ABSTRACT
Eating disorders comprise anorexia nervosa, deviant eating associated with work, like that of a jockey or dancer, bulimia nervosa and obesity. They are all more prevalent in females. The neurotic disorder is about eighteen times commoner in girls than boys, but presents similarly whichever sex. The essentials are a wilful refusal to eat enough to maintain a normal weight, marked loss of weight, and a lack of interest in sex, usually in a conscientious, hard-studying adolescent from the middle class. The main reasons why anorexia nervosa is so rare in boys is their less alarming puberty, with no menarche, no deposition of fat over hips and thighs, and the absence of the social obsession with thinness current among females in western culture. Compulsive jogging and other exercise is more frequent in men than women. Men often decide to achieve fat loss by energetic work-outs and persistent exercise.
