Our country has become obsessed with a slim physique. The slim body standard for attractiveness is especially powerful for women. The first cause they mentioned is the idea that women who want to appear professional and intelligent believe they must be thin due to society's demands. Also, women who felt that their fathers did not think they were intelligent tended to desire a slimmer body than those women who did not feel that way. The derivation of most eating disorders is this slim body ideal.
Women associate curvaceousness with incompetence.
These eating disorders are not simply instances of psychopathology in women, but rather a manifestation of a societal bias against women. This bias level against women has decreased enough to encourage women to strive in education and different professions, but has not decreased enough to eliminate the supposed association between femininity and incompetence. This study replicated earlier findings that found that generally women are more discontent with their bodily appearance than men. This discontent is most often due to body weight which contributes more to the eating disorder epidemic. Relative to men, women are more cognitively and behaviorally invested in their appearance.