It becomes a focus of her thoughts. She begins to think of losing just a few pounds. When this goal is reached, she then resolves to lose another five pounds, just for safe measure. She then sets a new goal to lose just a few pounds more and the cycle goes on and on. Medical experts have discussed this a great deal.
Boys do become anorectic, but it's pretty uncommon.
Only about one in ten of all teens who develop anorexia are male. Again, a very interesting question. We wish we really knew more about the answer, but I think I know part of the reason. In our society, there's a great deal of pressure on girls to be thin, trim and perfect looking. In all the media, radio, TV, movies, even the newspaper and magazine advertisements, you see the emphasis on the perfect figure and the perfect look.