Rosie Scribble

Why thinness isn't everything

This is a serious post with a serious message. I write posts like this once in a while; they usually result from a combination of factors, and this post is no exception.

The subject is dieting and eating disorders. Click away now if it’s not for you.

Recently I was looking back over my posts for 2010. Exactly one year ago I was writing about the dangers of pro-anorexia websites, and in July about the extent to which images are air-brushed to create completely unattainable images that we, and our children, are exposed to on a regular basis.

Many of us aspire to look like that, or have done in the past, yet they are not real. That’s something I’ll be telling my daughter as soon as she is old enough to understand. The last thing I want is for her to think that thin is beautiful and that striving to be thin should be of any importance to her, because it isn’t. There is more to life.

The last thing I want is for her to experience an eating disorder, like I did.

I agree with the points made in Tara’s post Do you need to be skinny to be successful? – that  the mantra of many these days still seems to be ‘You can never be too rich, or too skinny.’ I thought – hoped - the world had moved on from skinniness being perceived as a sign of success, but in reality it hasn’t, which is a great shame.

Recently I’ve seen numerous adverts on the internet telling me how I can lose seven pounds in as many days, and a leading supermarket emailed me today to tell me about their new diet service. I’m all for healthy eating and healthy living; my concern is that the message, as Tara’s post discusses, does seem to be that thinness is everything. And it’s not.

There are two stars on our Christmas tree – one for Sally and one for Tash. They were both close friends who died from Anorexia. We remember them at Christmas. I met them when we were all in hospital together being treated for the same illness. Out of the three of us, I am the only one who survived.

Last week the ‘No Anorexia’ model Isabelle Caro died aged 28.

So thinness isn’t everything, and those that are in the best position to tell you about life at a low weight are no longer living.

I first posted this video in February last year… seeing is believing, or is it? It is worth posting again here and two minutes of your time.

Lost time

One of the worst things about suffering from an eating disorder is that your life is effectively on hold. So while you’re focusing on food and thinness, the rest of the world is getting on with their lives. Growing up, moving on, living. Or so it seems.

One of the best things about recovering from an eating disorder is that you can pick your life up again and start to enjoy all the things you missed out on before. Overseas travel, weekends away, conferences, friendships and so much more, there are opportunities there for the taking.

The problem is you can’t pick your life up from where you left off. Time has moved on even you haven’t really being living it.

Those years are lost and there is no way of filling them now. If only there were.

So it’s all very well planning a career path, learning to drive and choosing a new place to live.

Except I’m not 17 anymore. I’m 37.

Nearly 40.

And it feels as if I’m in a race to do everything, experience everything and make up for lost time.

It’s exciting, invigorating and there’s so much I want to do and achieve.

Yet it’s also a little sad, and it’s exhausting trying not to dwell on all those lost years, and to carry on moving forward and looking to the future.

But only some days.

Like today.

Photo credit: bjearwicke

Don't read this, read something else ...

Today, I am not here.

So I don't want you to read this.

I want you to read something else.

Not just anything else.

I have a particular post in mind.

Today I am featured on the BMB blog.

I have written a post about a difficult topic.

It was not an easy post to write.

It reveals more about me than I've ever written on any blog before.

It took me back to an existence I don't think about too much now.

I've moved on.

Thankfully.

But I'd like you to read it.

So don't read this, read something else ...

Click over to the BMB blog.

You'll find me there, just for today.

Thank you.

On airbrushed images

Speaking to The Sunday Times this weekend, the minister for equality, Lynne Featherstone, is calling for all retouched photos in fashion magazines to carry a warning that they are not authentic, and is keen that children and young women should be informed about airbrushing so they do not think anyone can have a 12 inch waist.

Her argument that stick thin, perfect models staring out of the pages of fashion magazines result in young girls and women, and a growing number of men, result in feelings of inadequacy and cause lifelong damage to self esteem and physical health is a very valid one, although the increased number of eating disorder sufferers and people with body image issues cannot be blamed solely on magazine editors.

Featherstone argues that the constant bombardment of retouched images poses “a significant risk to the physical and mental health of young people and can even lead to anorexia and bulimia". In terms of eating disorders, such images can certainly be a contributory factor but they are only one of many. Such issues are far more complex than simply the desire to look like the images portrayed in magazines and the root causes run far deeper.

The two friends I lost to anorexia rarely read fashion magazines. They were simply not interested. That said, airbrushing is still something young people should be aware of. Sophia Neophitou, creative director of Harper’s Bazaar argues that it is the job of the fashion industry to create fantasy, and I can understand that. Splashing health warnings on every image would take away from the fantasy, and that’s an argument that makes sense too.

Part of the solution has to be to take the time to educate our children about the media and the role of airbrushing so they are aware that it takes places frequently, that the images they see are not ‘real’, so they do not feel inadequate when they do not match up. That way there would be no need to put health warnings on every single image -- children and young people would already be aware that they are not authentic and portray a look that simply cannot be achieved .

As someone who used images from fashion magazines as ‘thinspiration’ many years ago, it would have been extremely helpful to have known the images were not real and not achievable.  I honestly believed they were.

Photo credit

Guest post: Twins, Triplets and More

Today I am delighted to be handing my little corner of the blogosphere over to lovely Linda Jones who is guest posting on the subject of multiple births and post-natal depression. Linda discusses the reality of coping with twins or more and highlights a new free initiative offering support for parents preparing for a multiple birth.

 

Twins can be a gorgeous blessing but bring extra demands for the parents.

DO you know anyone expecting twins or triplets?

If you do, please point them in the direction of a new free initiative which can support them and combat post natal depression.

Thank you to Rosie for letting me stop by. I’m on a blog tour don’t you know. Yesterday I stopped off at LivingwithKids. I’m taking this "journey" because it’s an awareness week, this week, called Twins, Triplets & More week and this year in particular, it’s speaking up about a subject close to my heart – helping mums with post natal depression.

The focus is on an initiative called Get Ready for Multiples: