the products sold. However, despite the high failure rate of the weight loss industry, pressure on women and girls to meet the thin Western beauty “ideal” remains. In contemporary Western culture, the thin female body is associated with health, wealth, success and beauty (Rice, 2010), making it challenging for women to participate in various social institutions on the same level as men. Fikkan & Rothblum (2012) found that women‟s sizes are judged more harshly than men and that they experience more discrimination than men at all ages, regardless of whether they are labeled “average,” “overweight” or “obese.” Miller & Lundgren (2010) found that college students judged an “obese” female politician more harshly than a “non-obese” female politician, with no significant difference in their evaluations of male politicians based on their weight and size. Thus, harmful body norms reinforce gender inequality by giving women more obstacles to overcome when they are striving for success. Previous research shows that approximately 7% of women and 3% of men will struggle with eating disorders at some point in their lifetime (de Oliveira, Kurdyak, Cheng, Colton, & Olmsted, 2017). In Canada, eating disorders affect women ten times more than men (Statistics Canada, 2015). Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are known as the two most common eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is described as a mental disorder that occurs in females in 90% of cases or more in the population of those diagnosed, and it has been named one of the most common psychiatric conditions for young women (Statistics Canada, 2015). Bulimia nervosa is defined as an eating disorder that involves cycles of binging and purging (Statistics Canada, 2015). Women and girls start the cycle by eating excessive amounts of food all at once until they are uncomfortably full. They then try to compensate for overeating by purging what their bodies have consumed (Statistics Canada, 2015). Bulimia nervosa also affects females in 90% of cases or more in the population of those diagnosed (Statistics Canada, 2015). Previous research shows that approximately half of those who suffer from anorexia nervosa recover within five years, while approximately 5% to 20% die due to complications (Statistics Canada, 2015).Over 50% of those diagnosed with anorexia nervosa will develop bulimic symptoms within the first five years (Statistics Canada, 2015).While young, affluent white women dominate representations of anorexia and bulimia, there is widespread evidence that eating disorders do not primarily affect young, upper-class white women (Rice, 2009). A study conducted in Essence magazine found that 65% of African-American women were dieting, and 21% were engaging in bulimia as a means of weight control (Rice, 2009). A study with young Indigenous women found that almost half were dieting, 27% induced vomiting to lose weight and 11% used diet pills (Rice, 2009). Since women often need to be thin to get and keep jobs, the pursuit of thinness may not only be about aesthetics, but about economic survival (Eller, 2014; MacInnis, 1993). Eller (2014) found that fat women on average earn less money over a lifetime than women of average weight. Additionally, women of average weight earn less money over a lifetime than women who are 25 pounds under the average weight (Eller, 2014). Thus, the material gains tied to weight loss are difficult for women who are trying to maintain healthy relationships with food and their bodies. 1. Hair Women‟s hair has been central to their social position in Western culture. By meeting conventionally attractive hair norms, women are able to more easily get and keep various jobs (Weitz, 2008). For example, Weitz (2008) found that a young lesbian woman in her study used her long hair to pass as heterosexual, enabling her to get more job opportunities. Similarly, female athletes often dye their hair blonde and wear it long and curly to avoid being labelled as lesbians (Weitz, 2008). Regardless of a woman‟s sexual orientation, she risks discrimination if her hairstyle does not conform to heterosexual beauty norms. Race also directly impacts women‟s experiences with their hair. Weitz (2008) found that women who drew attention to their minority status with their hair were perceived by others to have lower credibility in the workplace. This included women with curly „Jewish‟ hair, immigrant women that had long braided hair, and African women that had afros, braids, or dreadlocks (Weitz, 2008). Buchanan (1993) argues that the beauty “ideal” for black women in Western culture is more unattainable since Western culture deems blackness in itself ugly. Due to such representations of women of colour, the light-skinned black woman with straight or wavy hair who most closely resembles