing she's attractive, thin, and all of this looks effortless;
it seems like she's doing this without a lot of energy being put
into it. But the starving-daughter part is that underneath all of
that illusion of perfection is someone who probably feels tremendous
pressure to excel in all these areas."
Martin's book offers a comprehensive list of resources and treatment
centers for young women with eating disorders. And though she offers
some good advice aimed at self-acceptance and change, she also says,
"For real girls with real lives, eating disorders and real problems
may not have the perfect ending."