First year Woman often fall victim to eating disorders

Anxiety usually fills the air when the discussion of a young woman’s first year at varsity is raised. Stepping in to the unknown territory can be a very daunting experience and as creatures of emotion, we sometimes struggle to find a balance as we try to settle in to our new lifestyle. Academics, friends, social experience and love interests fill our timetables leaving us with almost no time or energy to concentrate and maintain, what is most important, the mind and body. Varsity sees the transition from girl to woman, and this for most is a fragile time. Many girls struggle to juggle emotion and pressure and somehow they drop the ball, falling victim to eating disorders.

‘First year spreads’ are one of the biggest fears for most girls as they embark on their first year at varsity. With all of the stress that first year and the adjustment of a new space brings it is easy to see why most girls find it so hard to maintain a healthy weight. Adjustment to me is thus the main factor; outside of the usual pressure that society places on woman to look a certain way. These social pressures seem all the more, harder to deal with, in circumstances of emotional uncertainty.Like any social structure, university demands for us to look and act in a particular way. This is not to say that these pressures are more extreme at varsity level or that they can’t be overcome. The pressures at varsity are just unique in the sense that individuals for the first time get to really make decisions about themselves based on what their own imitative. Having left the nest of one’s parents, students have a sense of freedom and it is up to them to create or adjust to the person they want to be or be perceived as. These mixed emotions thus, can create a very unstable mental environment and it is then easy to fall subject to disorder.

Eating disorders like any common illness are evident in the day to day lives of everyone in the world. Wether it be you, a friend or relative most of us struggle to maintain confidence about our body. None of us, especially when faced by, the pressure of first year can avoid experiencing some form of eating disorder, wether this be first or second hand. All of a sudden minor imperfections, which we all have by the way, leave us tumbling down a slippery slope to obsession.

Wether it be bulimia, anorexia or binge eating young woman seem to try and use their disorder to create a sense of control. Somehow society and the media has led woman to believe that in order to be in control and to have success we, must alter ourselves to the point of perfection. While perfection itself exists is debatable, I recon it is a myth, we all still fall subject to at least tying. “To be a success as a girl and then as a woman, I learned early that I was supposed to be obsessively self-centered, scrutinizing every pore, every gesture, every stray eyebrow hair, eradicating every flaw, enhancing every asset,” Susan J. Douglas writes in Where the Girls Are.

Usually, the time spent at varsity for most us, is a transition from girl to woman. Experience, age, mental and physical growth are all factors that come in to play as we make this conversion. A conversion which must be undergone, as we all need to learn to be confident with the person we are, physically and mentally. As young woman we must therefore, learn to support and encourage each other, while not forgetting to promote our individuality. We are not all, and most of us will never be, Heidi Klum’s. We are however all unique and it is vital that woman support each others individuality if we are to avoid insecurity and disorder.

La Schandre Coetzee