Our Body – Our Sacrificial Self: Redefining What Healthy Means

Massachusetts: Two Hingham high school students, Jasmine Benger and Alex Shabo, hosted an open forum "Our Body-Our Sacrificial Self," reaching out to others suffering from eating disorders.

"Their presentation was strongly rooted in the belief that many girls and women are unhappy with their physical selves and spend a great deal of time, effort, and money in seemingly endless attempts to attain the perfection that the media portrays as necessary to achieve happiness and success," states the article
Winning The Battle Against Eating Disorders. written by Carol Britton Meyer

“Women’s bodies have become material objects, and both men and women have begun to treat them as such,” Shabo and Benger agree. “Self-awareness can be lost beneath overwhelming, restrictive societal values and attitudes – which can lead to a distorted image of body, loss of self, and eating disorders.”

“It is not a choice. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” Jasmine Benger told Carol Britton Meyer concerning the the misconception that people choose to have eating disorders. “It engulfs your life. You lose the capacity to think reasonably and rationally."

"Eating disorders 'creep up on you,' Shabo said. 'In our society, everything’s about 100 calorie packs. You hear beautiful people saying terrible things about themselves.” This is due in large part to low-esteem resulting from the media blitz to be thin and 'perfect.”

"The key, Shabo said, is to 'find out who you really are, to accept the imperfections that you have and give yourself some leeway. Find the beauty in yourself.”

Read this article in full here.

source:http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/news/education/x836875779
written by:
Carol Britton Meyer
picture of White Lady by Anna Williams
picture source:
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrkbeta/2256309044/

2 comments:

Angela said...

"find out who you really are, to accept the imperfections that you have and give yourself some leeway. Find the beauty in yourself.”

Ahhh. If it could only be this easy!

MrsMenopausal said...

I hear you. I know that, for myself, I'd be much better off if I could accept my own imperfections with the same ease that I accept everyone else's.

Somehow, what they see as something they'd like to change, I see as something that makes them unique, special.. etc.

Yet, If I have the same physical characteristic I tend to be far less comfortable with it.

But, I'm learning. I'm getting there. I'm working at it. :)