I think I have finally pinpointed one of the things that bother me so much about the way America treats the skinny end of the eating disorder stick. I have made a mess of trying to express my sentiments in the past due to my love for twenty-paragraph rants, so I'll keep it short this time and spare you all the trouble:
MEDIA: Be skinny! Become a human coat hanger and mere sex object open to the commentary of anyone who sees your body or you are worthless. Also disappear as much as you can so you won't take up space! Pictures of fat people with no heads!
PARENTS: *Dysfunction'd*
CULTURE IN GENERAL: *Suuuuuck*
YOUNG PEOPLE: Argh must find something to control! Must be perfect! Must disappear!
MEDIA: More! More! Oh god, yes, MORE! You're all so naturally gazelle-like!
ANOREXIC PEOPLE: *faint*
REGULAR PUBLIC: Holy shit this is so fucked up. Somebody do something!
MEDIA: *Glamorizes disease even more with anti-anorexia awareness ads showing images of helpless, gorgeous models swooning virtuously before disgusting evil fat monster reflection in various mirrors*
ANOREXIC PEOPLE: Wow, we look SWEET when we're dying.
LJ: Come share this pro-ana on our site. Competitive dieting will lead to recovery or various other results!
MEDIA: No, no, don't be proud of the only accomplishment you feel you can call your own! We can barely stop romanticizing your plight for five seconds, but trust us, we actually want you to get well!
ANOREXICS: LOL.
CULTURE: *Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck*
Am I crazy, or is this actually still going on? This perverse envy of the noble sufferer business that was such a problem a hundred years ago. We openly admire and encourage pain, and recast sickness as virtue even as we pretend to speak out against it, then wonder why nothing seems to be helping. Way to treat the symptoms with a bigger dose of the disease, y'all.
September 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
ty-ping writes:
ReplyDeleteI don't notice it so much with anorexia anymore but that's because I stopped touching any magazine with a photoshoped person on the cover when I was 17. (so like 7 years ago) But a few years back and with this whole "emo" movement I'm seeing what you are talking about when dealing with psychiactric problems such as depression and ADHD or other types of disorders. They glamorize people with them and turn it into a trend. People begin to use it as a common cry for attention but it's overpopularized so those that should help opt not to because it becomes a fasion statement.
Billy Talent for example, on one hand talking about how people should be strong and not kill themselves, but on the other hand perpetuating that doing so is kind of cool.