Hot off the press at RightNetwork: Our Daughters and the National Obsession with Thinness
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(Link fixed -- thanks, PJM!)
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November 22, 2010
At RN: Thin is in, even for three-year old girls
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Jill, the link isn't working.
ReplyDeleteOops -- fixed now. Thanks very much!
ReplyDeleteMost welcome. Awesome article!
ReplyDeleteEating disorders are very common among children who have at least one parent that is very controlling, usually the mother. The child thinks that they need to be thin in order to be perfect. That is the common thread among the victims of this disorder. The need to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteI have suffered with this problem since I was freshman in high school. I have done a great deal of damage to my health. Once it gets a hold of you, the obsession is very difficult to let go of. Eating disorders, such as Anorexia, are about control. It is the one thing in life that you are in charge of; at least that is how the person usually views it. I have been struggling with this for decades now.
I am very careful to not talk about weight issues in front of young girls. This was one of the reasons that I was very upset when some conservative talking heads were calling Meghan McCain fat. It was never about McCain's feelings, it was about a young teenager who had the same body type hearing this and thinking that they had to alter their eating habits to be thinner. We as adults need to be far more careful in the words we use in front of kids. They are sponges and internalize it.
I am against the way that Michelle Obama is going about the obesity issue. We do have a problem in this country, but for school systems to be sending home letters about your BMI is not the way to deal with it. It isn't even about the children who are getting the letters, it is the ones who just may be a little on the "chunky" side that will start to really question their bodies. It plants the seed and like I said, once it takes hold it very difficult to overcome. I agree with Michelle Obama may mean well, but I don't think she has ever bothered to see the other side of the coin.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. This is such a huge problem and it is so disheartening to see that the littlest girls are internalizing this message. Parents need to take this seriously, a la JACG above, and think about what they're teaching their children. But we can't escape our culture. What a mess.
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