Letter From the Editor:
Awareness Week Offers Chance to Think About Eating Disorders
If you talked to your friends the way you talk to your
body, you wouldn't have any friends.
One need not be diagnosed with an eating disorder to have
a dysfunctional relationship with one's body. Our culture
is size-obsessed, especially for women, and the ideal body
shape is seldom attainable. Magazines frequently feature suggestions
for how to "drop 10 lbs. fast" or how to get "fab
abs." Women are told that their breasts should be bigger
and their thighs smaller. We internalize these messages, and,
even women who generally define themselves by their achievements
are affected.
While the media, and society generally, has moved toward
promoting images of working women, these images do not come
into conflict with the need to achieve a perfect body by any
means. Instead, they have helped to foster what I call "Barbie
feminism." In other words, the conflated message is,
"Hey ladies, you can do anything you set your mind to…as
long as you fit into a size 1." Women are taught that
if they can just lose 20 lbs., life would be so much better.
The career women in movies are all played by the same tall,
thin actresses, and even the campy photos in women's magazines
(that are placed next to articles about careers and success)
only feature model-type women. Hey, that's what successful
women look like.
Next week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and
both the Women's Union and the Health Education Outreach Office
are sponsoring a variety of fun and informative events. Go
and check them out. Bring your friends. Eating disorders are
common on college campuses. They affect both women and men
and have disastrous effects on the long term health of individuals
who suffer from them. Eating disorders are psychological conditions;
they stem from a mindset that one's body is ugly and must
be conquered and changed.
This mindset is easy to adopt in some form even if one does
not have a full-fledged eating disorder. It manifests itself
in a preoccupation with weight, dieting, and calories. It
manifests itself in compulsive exercising, anxiety about gaining
weight, and comments about "feeling fat." Fat is
not a feeling, it's a label we put on all the negative emotions
we feel about ourselves.
So, take some time next week (and every week!) to work on
your relationship with your body. Critically examine your
thoughts about weight, size, and you. Resolve to make peace
with and celebrate your body… and if you have already
done all these things, help someone else.
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