Are Eating Disorders Irrelevant?

There was a post recently on my discussion boards, from someone who clearly feels that eating disorders, specifically anorexia and bulimia, recieve far too much attention in the media today. Reading the post brought out many strong feelings in me, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Here's the original post:

"anorexia/bulemia is a nothing more than a rich little white girl's "disease" and deserves none of the attention that it gets. the fact that a/b gets the media attention that it get's exposes the u.s.'s narcisistic love of it's own image. people'll watch a whole "sally" or "maury" on anorexia (people staving for vanity's sake), but won't linger a second on anything about africa (people starving under actual circumstances). up and above that, a/b is a vastly minor affliction as compared to obesity in the u.s., so i don't see how it can be inferred that a/b , 1) is a crisis, 2) is caused by a sucsessfull media conspiracy designed to pressure people to be skinny. nonetheless anorexia is "real" for a handfull of women in the privledged classes (who aparently have to deal with so few matters of actual weight that being "svelt" and "dainty" becomes something worth killing themselves over), but should, i feel, be given no more regard than add,sick building syndrome, or goldbond medicated powder's cash cow, "male itch". in summary, i consider myself to be socially active and feel that my time would be better spent in service of people who are starving to death from famine, wars, and natural disasters, rather than from vanity."

And... here's my reply:

"By referring to people with an eating disorder as "people staving for vanity's sake", it's pretty clear that you - like many other people today - have completely missed the point.

Eating disorders are not about vanity. Eating disorders are not about being thin. If that's all that people ever know about eating disorders, then we will never make headway in beating the problem.

What it comes down to is this. Like drug addiction, alcoholism, self-injury and even suicide, eating disorders are a form of coping. Coping with a life that in some manner feels out of control. Sometimes it seems a lot easier to focus on something as trivial as weight, rather than focusing on the real problems in ones life (which might be divorce, death, or just general emotional turmoil).

Another big misconception is that eating disorders are "nothing more than a rich little white girl's 'disease' " in the U.S. In fact, eating disorders are a problem around the world, and in a variety of races, cultures and classes. I should also point out that it's not a new problem. Eating disorders have been documented through history. It's only been within the past few decades however, that eating disorders have been identified as the serious problem that they are, and that they have begun to receive the attention they need.

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