I'm not sure if undereating is more demonized. If anything, people are more likely to excuse those who undereat with "They are victims of social standards" or "They are actually mentally ill", while those that overeat are considered "Oh, they're just greedy and lazy"
Now don't get me wrong on this: anorexia and bulimia are indeed very much affected by mental illness; that is to say those that practice these things are often themselves suffering from a mental illness. When I said "excuse", I didn't mean that people were making shit up, rather that people are more willing to look for multiple explanations for undereating while overeating is usually seen from one view.
There is a reason however why this dichotomy exists: while undereating is seen as dangerous to a single person, overeating is seen as something that is dangerous to a single person but has negative effects on multiple people. That is, overeating is seen as wasteful and as such is a practice that limits the amount of food that other people can eat. Undereating, while indeed unhealthy, is at least something that doesn't necessarily take away something from other people. Also this dichotomy is also relevant to the view of perfect body images, as in while people are likely to call people who undereat victims of this view, it's not viewed as badly because a) there's a killing to be made in the weight-loss market, and b) people, while accepting that someone is a victim of a view, are unlikely to admit that a certain view of beauty is dangerous/unrealistic enough to cause a problem
If you ask me personally, both have their issues, and I can't say for certain that one is necessarily worse than the other
Now don't get me wrong on this: anorexia and bulimia are indeed very much affected by mental illness; that is to say those that practice these things are often themselves suffering from a mental illness. When I said "excuse", I didn't mean that people were making shit up, rather that people are more willing to look for multiple explanations for undereating while overeating is usually seen from one view.
There is a reason however why this dichotomy exists: while undereating is seen as dangerous to a single person, overeating is seen as something that is dangerous to a single person but has negative effects on multiple people. That is, overeating is seen as wasteful and as such is a practice that limits the amount of food that other people can eat. Undereating, while indeed unhealthy, is at least something that doesn't necessarily take away something from other people. Also this dichotomy is also relevant to the view of perfect body images, as in while people are likely to call people who undereat victims of this view, it's not viewed as badly because a) there's a killing to be made in the weight-loss market, and b) people, while accepting that someone is a victim of a view, are unlikely to admit that a certain view of beauty is dangerous/unrealistic enough to cause a problem
If you ask me personally, both have their issues, and I can't say for certain that one is necessarily worse than the other
