Feminism | Posted by Gina S on 04/2/2012
The Flip Side of the Coin, or Just Because I’m Skinny Doesn’t Mean I Have An Eating Disorder
It’s a common presumption in our society that if you’re female, tall and skinny, you have it all. You are the perfect woman: you have the attributes of a high fashion model, and you should be extremely self-confident because you have it made. The truth, however, is much different.
When I was younger, I was bullied for five years because of my height and weight. “Oh they’re just jealous because you’re tall and skinny,” my well-meaning family members would say. “They just want to be like you.” But they didn’t want to be like me, because I was miserable beyond belief and the bullying was making me pick out tiny little things about myself that I hated. One by one, I listed off all the many things I hated about …
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Francheska De La Cruz on 09/28/2011
When History Repeats Itself
You know the saying that history can repeat itself? It sounds cliche, but it’s kind of shocking when it happens to you in real life.
Before I was a proud feminist/atheist/vegetarian I was unfortunately anorexic. Yet no one in my family seemed to notice the signs, even though when I think back they were pretty obvious. I would constantly check myself in the mirror and talk about dieting and weight loss. I would secretly go online and read fasting tips on anorexia sights. When my family discovered my notebook full of “thinsperation” I had a total meltdown and decided those days were over and I would come to respect my body and those of others for what they were.
Lately I’ve been noticing the first signs of anorexia in my …
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Feminism | Posted by Chelsea B on 05/25/2011
Fat Is Not A Personality Trait
It sickens me that one of the most common issues plaguing young females today is that of body image distortion.
I say this as a person who once hated her body so much she welcomed the idea of going to extremes to obtain perfection. Whether it was by starving, purging, or over-exercising, if it “guaranteed” perfection, I would do it. It never occurred to me that the perfection I had in mind would never be obtainable. Nor did I realize that recovery would be a life-long struggle to relearn what it felt like to be full.
A year ago, I decided it was time that self-loathing relinquished its firm grip on my life. I did not consult a psychologist because I thought of my recovery as a journey I would …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Cherokee S on 01/20/2011
Get Thin or Die Trying
In outrage, my mum showed me an article in UK newspaper The Evening Standard and told me to read it. More or less, after finishing the article, I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I had just read. What was it about, you ask? Well, if you have been alive on Twitter over the past week, the online universe has blown up over one certain former Big Brother contestant, Kenneth Tong.
Young, impressionable girls already have enough pressure on them as it is when it comes to their bodies and being deemed ‘beautiful’ and ‘attractive’ in the eyes of society, but when Kenneth Tong, with his idea of introducing a ‘Size-Zero Pill,’ fires attack after attack, claiming that girls who aren’t a size-zero are “disgusting,” and, “to be skinny …
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Feminism | Posted by Rose M on 10/18/2010
Anorexia and Bulimia In Our Culture: Unspoken Questions
There isn’t exactly a “name” for this topic so, here, i’ll try to spell it out for you. It’s a topic that affects me personally and deeply, but also something that is very rarely talked about in the eating disorder community (both on blogs & in treatment or with mental health professionals, and even with friends). Is Anorexia Nervosa a more serious, deadly, scary, real, or traumatic illness than Bulimia Nervosa or ED-NOS?
I’d be interested in what people’s gut-reactions are to this question.
I don’t mean the well-formulated answers that people think of, I mean the feeling that comes, the spark of thought that enters the brain or heart when this question is posed. (or when it is presented to your face- is there an image that comes to mind …
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Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 10/6/2010
“Body Image Disorder”
At some point in recent history the stance of “I Hate My Body” became a public statement encompassing an entire gender rather than a private thought held by few on particularly bad days. Somewhere along the line, women have lost control of their bodies in the name of society’s glamorization and expectation of self-deprecation. But, as I have learned over the years, loving your body is possible, even for the most self-loathing of us all.
Freshman year was a difficult one for me (a unique story, I know). Though I had been aware of my body in middle school and had brief yet unfortunate love affairs with both my hair straightener and Abercrombie and Fitch in attempts to make my body look the way I thought it should, I had …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 08/14/2010
Saturday Vids: Feminist Attack on Snack Factory’s Pretzels
In case you haven’t already seen Snack Factory’s disgusting new ad for their “thin” pretzel crisps, have a gander:
Disgusting, right? Well, thankfully, one guy decided to fight back with creativity and the facts (you CAN be too thin):
I love many things about this video. Primarily, that somebody responded intelligently to these ads and is attempting to raise awareness in the face of the media clearly doing their best to dispel the truth about eating disorders. I also love that a guy did this – unreasonably high body image standards in our culture AFFECT MEN and I’m so happy this guy is raising awareness on that front – both in the facts he presented and just the basic fact that HE took action.
YAY FEMINIST RESPONSES TO THE MEDIA!…
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Awareness, Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 02/25/2010
National Eating Disorder Awareness Week
No, the title of this post is not the most uplifting thought in the world. But it’s an issue that’s plaguing my peers and isn’t going away any time soon. Scratch that, it’s not just an issue, or something that haunts insecure teenagers with nothing better to think about than themselves. Eating disorders are life threatening illnesses caused by dangerous pressures and behaviors that need to be addressed.
I see this every day at my school in a vast spectrum of ways. I saw it just the other day in the bathroom at school (such a cliche but shit seriously does go down in the bathroom…). This girl that I don’t know very well came up beside me at the mirror. She’s a talented athlete and somebody I considered, at …
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