Friday, 28 January 2011
The Daily Mail: oh so very not a friend to the mentally ill
Beating depression is easy, you just have to get a grip. Or so says Angela Patmore, writing in (guess where) the Daily Mail. Which has done this before. Yeah, I got nothing. They've been criticised relentlessly for their depiction of mental health issues, but they don't give up on the stupidity, more's the pity.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Anorexia
Over the Christmas holidays I read about the death of Isabelle Caro, a French model who suffered from anorexia and campaigned against it, allowing herself to be photographed naked for an advertising campaign.
While researching her and her condition I typed 'anorexia' into Google, and I was unsurprised to find 'anorexia tips' the second most popular search on that theme. There's a trend of 'pro-ana' websites I'm always stumbling across, they're everywhere. Girls share dieting tips, encourage each other to starve, and post pictures of Caro under the words 'Die young, stay pretty'.
And in a way it's easy to see where this came from, the media is insane when it comes to women's bodies. Walk into a newsagent and you'll see it on all the showbiz magazines, this obsession with weight. Every little curve is fair game, if you're a young pretty lady. Let me just grab some headlines from the Daily Mail website... (always a big offender when it comes to weight-tastic celebrity reporting. And everything else.)
6/1/11: Princess Beatrice unveils sleek new figure on romantic break with boyfriend Dave Clark (complete with before and after photos)
6/1/11: Snooki covers up as she poses for Jersey Shore...perhaps it's time for a diet? (Look! A pefectly normalsized woman!)
2/1/11: 'Sometimes I tell myself I'm too skinny,' says Ginnifer Goodwin, who began dieting aged nine
31/12/10: Determined Jennifer Ellison vows to lose even more weight in 2011 through rigorous diet and exercise regime
31/12/10: 'I love hearing how great I look,' says Jennifer Hudson as she flaunts her weight loss in new ad
Yeah.
I have no clue how anyone would fix this, but I hope someone does. And Isabelle Caro seemed to be doing a darn good job. RIP.
(P.S. My mother suffered from anorexia as a teen. She wrote a rom-com style book about it called A Thin Disguise, contact me if you want a copy.)
While researching her and her condition I typed 'anorexia' into Google, and I was unsurprised to find 'anorexia tips' the second most popular search on that theme. There's a trend of 'pro-ana' websites I'm always stumbling across, they're everywhere. Girls share dieting tips, encourage each other to starve, and post pictures of Caro under the words 'Die young, stay pretty'.
And in a way it's easy to see where this came from, the media is insane when it comes to women's bodies. Walk into a newsagent and you'll see it on all the showbiz magazines, this obsession with weight. Every little curve is fair game, if you're a young pretty lady. Let me just grab some headlines from the Daily Mail website... (always a big offender when it comes to weight-tastic celebrity reporting. And everything else.)
6/1/11: Princess Beatrice unveils sleek new figure on romantic break with boyfriend Dave Clark (complete with before and after photos)
6/1/11: Snooki covers up as she poses for Jersey Shore...perhaps it's time for a diet? (Look! A pefectly normalsized woman!)
2/1/11: 'Sometimes I tell myself I'm too skinny,' says Ginnifer Goodwin, who began dieting aged nine
31/12/10: Determined Jennifer Ellison vows to lose even more weight in 2011 through rigorous diet and exercise regime
31/12/10: 'I love hearing how great I look,' says Jennifer Hudson as she flaunts her weight loss in new ad
Yeah.
I have no clue how anyone would fix this, but I hope someone does. And Isabelle Caro seemed to be doing a darn good job. RIP.
(P.S. My mother suffered from anorexia as a teen. She wrote a rom-com style book about it called A Thin Disguise, contact me if you want a copy.)
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