Study: Religious women have fewer eating disorders

Apparently, religious Jewish women are much less likely to be suffering from anorexia and other eating disorders than their secular counterparts.

(Israel National News) - As long as a young girl is religious, the likelihood that she will have an eating disorder is lower, asserts Prof. Yael Latzer of the School of Social Work at the University of Haifa.

The study findings showed that as long as the level of religiosity is unified and high, the desire to be thin is lower. On the positive side, self-esteem and body image are higher, as is the extent of satisfaction with one's body. The result, the researcher states, is that there is less preoccupation with food and weight.

A total of 320 Jewish religious girls in grades 9-12 (16-18 years old) in Israel participated in the University of Haifa study.

According to Latzer, Western society sees thinness as an important value, representing beauty. It is also an expression of self-control, independence, and high social status.

On the other hand, she continues, religious society expects women at a young age to fulfill some roles of mother and wife. In the religious world, importance is focused on the woman's activities in the house and less so on her external appearance and activities outside the house. Professor Lazar commented that Jewish religious girls tended to emphasize and focus on traditional values, such as simplicity and modesty, more than on beauty and external appearance.

"The important uniqueness of the woman, as is written in Halacha [Jewish law], is her inner qualities and moral principles, and not beauty," the University of Haifa researcher commented. "Instead of controlling their body and their weight, young religious girls focus on a modest life style and observance of the commandments."

Are you feminazis listening? The eating disorders that are becoming an epidemic among "liberated" western women is virtually non-existent in the religious communities. Yes, they actually have higher self-esteem, greater happiness with their role in life, and are treated with more respect for who they are inside rather than how "do-able" they look on the outside.

Got that, NOW?

-MZ