Emorexia: Starvation as Fashion
By Elizabeth A. Terry
Published: Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Updated: Monday, January 18, 2010 09:01
"God, I feel like hell tonight/Tears of rage I cannot fight/I'd be the last to help you understand/Are you strong enough to be my man?" was what Sheryl Crow and the 90s culture seemed to ask most of our generation.
Now it seems, the question for our generation is, "Are you thin enough to be my man?" No longer are men trying to get their girlfriends into the sack, but rather into their jeans, literally.
Just as dwindling women's waist sizes grab the headlines so is a recent trend in Hollywood of men's shrinking waist sizes. Rolling Stone Magazine has deemed the male anorexia, "emorexia."
According to WebMD a study conducted in 2001, the American Journal of Psychiatry found that female anorexics outnumbered males by only four to one. It is an increasing number in males due to the changes in American culture. According to an article posted last October, titled Manorexia Is On The Rise, by ABC news, an estimated 1 million men suffer from anorexia.
Front men of bands and skateboarders are getting thinner and thinner. Tyson Ritter, Gerard Way, Jaret Leto, and Peter Wentz are all front men of leading bands who could be easily defined as male-anorexics. All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds To Mars, and Fall Out Boy are some of the top bands in which many of these front men wear makeup, wear form-fitted t-shirts, tight girl jeans, medium length hair, and are femininely thin.
Girlfriend jeans are all the rage for most teenage boys who are naturally so lanky and who are usually lightly athletic skateboarders.
Urban Dictionary.com, about as reliable as Wikipedia, is an online slang dictionary where people can log on and edit information on each word or article. It defines emorexia as, "The latest craze, where emo kids are super skinny...mostly from just not eating anything. They seem to feel the need to be skinny so that they can wear girl pants..."
Emorexia hasn't broken into Facebook yet, but when searching for male anorexia one group came up, "Fight for a Cure: End Male Anorexia," which has pictures of emo guys that are anorexically thin. The group's description is "Emo kids have been creating a male society were eating is frowned upon and slipping into your little sisters jeans is accepted. With your support we can end this epidemic."
MTV News flash from anchor SuChin Pak stated, "The new manly man has gotten a little boyish." Pak then commented that Peter Wentz, bass player for Fall Out Boy, has a 26-inch waist, during a news segment on "Manorexia-Emorexia."
Skateboarders and emo kids seem to be emulating the trend, as most gangly teenage boys flock to skateboard shops and Hot Topic stores to buy t-shirts that are one to two sizes too small for them. The style of emaciation is once again in; muscles are out and skinny guys wearing tight jeans are trendy.
Manliness is changing and pop culture is being dominated by thinner superheroes at the box office, like Toby McGuire as Spiderman. Generally people need to keep in mind though, McGuire is tremendously thin because he is a vegan and he also has a personal trainer.
Tips on How To Look Emorexic:
1. Skinny tight jeans, maybe a little too short.
2. Lose the muscle tone: leaner is the new in thing.
3. Long shaggy hair: greasy, bang cut in the front, and usually jet black.
4. Tiny shirts and/or black tight hoodie
5. Wrist bands
