Anorexia nervosa is a psychological as well as gastrointestinal disorder, commonly found in young girls. The World Book Encyclopaedia defines anorexia as, "one who avoids food for psychological reasons". Most "experts" believe that those who suffer from anorexia are starving themselves to avoid growing. It is basically a severe eating disorder which is generally characterized by severe weight loss and life threatening dieting which then results in malnourishment. Bulimia and Anorexia are known to be the two most largely known eating disorders that are very serious and affect many teenagers. 95% of people suffering with anorexia are known to be girls. When I think of anorexia, a few things come to mind. I think of really bad episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and Baywatch in which females, usually teenagers, starve themselves and take diet pills. The eating problem is always resolved within the timespan of one 30 minute episode. From the research I've done thus far on anorexia, I now know that this is a very unrealistic representation of what is actually a very serious disease. Despite the number of memoirs about anorexia available today, the voices of women who suffer most seriously are typically excluded. Living their lives with a life-long disability, these women often struggle with poverty and social exclusion. They’re often women of colour, or white women from working class families. Their voices are marginalized, or simply omitted, from the literature of the disease. A 2016 study found a strong link between consistent social media use and negative body image issues including dieting, self-objectification, and body surveillance. Interestingly, the data showed that exposure to one’s own social media account did not negatively impact body image, suggesting that the problem largely lies in the comparison factor that goes along with scrolling through social media feeds. To be clear, social media usage is not the cause of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, there is no question that there is a link between eating disorders and social media use, particularly in the development and perpetuation of body image issues. This is especially true in young women who are already suffering from or in treatment for an eating disorder, as they are much more susceptible to the influence and pressures of social media. I believe that any eating disorder is a mental illness. It’s neither contagious, as deemed in the early times at the time of its discovery nor generated by magazines and books. Like all mental illnesses, each day is a reprieve. And like all mental illnesses, it is deadly and serious. Not a competition, not a trend, not an exotic element to be appropriated. It’s a form of speech. A voice. A response. Many anorexics died before they could get a well treatment for the sake of looking skinny and maintaining certain beauty “standards” set up by their surroundings and mostly social media. Anorexics that are in a very underweight condition, must be treated carefully, or in extreme cases, even hospitalized. After anorexics get the medical treatment, they need to get psychological counselling in order for them learn about healthy foods and lifestyle to live a healthy and contented life like any regular human being, for we all deserve to be loved and cherished the way are and not how we mould ourselves to become for the sake of others’ approval.