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.)
LPT - Leicestershire Partnership Trust who run the Mental Health Services locally have a world renowned ward at Brandon Unit for Eating Disorders. Yet it seems strange to me that the Unit produces probably some of the most revolting tasting food in the country. It is regenerated kept at a dangerous temperature and everyone on the wards complain of stomach aches. RECOVERY complained about the food to the HealthCare Commission in 2008 and it is obvious we are going to have to complain again to the Quality Care Commission as it is now called. Surely a pyschiatric ward should have the best home-cooked food produced fresh?
ReplyDeleteThey should have more in the media about how NOT to lose too much weight and that dieting should only go so far otherwise it causes serious health problems.
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