The Woman in the Mirror

As a seasoned researcher, the author of two previous books on eating disorders and the director of the University of North Carolina’s Eating Disorders Program, Cynthia Bulik was deeply familiar with the psychology of women between adolescence and menopause. Those are her patients as well as the subjects of her writing. But two encounters in locker rooms led her to worry about girls and older women. She was with some 6- to 8-year-old girls while they were changing to go swimming and she heard them complain about their bellies and being fat. Then she was with some women in their 70s and 80s in the locker room of a retirement facility and those women were also complaining about being fat and considering plastic surgery. And Cynthia realized that body image issues plague women from the cradle to grave. Her new book is an attempt to address this affliction. It's called,“The Woman in the Mirror: How to Stop Confusing What You Look Like With Who You Are” (Walker & Company/2011).