Male Models - Pressure to be Perfect Leads to "Manorexia"

Male models are not immune to the pressure to become perfect. They are expected to have the perfect bodies that we usually see in magazines. Because of this, a lot of men are what we call "manorexics".

The term "manorexic" is used to describe a man with Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder. A person has Anorexia when he or she becomes obsessed with any quantity of fat that he or she sees on her body. this leads them to exercise extremely and starve themselves.

Anorexia is more common with women but recent studies in the American Journal of Psychiatry showed that there are over 1 million men struggling with this eating disorder in the United States.

A lot of manorexics belong to businesses or industries that value beauty and physical appearance very much.

In the modeling world, a lot of men develop this disorder. A perfect example is Jeremy Gillitzer, a former male model who developed Anorexia after entering the modeling business.

Gillitzer used to look like a Hollywood star with a ripped physique. But then his obsession and desire to look perfect for photos all the time led him to work-out excessively and eat very little.

Here is a video featuring Jeremy:

It is not an easy thing to get out of, Anorexia. It takes years to make a person with Anorexia healthy again. And for many, such as Jeremy, fighting this disorder ends tragically. Male model Jeremy Gillitzer died in 2010 at the age of 38.