Eating disorders are an epidemic that is spreading from country to country and culture to culture. However widespread and serious this disorder is becoming definitively initiated due to cultural perspectives. The main issue directly related to eating disorders is the cultural perspective on appearance and the meaning that cultures place on appearance and beauty. Cultures and all different types of media show us only one type of “beautiful”. And the beautiful one is the tall, long-legged, skinny girl with a perfect white smile. This is the only type of "beauty" that the media tends to show to its audience, especially in Westernized cultures, and what they fail to show are all the other different types of beauty that are out there in this world full of people of different shapes and forms. dimensions and a personality all their own. It is impossible for every human being to have the same body, especially in this case the tall, long-legged, skinny individual, because a lot of it has to do with biology and what is in an individual's genes. However, individuals, male and female, believe they can transform their bodies to look like the girls they see in the media and do their best to make this happen by not eating, over-exercising, or vomiting food so that their bodies may not digest properly. This is not healthy at all and carries serious consequences, including potential fatality, if left untreated. Becker (2003) discusses the importance of the media and how much it can really impact an individual, especially adolescents. In his article he focuses on the fact that in cultures like that of the United States which supposedly promote individuality, people are starting to confuse the meaning of this with appearance...... middle of paper ..... .ReferencesAmerican Psychiatric Association (2013). DSM-5: Highlights of the changes from DSM-IV-TR to DSM-5: Autism Spectrum Disorders Fact Sheet. Retrieved June 3, 2013, from .Bagatell, N. (2010). From care to community: transforming notions of autism. Ethos, 38(1), 33-35. Becker, A. E. (2003). Eating disorders and social transition. Primary Psychiatry, 10(6), 75-79. Kim, J. Y., & Farmer, P. (2006). AIDS in 2006: Towards a single world, a hope? The New England Journal of Medicine, 355(7), 645-647. Kulick, D. (1997). The gender of Brazilian transgender prostitutes. American Anthropologist, 99(3), 574-585.Lemelson, R.B. (2004). Traditional healing and its discontents: Effectiveness and traditional therapies of neuropsychiatric disorders in Bali. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 18(1), 48-76.