Article Eating disorders are on the rise in older women—and menopause is playing a role
Article Eating disorders are on the rise in older women—and menopause is playing a role
Quote:Such factors coincide with a double bind that midlife women often face: cultural pressure to remain thin and youthful and an aging body that naturally shifts away from the proportions idealized in media. The pressures are so intense that research shows an overwhelming 73 percent of midlife women reporting weight dissatisfaction—making it clear these struggles are not just personal, they’re systemic.
This dynamic has only been intensified by the surge of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and harmful diet trends promulgated on social media such as #SkinnyTok. “Asking a woman between the ages of 45 to 55 to be the size she was at 15 or 20 or even 30 is terrible advice,” says Kievit.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/health/article/eating-disorders-women-menopause
https://archive.ph/hx8XT
Quote:Such factors coincide with a double bind that midlife women often face: cultural pressure to remain thin and youthful and an aging body that naturally shifts away from the proportions idealized in media. The pressures are so intense that research shows an overwhelming 73 percent of midlife women reporting weight dissatisfaction—making it clear these struggles are not just personal, they’re systemic.
This dynamic has only been intensified by the surge of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and harmful diet trends promulgated on social media such as #SkinnyTok. “Asking a woman between the ages of 45 to 55 to be the size she was at 15 or 20 or even 30 is terrible advice,” says Kievit.
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Thank you for posting this. My female friends and I are all at perimenopause stage and we all feel this pressure. In the past, it seems women were "allowed" to become matronly in middle age. Now we have to stay toned and tucked and sexually (if not reproductively) viable. When will it end? Do we still have to fuckable in our 70s? Will we be allowed to eat what we want in the afterlife?
(Jan 30 2026, 5:31 AM)Tortoisemouse Thank you for posting this. My female friends and I are all at perimenopause stage and we all feel this pressure. In the past, it seems women were "allowed" to become matronly in middle age. Now we have to stay toned and tucked and sexually (if not reproductively) viable. When will it end? Do we still have to fuckable in our 70s? Will we be allowed to eat what we want in the afterlife?
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(Jan 30 2026, 5:31 AM)Tortoisemouse Thank you for posting this. My female friends and I are all at perimenopause stage and we all feel this pressure. In the past, it seems women were "allowed" to become matronly in middle age. Now we have to stay toned and tucked and sexually (if not reproductively) viable. When will it end? Do we still have to fuckable in our 70s? Will we be allowed to eat what we want in the afterlife?