Eating Disorders in America: Out of Control. Why?

I'm an avid watcher of Dr. Phil and have seen many episodes, but this particular episode as always stuck out in my mind. This clip is of a woman named Amy, who is 28 years old and has been diagnosed with bulimia as well as anorexia. When I first saw this episode I was actually distrubed and could not believe what I was seeing. Out of the many episodes that I've seen on tv that are about eating disorders, this is definitely the most memorable. During this show Amy weighed in at only 60 pounds which seemed impossible to me. This is less than half of what a 20 to 30 year old woman should be weighing, if they were healthy. Anorexia and bulimia have been diagnosed as psychological disorders, but I dont think that is the only factor playing into these woman's unrealistic ideas of how much they should weigh. It's obvious that the media plays a huge role in how a woman feels her body should look, even for those who don't have an eating disorder. I don't think that the people who create these ideas in the media realize the pressure and the outcome of these pressures.Not to say that that the media is the whole cause for this case, but I believe it is a contributor. It seems that one factor in why these woman do what they do is for fear of what other people may think. In the clip you can hear Amy say "I'm scared that Dr. Phil is going to think I'm fat." The fact that a woman that only weighs 60 pounds is worrying about someone thinking that she is fat is crazy to me, but I do realize it is part of the disease. This is definitely an extreme effect of what body issues can do to a person, but it obviously is a real one and although this video may be something that most people don't want to see, I'm glad that Dr. Phil put it out there for people to realize that this is a problem in America. Anyone who watches this video is bound to feel some sympathy and maybe this will make people realize why it does matter what images are put out there for young people to see. Statistics show that an eating disorder starts during the young teenage years, right when most girls are running to get the new "Teen Vogue". Therefore I think being more cautious of the images that we portray as "beautiful" could boost self esteem, and possibly prevent even one person from developing an eating disorder.

Arby's Sports Illustrated Ad

There are many ad's out there that use certain aspects of women to attract people's attention.  I came across this ad and was surprised at the obvious sexism that the ad displayed. Arby's put this ad in a  recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue to attract men to read that ad and consider Arby's next time they went out to eat. The first thing that bugged me about this particular ad was that they were comparing woman's breasts to two hamburgers from Arby's. I think thats pretty insulting and most women would like to think that their breasts were better than two hamburgers. The fact that the creator of this ad was comparing a part of a woman's body to food, is obviously sexist and shows a certain view of women as object that you can simply attain. The second thing that was particularly offending about this ad was the quote that was on the bottom of the ad: "Were about to reveal something you'll really drool over". This yet again compares a part of a woman's body to a piece of meat that people drool over. The fact that a woman and a hamburger are being placed in the same category is ridiculous in my opinion. On CNBC, which is where I originally found this ad and is also linked at the beginning of my blog, Darrel Rover gave his reaction to the ad. "Not only did I stop, I read the whole thing". This ad obviously caught his attention and made him want to read the entire ad.  I'm guessing that women might stop and read the ad as well, but wont have a very positive reaction. Altogether this ad is another sexist ad that was used to catch reader's attention, without considering the message that it portrayed. 

 

The Bank of England Dress Code

As I was searching for ideas of what to write about on my first blog I came across an interesting memo that was sent to all women employees working at The Bank of England. This is a portion of the memo:

“Look professional, not fashionable; be careful with perfume; always wear a heel of some sort — maximum 2 inches; always wear some sort of makeup — even if it’s just lipstick.” Shoes and skirt must be the same color. No-no’s include ankle chains—“professional, but not the one you want to be associated with;” white high heels; overstuffed handbags; an overload of rings, and double-pierced ears." http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2009/02/the_bank_of_eng

I think that this memo is self explainatory as far as how women are treated in this particular business setting. It is blatently telling women that they have to have a certain appearance in order to succeed at this job. I was shocked that a public institution especially, would willingly put something so sexist out there. This memo seems to state that in this particular business the appearance of a women is valued more than their actual skill. It also made me wonder if they sent a memo like this out to men that work at that bank, but i highly doubt it. This memo is one great example of the pressure that women get to look and dress a certain way.