Tuesday, March 4, 2008
I'll Follow you into the Dark
Two years ago today I lost my sister and my best friend. Heather was 20 years old when she passed. She had diabetes since she was 15, and had been anorexic and bulimic for years. Heather was 5'7" and at her lowest weight was only 88 pounds. The last several years of her life she was in and out of the hospital. Today, while trying to hold myself together I have thought about affected by the cult of thinness. I started reading about "thinspo" short for Thin Insperation. They are stories of women encouraging other women to do what ever it takes to be thin. Phrases like "thin is in" and "if it tastes good its bad" further perpetuate this disease. Do these stories fall under free speech, even though they can be damaging to a young girls soul?
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5 comments:
First of all I am really sorry to hear about your loss. Watching that video was very disturbing especially because of its effects on young girls. I can’t say that I know any women who don’t want to lose weight. It is sad how our self image is so carefully manipulated by the media today. Once upon a time the healthy look was in style but now in the name of profit we all need to lose weight… too much pressure.
whoops, did i post the same thing a bunch of times?sorry
I really admire you for speaking so openly about something so personal. That takes a lot of courage.
It is devastating that so many young women (well, actually women of any age) are constantly forced to see unrealistic images of female beauty and compare themselves with them. No one should feel that the only way to be beautiful is by being a walking skeleton. It takes stories like these to really slap people into reality about the ideals or images are portrayed that our society continues to force feed us. It's horrible that we've lost so many women and men to such a false idea of beauty.
Thank you for sharing your story.
I agree, it was very courageous of you to share that with everyone. I think it is important for people who have been affected by this disease to speak out about it. That video gave me chills, it is sad that so many girls are manipulated into thinking "thin is in." I know who ever made that video was exercising her right to free speech, but I think something like that would be considered damaging and should not be readily available for other girls to watch.
I am very sorry to hear about your sister, I can't even imagine how you and your family must miss her so thanks for being able to share with us. I don't know a lot about anorexia, but my daughter has a friend who used to come over a few years ago and I noticed that she just kept getting thinner and thinner. Whenever I would offer them breakfast after she'd spent the night, she always said she wasn't hungry. I asked my daughter if she was okay and if her parents were concerned about her obvious weight loss. My daughter said that the reason she was trying to lose weight was because some boys had told her that she would probably be "hot" if she wasn't so chubby. I felt so bad for her - she is an adorable and smart young lady and I didn't know what to do. My daughter and her other friends realized that her weight loss had gotten out of control and spoke to her parents about it. She had been wearing baggy clothes around them and avoiding them as much as possible so they really didn't realize just how much weight she had lost. They took her to the Dr. and he recommended a special treatment facility in another state, which she went to against her wishes. That was several years ago and I saw her recently and she looks great - healthy and happy but I know that sadly, this story often has a much sadder ending and that this girl will always have to deal with self esteem issues. It is sad that so many young girls let other people's opinions of them cause them such pain and unhappiness but I think that by sharing as you have, maybe people will think twice before commenting about someone's weight.
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