Beauty Comes in All Sizes

After spending four weeks studying eating disorders and the ideal body image I took a little break studying it... except for now. I recently came across a Ted Talk by Ashley Graham where she discussed body acceptance. Ashley Graham is a body activist, lingerie designer, and model… well plus size model. As she says in her Ted Talk, Graham was signed at the age of 13 to a major modeling company.  She talks about how difficult it was for her to answer the question "What do you do for a living?", because every time she said "I'm a model" she would get a funny look and then have to qualify with "a plus size model." It's so unfortunate that someone as beautiful as Graham struggles to feel accepted in her own body because of  "the narrow mold" that society has set as the beautiful body image.

Graham's Shoot for Sports Illustrated

In my opinion Graham is quite the success seeing as she has been on the cover of five magazines and is encouraging women to love their bodies. The Dove brand has launched a campaign to create a "wider definition of beauty after [a] study proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable. A quiet shocking statistic is that "only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful." Both Dove and Graham are striving to spread the word the perfection and beauty come in all different shapes and sizes, and that all should be accepted. 

To watch Ashley Graham's Ted Talk click here.

How the Media Influences What We Want to Look Like

Models and actresses have been setting the ideal body in our society since the early 1900s. According to an article on eating disorders in the newsletter CQ Researcher Charles Dana Gibson created a drawing that was in many magazines entitled "The Gibson Girl" which featured a girl whose tiny waist was not proportionate to the rest of her body creating an unrealistic ideal for women. Fast forward 40 years to a time where Marilyn Monroe and other actresses who had a fuller figure set an ideal that was more in ling with natural anatomy. Then, in the 1960s Twiggy a British model who weighed 97 pounds presented a new body image of impossible skinniness. This body type is still desired by many women and young girls today. However, this body type is only naturally possessed by 5% of American females.  
With media being so prominent in our society, what actresses and models look like will inevitably have a huge impact on whoever sees them. In a Pediatric Child Health from 2003 pediatricians Anne Morria and Debra Katzman said that “On average a child or adolescent… spends an average of 6 to 7 hours [a day] viewing the various media combined." This amount of media exposure is bound to have an impact on its viewers. The Anorexia Nervosa and associated disorders association released the statistic that "47% of girls in 5^th-12^th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures." Clearly there being one body type people are striving for is not healthy. 
Media is constantly showing us what we should be striving for. For example, Victoria's Secret released a bra campaign entitled "The Perfect 'Body'" and here is what the campaign picture looks like:

Victoria's Secret Campaign

This ad makes it seem as though this body type is "perfect". Though the word "body" is specifically talking about the body of the bra having 10 extremely thin women in the background doesn't make it seem that way. After much scrutiny Victoria's Secret changed the campaign title to "A Body For Every Body" with the same picture in the back. 

When will women finally not feel pressure from society to be this thin?

Athletes and Eating Disorders

It's particularly ironic that athletes in certain sports are susceptible to eating disorders. Athletes have one goal in mind and they will do whatever it takes to reach that goal, even if it means developing an eating disorder. According to Walden, a treatment facility for people with eating disorders "…athletes- both men and women- may be two to three times more likely to have an eating disorder than the average person…"

Gymnast Kerri Strug Developed an Eating Disorder

It has been proven that women are more likely to develop eating disorders over men. According to the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine women in aesthetic, weight category and endurance sports are at the highest risk to develop an eating disorder. Aesthetic sports include gymnastics and dance; these female athletes are at the absolute highest risk for developing eating disorders. In the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine 42% of the athletes who participated in aesthetic sports have an eating disorder. In 1992 gymnast Kerri Strug failed to make the all-around competition in the Olympics. The 14-year-old believed that if she were lighter she would perform better. In 1996 the 4-foot-9-inch athlete weighing 78 pounds won gold at the 1996 Olympics.  

Men athletes can also develop eating disorders. Men in antigravity, weight category, and endurance sports are at the highest risk, especially athletes in weight category sports like wrestling. In the same study conducted by the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine men had significantly lower percentages for eating disorders, but the sports with the most male athletes with eating disorders was weight category with 18 percent. Athletes in weight category sports are at risk because they need to maintain a certain weight to compete against the same competition. 

To me it is very shocking athletes are at such a high risk because sports are supposed to keep you healthy. What do you think about athletes susceptibility to eating disorders?

The Connection Between Eating Disorders and Obesity

In my previous post I talked about how the ideal body image the media has instilled in our society has caused people to develop eating disorders. Continuing with the same topic of eating disorders, in this post I am going to discuss how our country's battle with obesity has driven people to eating disorders, specifically children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about 17% of children and adolescents had an eating disorder in 2011-2012. With such a high amount of children being obese our country has put more emphasis on being healthier. In fact, First Lady Michelle Obama launched her Let's Move initiative with the intent to solve the obesity problem in this generation. Children are trying to be healthier, but some end up with the other extreme: an eating disorder.

When children try to lose weight some become too focused on it and their "every thought and behavior surrounds eating". The problem with these children is that their parents and/or physicians do not recognize that they are developing an eating disorder because they believe its a good thing the child is losing weight. In order to lose weight in a healthy way the child must exercise and eat healthy, but not eat as little as possible and over exercise. It is important, as a country, that we promote a healthy lifestyle in a healthy way.

In a study from the journal Pediatrics two case studies were presented for teenagers who were obese and through there weight loss developed an eating disorder that went undetected for a very long time by doctors. In both cases there were signs that suggested an eating disorder; however, doctors attributed these symptoms to other causes rather than an eating disorder. Doctors, as well, should be especially aware of excessive weight loss in an obese child so that the eating disorder can be detected as soon as possible.

The Ideal Body Image

Supermodel Ideal

With Junior year comes the Junior Theme. This project can be on any topic that has some historical significance, which is why it was so difficult for me to pick a topic. After going through multiple topics I landed on eating disorders. In particular I'm studying "why eating disorders are on the rise?" According to a CQ Researcher article about eating disorders anorexia and bulimia affect nearly 10 million women and 1 million men.

One cause of eating disorders is the ideal body image that we have in our society. With models and actresses being extremely thin, girls and women are striving to be more like them; however, these are truly unrealistic and unhealthy ideals. The average supermodel is 5'10'' and weighs only 120 pounds, while the average women is 5'4'' and 169 pounds. The numbers themselves show how difficult it would be for the average women to reach these ideals. In order for the average woman to have the same body mass index (bmi)  as the average supermodel she would have to lose 69 pounds. The bmi of the supermodel is 17.2 and anything under 18.5 is underweight; so not to mention the difficulty of losing 69 pounds, but those that strive for the ideal body image are striving to be underweight. The way that women and girls are reaching these ideals is by developing eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia.  

Curing the Stigma Against Mental Illness

We recently discussed "paginas en blanco [blank pages]" of family history in my American Studies class. A common "pagina en blanco" of families was mental illness. Most of this cover-up was due to the stigma of mental illness at the time, but I'm not sure if the stigma has really gone away.

There are many forms of mental illness

Andreas Lubitz was the co-pilot of the Germanwings Flight who crashed the plane into the French Alps. It has recently become known that Lubitz was struggling with a mental illness. This revelation raises the need for a discussion about the stigma put on mental illness. Why do people with mental illness feel the need to hide it? If they confide in doctors, should the doctors sound an alarm if their patient could harm others? 

In order to fight the stigma of mental illness we need to encourage those who are suffering to open up about it. Not long ago there was a stigma against those who had cancer causing them to not tell anyone about their disease, but now public opinion has changed and everyone is more supportive towards those who have cancer. The way to suppress stigmas of mental illness is to educate the public about what the disease does to a person. In on article on Revelstoke Review a mother was quoted saying "My daughter's struggle with severe depression was more difficult for me than my husband's sudden death." The problem with our society is that when a person has a mental illness people tend to stay far away instead of comforting or being there for them. 

There is also a problem that health care providers face when it come to doctor-patient confidentiality. If they feel that someone could be a threat to others there are policies in place that inhibit them from telling anyone. It may be necessary for policy to change in order to allow doctors to identify ill parents that could be harmful to others. At the same time we have to provide a society where someone with a disability can reveal their struggle while still living a normal life. 

Fraternity Scandal Sparks Parenting Debate

At University of Oklahoma a racist chant against African-American people was being used in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. As a result two students were suspended and the SAE chapter was removed from the university. This is horrific that in a society that is supposed to have moved past racism of this nature it still exist. Something that has come to surface because of this situation is the issue of parenting. The two young men expelled were Levi Pettit and Parker Rice, but there parents reactions were completely different.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon, University of Oklahoma

In the case of Parker Rice he issued a statement to the Dallas Morning News apologizing for his behavior saying this it was "wrong and reckless". His parents, however, had nothing to say. On the other hand, in the case of Levi Pettit he has yet to release a statement, but his parents did. They said that  they know their son made a mistake and what they saw in the video was "disgusting", but they also vouched for his character saying that deep down they know his isn't a racist. Finally, they apologized on his behalf saying "we apologize to the community he has hurt".

The difference between the two cases of parenting has sparked a debate between those who believe the Rice family is in the right versus those who believe the Pettit family is in the right. In my opinion the Pettit family is in the right. Having the ability to acknowledge that there son has made a mistake proves to the community that they didn't raise him to be that way. I asked my mom what her opinion was and she said that if she was in this position she would have had her son apologize and she would have apologized as well, and I agree.