France's lower house of parliament adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to incite extreme thinness.Of course, the problem is how to assign blame. There are lots of fashion magazines with lots of pictures of thin women. That apparently has not been resolved, although this bill focuses on " "pro-anorexic" Web sites that, for instance, give advice on how to eat an apple a day — and nothing else." I am not familiar with those Web sites, but I'll assume that they do, in fact, exist. That sounds like a depressing approach to food.
There is one thing about this debate that has always confused me. Supposedly the point of starving yourself is to become more attractive. But I don't know any guy who thinks a woman that is too thin is attractive. And yet I've almost never heard that idea expressed in the multitude of times that I have heard it. If you're trying to make yourself more attractive to men, don't starve yourself. Have a cheeseburger every now and then.
And for goodness sake, don't complain about your weight. After being too thin, that has to be one of the least attractive things about a woman who is already thin. Being concerned about your weight if you actually do have to lose some pounds is healthy. But being neurotic about shaving off a couple of ounces, if you're either at a good weight or pretty close, does not make you a fun person to hang out with. Neuroses are not fun. Cindy Crawford, who seems to have a healthy body image, once said that the sexiest thing is self-confidence. She's right.
1 comment:
I was happily speechless when I read this article yesterday. And you are so right about thin girls constantly needing affirmation that they are not fat. I think many women's self-perception is completely distorted; and anorexics see fat where nothing but skin and bones exist.
However, there are a lot of misperceptions about the underlying reasons one becomes anorexic. Anorexia as a disorder in most cases comes down to 2 motivating psychological factors; 1) control and 2) fear of maturing. The typical anorexic girl's goal is to divert men's attention because she is so fearful and uncomfortable with her changing, maturing body and the subsequent attention she gets from men. And it's a way for them to gain control of the normal progression of human development, and stop the natural maturing process. Anorexia stops the body from maturing to the point where girls will even stop getting their periods. Scary but true.
See, I learned something in college! My psych degree isn't just for show! :)
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