Acne Q & A Archive: Society Encourages Eating Disorders

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Author	Topic: Society Encourages Eating Disorders
PhiVan 05-25-2003 01:30 AM	the beauty standard in Western society is tooooo unrealistic and unhealthy. It's disturbing to see people go on diet and starve themselves. i can't hardly go without an hour without eating/drinking something, and if I don't get enough energy in, I get really lethargic and depressed. I can't imagine how it would feel like to starve yourself for days, months, and some even years. This diet is for people with acne, and the by-product of it is maintaining a healthy weight. But i would advise people with a past history of eating disorder to abuse this diet - and use it as a way to hurt themselves. I've had a friend who is doing it, but she would abuse ANY diet not just this one, to get down to a standard size 0
PhiVan 05-25-2003 01:32 AM	quote: But i would advise people with a past history of eating disorder to abuse this diet Sorry, a typo I meant : I would NOT encourage anyone to abuse this diet as a way to fuel their eating disorder.
moydodyr 05-25-2003 04:02 AM	Whats a "beauty standard"? I didnt realise there is one... and whats a "standard size 0" ??
Fabienne 05-26-2003 01:06 PM	quote: Originally posted by Pimplefaced Assassin: Whats a "beauty standard"? I didnt realise there is one... and whats a "standard size 0" ?? The beauty standard is a piece of culture whose insidious nature is just as you have described: we are generally not aware of it. It is as an assumption we are not aware of making. How often do you think about why you consider beautiful those things which you think are beautiful? Or, more generally, but just as applicable to eating disorders, why do you strive for that for which you strive? Where did you get the idea that a certain thing is good or bad, and isn't it funny that most people in society are agreed, in a general sense, upon which things are good/desireable/beautiful, and which things are bad/shameful/ugly, etc.? You may think Cindy Crawford is the pinnacle of perfection, and your friend may hate her and like Cameron Diaz. But isn't it funny that their both very tall, very thin, etc. What appeared to be a choice (i.e. between different paradigms of beauty) was in fact no choice but a coersion to identify with a particular set of characteristics, or "standard." Of course, there are many factors involved in eating disorders, and society is only one of them.
benzapp 05-26-2003 08:14 PM	quote: The beauty standard is a piece of culture whose insidious nature is just as you have described: we are generally not aware of it. It is as an assumption we are not aware of making. How often do you think about why you consider beautiful those things which you think are beautiful? Or, more generally, but just as applicable to eating disorders, why do you strive for that for which you strive? Where did you get the idea that a certain thing is good or bad, and isn't it funny that most people in society are agreed, in a general sense, upon which things are good/desireable/beautiful, and which things are bad/shameful/ugly, etc.? You may think Cindy Crawford is the pinnacle of perfection, and your friend may hate her and like Cameron Diaz. But isn't it funny that their both very tall, very thin, etc. What appeared to be a choice (i.e. between different paradigms of beauty) was in fact no choice but a coersion to identify with a particular set of characteristics, or "standard." Of course, there are many factors involved in eating disorders, and society is only one of them. I think you are simply believing your Sociology professors a little too much. I hate the scrawny chicks in New York and find them disgusting. The only reason women perceive any kind of beauty standard is because it is they who perpetuate it. Instead of reading Cosmopolitan and watching MTV, pick up Playboy magazine. You won't see any 100 pound females in its pages. There is a great dichotomy in women, a schism which divides them like an ocean. Each female is torn between the desires of a mother and that of a daughter. In New York, women are focused in the extreme upon the latter, hopelessly fighting time in an attempt to maintain their status as a Daughter. You need only look at the psychological trauma of menstruation, how it leads to vegetarianism and a disdain for blood... American women despise their future as mothers. In the heart of every female with an eating disorder is the profound desire to be pre-sexual. No bleeding, no breasts, no body fat. To accept that they age would mean that at some point, the party will have to be over. In the party capital of America, that would be an anathema.
moydodyr 05-26-2003 10:05 PM	quote: Originally posted by Ben_Zapp: The only reason women perceive any kind of beauty standard is because it is they who perpetuate it. Instead of reading Cosmopolitan and watching MTV, pick up Playboy magazine. You won't see any 100 pound females in its pages. I came to the conclusion that modern chicks care much more for looking good in the eyes of other women than in the eyes of men. And same is true for men. Why do we spend hours pumping muscles in the gym and buy fancy cars and sportsgear? The excuse is to impress the chicks, the reality is, females dont care, but it impresses our male buddies Same with women and their diets/clothes/hairstyles, men dont really care, but women do, they set these "beauty standards" between themselves. There is a great dichotomy in women, a schism which divides them like an ocean. Each female is torn between the desires of a mother and that of a daughter. In New York, women are focused in the extreme upon the latter, hopelessly fighting time in an attempt to maintain their status as a Daughter. You need only look at the psychological trauma of menstruation, how it leads to vegetarianism and a disdain for blood... American women despise their future as mothers. In the heart of every female with an eating disorder is the profound desire to be pre-sexual. No bleeding, no breasts, no body fat. To accept that they age would mean that at some point, the party will have to be over. In the party capital of America, that would be an anathema.[/QB][/QUOTE]
Fabienne 05-28-2003 01:18 AM	quote: Originally posted by Ben_Zapp: I think you are simply believing your Sociology professors a little too much. I don't have Sociology professors. quote: BZ said: I hate the scrawny chicks in New York and find them disgusting. The only reason women perceive any kind of beauty standard is because it is they who perpetuate it. Instead of reading Cosmopolitan and watching MTV, pick up Playboy magazine. You won't see any 100 pound females in its pages. It is not so much what shape males actually desire, but what women shape women perceive they must take. It is quite true that the ideal woman presented to men is different from the ideal woman presented to women. This only makes the situation of women more bizarre; they must fulfill conflicting roles, something you also reference. quote: BZ said: Each female is torn between the desires of a mother and that of a daughter. In some ways the women of Playboy are quite similar to the anorexic. They both reject motherhood, and thus escape somewhat from the double bind ideal of the virgin mother. Also, being an anorexic [i.e. dominating one's bodily need for food] and being a sex symbol [actively refusing to dominate one's bodily desire for sex] can both be ways to attempt to regain agency in a world where one is constantly acted upon. In the end both these attempts fail as success at either only reinscribes the original powerlessness of the individual. The anorexic obviously weakens herself physically, the Playboy bunny confines herself to existence in this specific sex role, which still caters to and depends upon men. I agree that one impetus to anorexia is a desire to be presexual, but I think there are many reasons why a female would want to regain prepubescence. quote: BZ said: You need only look at the psychological trauma of menstruation, how it leads to vegetarianism and a disdain for blood... American women despise their future as mothers. In the heart of every female with an eating disorder is the profound desire to be pre-sexual. No bleeding, no breasts, no body fat. Behind a woman's disgust at her own blood, one could argue, lies the social disgust for her blood, and the secrecy and sanitization which shroud menstruation. A woman is taught to think of her body as unclean, in need of some "sanitary napkin," to hide the fact that she is bleeding (and thus somehow unclean) which actually means she is healthy and fertile. quote: PFA said: I came to the conclusion that modern chicks care much more for looking good in the eyes of other women than in the eyes of men. And same is true for men. Yes, this is often the case. Intrasex/gender competition would also explain male EDs.
PhiVan 05-28-2003 10:43 AM	quote: The only reason women perceive any kind of beauty standard is because it is they who perpetuate it. Instead of reading Cosmopolitan and watching MTV, pick up Playboy magazine. You won't see any 100 pound females in its pages. I agree with you. Another thing that I've come to realize is that a person with eating disorder is not only someone who wants to conform to an 'ideal' image of perfection in society, but she wants to be BETTER than that, to be above that. She is driven by an uncontrollable ego to be the best in everything so that she will win not just some people's approval, but EVERYONE's approval. She has lost in touch when the common sense of when enough is enough. So society might put out an unattainable image, but it does not necessarily is the reason why someone develops an eating disorder. So this leads to ponder: how do we stop or prevent eating disorders? One proposal is to stop looking on to society for any change because with the trend of commercialism, nothing will ever be enough, you'd always want more and more (for an anorexic, she'd want to be thinner and thinner). So the transformation has to be from wihin, she has to see for herself that it is herself who is hurting her, and she has to be so fed up with it that she'd change for good.