I don't talk about my past eating disorder (and still currently an hard one to keep at bay) a lot because I don't find it to be a really pleasant conversation. Yes, I am healthy now, and look fine now, but it is NEVER a problem that just "goes away" it's always in my head and I have to consciously deal with it on a daily bases and I'm not sure people understand that. It's hard to find peace and love yourself...Anyways, I found this post in my personal diary that I wrote in 2007 and thought it to be good enough to share. But I have to warn there is strong verbal expression (as I am pretty passionate about this subject), I do realize there has been a push to better the social views of eating disorders, but we still have a long way to go. Without further ado:
"As I write this I am watching a commercial for Bally Total Fitness. Men and women pinching their bodies (which, though not overly thin, are normal and natural) and complaining about how unattractive they are. How their lives aren't fabulous because their bodies aren't perfect.
A few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of the Tyra Banks Show (don't laugh, it's a good show!) on anorexia and bulimia. Tyra brought on Reba star Scarlett Pomers, who has recently undergone treatment for eating disorders; she brought on several sufferers and offered them help; she was actually rather insightful about her experiences. But I almost stopped watching during the first commercial break, which featured no less than 4 advertisements for diet pills and programs like Weight Watchers.
I see these commercials every day. Fitness clubs, diet pills, diet books, diet foods. Diet society. I see teen and adult fashion magazines, skinny models with beaming Photo shopped smiles...and no food in sight..."tone your tummy" and "fit for summer/school/spring break" articles.
Now, I know that the creators of these products aren't directly encouraging eating disorders. However, it seems that dieting and hating your body have become the new norm. We are selling ourselves a thin-obsessed society, buying it at the cost of our lives and sanity. There are cultures that embrace body acceptance.It would be amazing to be somewhere where a little extra weight is considered beautiful, desirable, and a sign of prosperity and eating disorders are practically unknown.
However, growing up in this society, I picked up my first issue of Seventeen at age 12 and promptly started working out. It felt like I had to, that I was the only one who wasn't working on her body and getting "hot and in shape." I started drinking SlimFast in 7th grade. A 7th-grader shouldn't even know what Slim Fast is, but since they were advertising during my afternoon cartoons, I thought it was normal. Whiten your smile, lose that tummy, tone those thighs, smile bigger, wear these shoes... just be perfect and you'll be happy.
If society is so concerned about the growing number of eating disorder sufferers, then maybe (just maybe) it should turn the mirror on itself and take some responsibility. I never see advertisements for being happy with yourself; I never see normal-sized girls modeling in magazines, girls who aren't 5'11 and 105 lbs; I never see anything that encourages young girls and boys to learn how to have a healthy, natural body. All I see is the star-of-the-moment flaunting her skeletal arms on the covers of every magazine praise the "new, slimmer look!"
Sure, praise celebrities for losing weight (and looking like Holocaust victims which is horribly tragic!). Keep cramming models down our throats. Go ahead and sell us new Diet Coke with Splenda and "new improved" Hydroxycut. Tell us that we won't be happy 'til we're skinny. But then after giving all of us the subliminal messages of us not being good enough for who we are, don't be so shocked that people like me learn to hate ourselves so much that we'd rather be dead than have one drop of fat on our bodies. I want to share some statics...
Don't be so surprised that...
47% of 6-year-old girls said they wanted to be slimmer, because it would make them more popular (British Journal of Developmental Psychology) Or that..
Eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls.
(Adolescent Medicine Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society) or that...
81% of 10-year-olds restrict eating (diet). At least 46% of 9-year-olds restricted eating.(Mellin, Scully and Irwin)
OR
52% of girls begin dieting before age 14. (Journal of Youth and Adolescence)
71% of adolescent girls want to be thinner despite only a small proportion being over a healthy weight.(Journal of Youth and Adolescence)
SCARY ENOUGH....
The fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young girls have indicated in surveys that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.(Lisa Berzins, Dying to be thin: the prevention of eating disorders and the role of federal policy.)
What's even WORSE...
A survey of parents (in 1997) found that one in 10 would abort a child if they knew it had a genetic tendency to be fat. Fraser, Laura. (Losing it: America's obsession with weight and the industry that feeds on it.)
Shocking isn't it? My heart breaks."
Live, Laugh, Love.
"As I write this I am watching a commercial for Bally Total Fitness. Men and women pinching their bodies (which, though not overly thin, are normal and natural) and complaining about how unattractive they are. How their lives aren't fabulous because their bodies aren't perfect.
A few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of the Tyra Banks Show (don't laugh, it's a good show!) on anorexia and bulimia. Tyra brought on Reba star Scarlett Pomers, who has recently undergone treatment for eating disorders; she brought on several sufferers and offered them help; she was actually rather insightful about her experiences. But I almost stopped watching during the first commercial break, which featured no less than 4 advertisements for diet pills and programs like Weight Watchers.
I see these commercials every day. Fitness clubs, diet pills, diet books, diet foods. Diet society. I see teen and adult fashion magazines, skinny models with beaming Photo shopped smiles...and no food in sight..."tone your tummy" and "fit for summer/school/spring break" articles.
Now, I know that the creators of these products aren't directly encouraging eating disorders. However, it seems that dieting and hating your body have become the new norm. We are selling ourselves a thin-obsessed society, buying it at the cost of our lives and sanity. There are cultures that embrace body acceptance.It would be amazing to be somewhere where a little extra weight is considered beautiful, desirable, and a sign of prosperity and eating disorders are practically unknown.
However, growing up in this society, I picked up my first issue of Seventeen at age 12 and promptly started working out. It felt like I had to, that I was the only one who wasn't working on her body and getting "hot and in shape." I started drinking SlimFast in 7th grade. A 7th-grader shouldn't even know what Slim Fast is, but since they were advertising during my afternoon cartoons, I thought it was normal. Whiten your smile, lose that tummy, tone those thighs, smile bigger, wear these shoes... just be perfect and you'll be happy.
If society is so concerned about the growing number of eating disorder sufferers, then maybe (just maybe) it should turn the mirror on itself and take some responsibility. I never see advertisements for being happy with yourself; I never see normal-sized girls modeling in magazines, girls who aren't 5'11 and 105 lbs; I never see anything that encourages young girls and boys to learn how to have a healthy, natural body. All I see is the star-of-the-moment flaunting her skeletal arms on the covers of every magazine praise the "new, slimmer look!"
Sure, praise celebrities for losing weight (and looking like Holocaust victims which is horribly tragic!). Keep cramming models down our throats. Go ahead and sell us new Diet Coke with Splenda and "new improved" Hydroxycut. Tell us that we won't be happy 'til we're skinny. But then after giving all of us the subliminal messages of us not being good enough for who we are, don't be so shocked that people like me learn to hate ourselves so much that we'd rather be dead than have one drop of fat on our bodies. I want to share some statics...
Don't be so surprised that...
47% of 6-year-old girls said they wanted to be slimmer, because it would make them more popular (British Journal of Developmental Psychology) Or that..
Eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls.
(Adolescent Medicine Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society) or that...
81% of 10-year-olds restrict eating (diet). At least 46% of 9-year-olds restricted eating.(Mellin, Scully and Irwin)
OR
52% of girls begin dieting before age 14. (Journal of Youth and Adolescence)
71% of adolescent girls want to be thinner despite only a small proportion being over a healthy weight.(Journal of Youth and Adolescence)
SCARY ENOUGH....
The fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young girls have indicated in surveys that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.(Lisa Berzins, Dying to be thin: the prevention of eating disorders and the role of federal policy.)
What's even WORSE...
A survey of parents (in 1997) found that one in 10 would abort a child if they knew it had a genetic tendency to be fat. Fraser, Laura. (Losing it: America's obsession with weight and the industry that feeds on it.)
Shocking isn't it? My heart breaks."
Live, Laugh, Love.
Comments