I recently had a
fascinating online discussion with one of my readers that I’d like to share
with you. It energized both of us. I hope it will do the same for you!
From: Megan
Sent: Sunday, September
30, 2007 7:26 PM
There is one girl in my
group who is legally blind and has never even seen Mary-Kate Olsen or Nicole
Richie. It just goes to prove what I
keep trying to point out - that the idea eating disorders are
"caught" by other girls and celebrities and the media is a very
superficial viewpoint.
*
Hi Megan,
Your group sounds quite amazing. Blind and anorexic-- Of course, it makes
sense, but I've never come across the combination before.
Aimee
*
The woman in my group who is blind yet also
has an eating disorder, is so lovely and intelligent - it's hard to imagine a
person who can't even see yet wants to be 'like' the accepted norm. Right
now she is feeling like a failure because she wasn't able to complete the
so-called "cleanse" - a fasting diet that consists of a recipe
of a liquid detox. It's funny and ironic to me (and to other members)
that we often wish ourselves that we were blind so as never to have laid eyes
on the "ideal" celebrity figure, yet here we have someone who still
adheres to the so-called ideal figure/body, and cannot even see what it really
is.
- Megan
*
Dear Megan
Your mention of the “Cleanse” makes me
irate! Not at you, but at the quacks who promote this dangerous
idiocy. I met a beautiful woman recently who got sucked into this fraud
--not only was she sick at the end of it, but she was so defensive in the
classic ED ways. These fads are SO irresponsible. Think about the
parallel message for cars: your beautiful Mercedes Benz will run like a
dream if you just completely empty out the gas tank and force it to function
for 10 days on lemon juice and syrup instead of its normal fuel.
INANE!!!!!
Anyway, with all your friends, please spread the word that eating disorders are
NOT about beauty. They are pantomimes. The blind connection is so
fascinating, because anorexia screams at the world "I feel invisible."
Or "I feel empty" or "I feel hollow."
Bulimia screams at the world "I have to get rid of the feelings you're
forcing me to swallow." Or "I'm too ashamed or frightened to
feel and experience all that I crave."
The "thin ideal" is just a prop, really, that the subconscious seizes
as a means of getting the deeper message out: HELP, I'M LIVING OUTSIDE-IN.
- Aimee
*
In my group, we are certainly all aware that EDs are not about beauty. That's what makes it so painful - how can we as intelligent, empathetic and mostly reasonable women have these irrational thoughts and do such destructive things? It drives me crazy (even though I know I do the same thing), how everyone seems to write with a disclaimer: I know I'm pathetic, I know it's crazy, I'm so stupid, etc. I even wrote in one discussion thread about the frequent use of the word 'pathetic'. I think every member who has ever posted has described themselves this way at some point. Everyone thinks of themselves as a less worthy, less deserving being.
There are many "pro-ana" groups on Facebook, and I've seen many of my own members join them, and I go and check them out to see what is being said. It really depresses me how much EDs have become a "fad" - girls wish they were anorexic and see out "thinspiration". I end up joining sometimes because I want to bicker with the people who are joining only to make fun of and scold and insult people with EDs. I've pointed out many times that EDs are not about weight and food, despite the perpetuation of this myth by the young and immature girls. It's just such a mess. In my own group, I've made it clear that we are not discussing the best diet pills or other "tips", but I welcome advice on keeping in the best health possible. You may disagree with this, as have others, but it irritates me to no end that medical personnel will not tell you how to keep yourself as safe as possible, so as not to encourage bulimic behaviours. Over the past 18 years (I'm 32 now), I have been told over and over again how I'm going to have teeth falling out, or strokes or heart attacks, and this did not stop me from being bulimic. In my twisted mind, the risks were worth it. I had asked many times over the years how to reduce the damage on my teeth, and I was only told "stop", there's nothing else you can do. I did not care. In my group we have a whole discussion thread devoted to keeping your teeth healthy. The way I see it, is you can get to a point where you've damaged yourself so much that it's not worth trying to get help anymore. (Who wants to live longer with nasty teeth or bone-density loss?).
The blind member who tried the "Cleanse" - we all said to her that we were worried because it would drive her right into heavy bingeing (you deprive yourself so much so you wind up heavily bingeing, more than usual), and she acknowledged this, but said she wanted to do anything to "give her body a break" from bingeing and purging...yet she knew that really it wasn't healthy and completely unrealistic. She spent $70 on the maple syrup alone from EBay (it's one of the ingredients) and lasted about two days before she couldn't take it anymore. And now she has posted that she's a failure, and I'm sure these feelings will be expressed in bulimia for weeks to come.
-Megan
*
YES! Keep jumping on that destructive self-talk. We live in a
society that bathes us in lies, to such an extent that we are conditioned to
believe them. Just remember: NO ONE can live up to a lie -- ever.
And this is NOT OUR FAULT.
The whole goal of a commercial culture is to keep us dissatisfied so we keep
buying and consuming more products. Remember that the cigarette
manufacturers load cigs with chemicals to make them more addictive; such
tactics may be secret but they are hardly uncommon. Addiction represents
multi-billion dollar profits in a host of industries, including fashion,
exercise, and food.
The solution is not to starve ourselves but to get smarter about these outside
pressures AND ourselves.
Aimee
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