Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/tag/body_image/)
Even with new rules by social media platforms to prevent pro-eating disorder sites, these “pro-ana” blogs keep popping up. “We just make new blogs, new posts and new tags,” one teen said.
Puberty can make “exercise awkward,” says teen Kiera Wright. This is one of the reasons teen girls fail to meet their physical activity recommendations.
As an Asian American girl with an eating disorder, Angela Hui examines how the “sociocultural environment in which I was raised played a part in the development of my illness.”
Everything from getting ready for school to getting movie snacks with a friend is just harder for a girl, writes Sarah Groustra, and that’s why we need feminism.
Compared to 20 years ago, one doctor says the public is more likely to understand this as a mental illness that comes in various forms and can afflict anyone. But insurance barriers remain, particularly for inpatient treatment centers.
Some of us might see increased doll diversity as revolutionary, but this move sends all the wrong messages to our girls that female success is still measured by our exteriors.
Eating disorders are grounded in shame and shame is the glue that makes them stick. Shame doesn’t work. We should focus on health, not obesity or weight loss. So let’s join the push against school BMI screenings and look for other ways to fight childhood obesity.
Mattel came out with Barbie in 1959, when full-figured women defined beauty and thinness wasn’t glorified. Barbie was big, but Marilyn Monroe and other Hollywood stars were bigger. Ever since Twiggy, she’s been dangerous.
“I had no idea.” That’s the theme of this year’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. It applies to our national inattention to the deadly toll of this disease and what we don’t realize about research and treatment. Take our quiz, it’s at the end.
Expressed in an essay published in XO Jane this week, the article has angered many women of color and those who practice yoga, who call the story racist, discriminatory against larger women and further fueling the lack of diversity in yoga.