What is anorexia? Anorexia is a mental disorder when the person starves themselves to reach a certain weight. Don’t rely on that definition though. It varies person to person. When people think of anorexia, the first thing they think of is an extremely sick looking girl with self-image problems. Some people even think of models. But why do we always think that it’s the girls who are anorexic? Why do we automatically assume it’s a girl, instead of a guy? Manorexia, is the word for guys who are anorexic. Do we really think that little of the guys who have it, that we give it a different word? That isn’t fair. Most probably, guys with anorexia won’t even get help because anorexia is supposed to be a girl’s disorder, not a guy’s. But that isn’t true.

As a proven fact in a scientific study conducted in 1997, an estimated 10-15% of men have anorexia. It’s also proven that men have less of a chance to seek treatment because anorexia being perceived as a female’s disorder. It’s true, the majority of people with anorexia are women, but that doesn’t make men with it any less important. Logically, it makes them more important because they are less likely to go get help. Also, the sexuality of the male is proven to have something to do with it. In a study conducted in 1997, a total of 135 men were tested to have eating disorders. 62 had bulimia, 30 had anorexia, and 43 had an unidentified eating disorder. 42% of the bulimic patients were homosexual or bisexual. Homosexuality is when the person loves only their own gender, such as two men loving each other, or two women loving each other. Bisexuality means the person is find with both genders, meaning they can be attracted to both men and women, though they can prefer one gender over the other. 58% of the anorexic patients were asexual. Asexuality is a lack of sexual attraction. 29% had a family history of eating disorders, and 37% had a family history of alcoholism. Among homosexual men, 20% appear to be anorexic, and 14% bulimic.

You may think that, sure, some guys get it, but it’s mainly girls, so why does it matter? It matters because as stated above, these men aren’t going to go get help. They are going to slowly wither away, like Jeremy Gillitzer. Jeremy was a model with a great body, but during anorexia, he dropped his weight to 84 pounds at 5’7. Imagine that. Another story is a boy named Nathan, whose name is changed for private reasons, whose girlfriend, now wife, often watched her weight, causing him to pick up on some of it, eating less junk food, till he only ate vegetables, fruits and occasionally meat. At 5’10, Nathan was less than 100 pounds. People are sometimes anorexic to gain control of something in there lives. If they can’t have control over other things, they can at least have control over what they eat.

When a man named Victor Avon went home after being diagnosed with anorexia, he searched up anorexia. In the definition it said, “you must have missed your period, or menstrual cycle three times in a row to qualify.” "I read it, and it destroyed me," Avon said. "I can't get my period. Never had it before, and it'll be a miracle if I do get it. Right here in this book, this says I have a girls' disease and that I'm broken." They had literally said he had a girls’ disease. America needs to realize that physical pressure is not only on girls but guys as well. And they deserve attention too, instead of being ignored. About two years after he was first diagnosed with anorexia, he decided he wanted to stop it, and asked his family for help. He had taken a very important step to recover, but now he had to find a place that took men too.

As you can see, men don’t get the same attention for eating disorders as women do, which will only make them hide the fact that they have a problem. If they change the definition of anorexia that Victor Avon found, it would have changed his story. Maybe he would have went and found help earlier, but he didn’t. Why? Because people assume only women have to worry about appearance, or size. Or that women are the only ones who have trouble reaching social standards? Well, just cause men are men, doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings or problems. Men should get equal treatment, and doctors need to learn that both genders can have eating disorders. Spread the word that men have feelings, and problems, and it’s not that rare for them to succumb into pressure of peer pressure. Spread the word that ‘Manorexia’ that rare.

Works Cited
Carlat, DJ, and CA Camargo, Jr. "Eating disorders in males: A report on 135 patients." National Center of Biotechnology Information. US National Library of Medicine, 15 Aug. 1997. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. .
"Eating Disorder Statistics." National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorder. ANAD, 1976. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. .
Firth, Shannon. "The Unseen Lives of Anorexic Men." US News. U.S. News & World Report LP., 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. .
Lupkin, Sydney. "Anorexic Men Have Harder Time Getting Diagnosis, Treatment." ABC News. 2014 ABC News Internet Ventures, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. .
Staff, Editors. "'I went from hunky model to 6 stone anorexic.'" Closer. Bauer Consumer Media Ltd, 4 July 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. .