A forum for Blog Community #7 of CSCL 1001 (Introduction to Cultural Studies: Rhetoric, Power, Desire; University of Minnesota, Fall 2011) -- and interested guests.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Eating disorders
Eating disorders have been common among young women. They seem to think they are fat or over weight and need to either not eat or throw up what they do eat in order to lose weight and fulfill their desire to be "skinny". They don't realize how unhealthy it is because they truly don't know or their desire is so great they don't really care what it takes to become skinny.
Models and celebrities have such a powerful impact on people nowadays. In this case women want to look just like them. All they need to do is eat right and exercise, but they usually don't want to do that. They just want results fast so they choose to skip or throw up meals. These eating disorders cause bodily harm and also psychological harm.
With Anorexia, the body will start to consume it self because it's not getting any energy from food, due to the person not consuming any. Psychologically, it affects how you view your self. You see your self as "fat" or "overweight" when you really may not be, and it overpowers you to try to lose weight.
This billboard shows what someone that has anorexia could end up looking like. It's not a pretty sight. If they were to put more of these types of ads up for people to see, maybe the number of people with eating disorders would decrease.
It’s crazy to think that not long ago it wasn’t “all that” to be skinny. That in last few years people have started to change their views about what is beautiful. We use to think that skinny people were more beautiful but it has come to a point where we don’t think skinny is skinny enough. That people have to starve themselves just to make them suitable for being a model. I watched the show Taboo on the discovery channel about this girl in the photo, Isabelle Caro, who was a model and was forced to keep losing weight even after the doctors told her that she needed to put on weight or she would die. Recently before her death she started working with the No Anorexia campaigns. It blows my mind that people would put their lives at stake to be able to be this “beautiful” person. I agree that society overpowers you to think that you may be overweight even if you are perfectly healthy.
ReplyDeleteI think that society is not the only blaming factor which is causing these women to live these unhealthy lifestyles. Your culture/sub-culture plays a bigger role on whether you are positioned in a way that somewhat forces you to be a certain way (skinny). For example in certain cultures women are encouraged to be fat because overweight females are considered more attractive. However, if you are one of the preppy, suburban girls in your high school, then you will probably only maintain your status if you are skinny and thus beautiful because that is an object of your sub-group.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true! Our society has put a lot of pressure on women's shoulders, and as you say, billboards like this one would really help.
ReplyDelete