When desperate housewives began a few years ago I was standing in my kitchen with my mouth open so wide my bottom lip could have swept the floor.
Why? Because - the idea that these women could look the way they did, do the things they did, and live the life they did...I knew would have some sort of impact on women my age (late thirties) and older. In the last ten years eating disorders in women over 30 has risen quite significantly and to have a show like this, in my opinion, did not help.
Let me preface this with what I also know to be true. The media doesn't cause eating disorders. Desperate Housewives is a TV show, and one that leans towards the absurd and skims the edge of reality. I am well aware of that.
But, come on people...we cannot deny that the women on the show continue to feed into the unrealistic women projected in our society. Thus I began calling the rise in adult onset eating disorders the Desperate Housewife Syndrome.
Which leads me to this post. Last Sunday my kids and I were watching Home Makeover and the television was left on.