The Media and EDs

I think the media and EDs go hand in hand. Girls are constantly blasted with images of stick skinny models and told that if you don't look like this then you aren't beautiful. The average woman is not a size 0, she's actually a size 16.

Girls are developing EDs at younger ages then ever before. I heard a four year old girl tell another girl at a birthday party that she could not eat the cake because it would make her fat.

I was just watching Family Guy with my boyfriend, and they made sooo many bulimic jokes. My boyfriend thought they were hilarious. I was horrified. I don't care that they were making fun of EDs, it just startled me how the show seemed to normalize EDs. It also went as far as to say that the bulimic girl's boyfriend did not care that she had an ED because it was making her body look hot.

ED awareness needs to be spread to younger girls so that future EDs can be avoided. With knowledge of what an ED is, and how it can disrupt your life, less girls and boys will go through the pain of having an ED.

Why I Started This and What I'm About

I have had an eating disorder for close to 7 years now. I understand the every day difficulties of having an eating disorder and know that unless you have an eating disorder yourself, it is hard to comprehend an eating disorder. An ED is a mental prison, it traps you and keeps you in a vicious cycle that somehow you cannot let go of, because you need it. It provides comfort and control in a sick way. It is not something you choose nor is it a thing of vanity. It's not something that can be fixed by "just eating". I know that the words "you dont look like you have an eating disorder" are sometimes the most hurtful words you can hear. I want to educate people. I want to get rid of the misconceptions and stereotypes.

Today I went to the dermatoligist. The doctor asked me how much I weighed and I said I didn't know because I am trying to recover from an ED and that I try not to weigh. I asked that if I had to be weighed that I could step on the scale backwards. The doctor was nice and professional and very understanding. The nurse came in the doctor asked her to go weigh me, but weigh me backwards and not tell me how much I weighed. The nurse had her back to me so she could not see me cry when she started to laugh at how crazy that request sounded. I was so greatful that the doctor ignored my tears and went on normally with the appointment. When it was time for me to go be weighed my mom went with me. The whole time the nurse was weighing me she was giggling to herself and making jokes. My tears came back and my mom told the nurse that I had an ED and that it was not a funny situation at all. She did not laugh anymore after that.

It seems to me that a nurse of all people should know that blind weights are a common ED practice. Every day I face comments like "you don't look like an ED", "you don't have an ED I saw you eat once.", and "just eat". The stereotypes have got to stop. People need to be educated.