Sacramento State is populated with an inordinate amount of beautiful women. While interviewing two men a few weeks ago, I watched as their eyes glazed over and they ate up the strolling students passing by. “Sorry,” one of them said. “But there are some hot girls on this campus.”

As with all things, there is a dark side to this lovely phenomenon. Due to the current popular trend favoring very thin women, many women have been dismayed by what nature has offered them. According to the California Department of Health Services, the average weight of a model is 23 percent lower than that of an average woman; 20 years ago the differential was only 8 percent. With the ideal offered to us by a model being so drastically different than reality, women are driven crazy attempting to compete.

Visual images constantly temp us of a better life if we were only skinnier. “Negative body image is one of the most prevalent and destructive problems among young women, ” says Susannah Northart, co-chair of NOW’s Young Feminist Committee. “The media is constantly surrounding us with images that make girls feel bad about themselves.”

According to National Mental Health Association, five percent of college women suffer from bulimia. Bulimia is one of a set of eating disorders. Others are anorexia nervosa and binge eating, both having devastating effects on the men and women affected. Bulimia’s pattern is a cycle of binge eating and then purging through vomiting, use of laxatives or excessive exercise.

Eating disorders have a long history. Romans were known to gorge themselves on food and then excuse themselves to vomit in order that they might enjoy a few more courses of their meal. Romans were probably not acting out of psychological discomfort, but because they had access to plenty of resources. We do not see eating disorders in developing countries because there is simply no food to spare.

There are many factors involved to cause an eating disorder. Family behavior, stress, genetic links and social pressure are some. Dr. Equilla Luke, director of Sac States psychological counseling office, says there is “not a single cause of eating disorders, there are multiple contributing factors.” Dr. Luke went on to explain, “There are many different subsets under the umbrella of eating disorders, and each of these subsets is influenced more by specific reasons, such as the media or a neurochemical disposition.”

As advertising has permeated schools, work, recreation and the home, we are more exposed to the limiting beauty standards put forth today.

When asked if the media portrayed models that were close to the average body size if that would positively affect those with eating disorders, Dr. Luke agreed.” The subset of people affected by media would be less predisposed to the disorder.” She went on to state that Marilyn Monroe, who was a size 10 or 12, was an image of the ideal beauty that was very close to the average body weight of that era. Perhaps, that is why today we have more eating disorders, because we have a greater dichotomy between the ideal and reality.

Sac State is not immune to this disease. The school provides us with free psychological services that can alleviate the symptoms of this debilitating disease. With the knowledge of the problem, and the availability of help out there, perhaps we can reduce the numbers of students affected from eating disorders.