The simple fact is there's an epidemic crisis of confidence affecting girls and women, and both its causes and effects are going largely ignored and unspoken in and by the mainstream.
We're asking for support to pass federal legislation requiring advertising and editorial that's meaningfully changed the human form through photoshopping or airbrushing to carry "Truth in Advertising" labels. The labels will simply state that the models shown have been altered. No judgments, no morality, just clarity. Clarity that may help address and stem these horrifying numbers:
- 42% of girls in grades 1-3 want to be thinner
- 51% of 9-10 year old girls feel better about themselves when they're dieting
- 53% of 13 year old girls are unhappy with their bodies; by the time they're 17, 78% of them will be
- By the time they're 17, these girls have seen 250,000 TV commercials telling them they should be a decorative object, sex object or a body size they can never achieve (actually, Donna gave me this statistic, so no doubt you;re quite familiar.)
- 7 million girls and women under 25 suffer from eating disorders
- 80% of women feel worse about themselves after seeing a beauty ad. $20B is spent on beauty marketing in the US annually. That's a lot of money being spent making women feel worse about themselves.
To Sign and Read in full: Self-Esteem-Act
Research & Treatment for Teens with Eating Problems
Columbia University Medical Center
About the Study
An MRI Study of Adolescents with Bulimia Nervosa
We are interested in learning why some people develop eating disorders. We are recruiting girls (ages 12-19) who have a problem with binge-eating and purging and girls who do not.
Participation in this study involves interviews, games and puzzles, as well as taking pictures of your brain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There are no known health hazards associated with MRI.
Treatment, free of charge, will be provided for girls in need. Compensation (up to $400) will also be provided for participation. Parental consent is required for girls under 18 years of age.
Read in full: Teens with ED Problems
Proposed Legislation: Warning Labels On Photoshopped Ads?
A newly proposed piece of legislation proposes to mandate that all advertisements whose images have been altered with Photoshop bear a warning label alerting the public to the practice. Husband and wife team Seth, a former CAA Agent and Global CMO of Live Nation, and Eva Matlins, co-founders of online women’s magazine Off Our Chests see the modification of women’s bodies without it being made clear “a wrongful act that’s led to increasing cases of emotional disorders.”
The answer, they believe, is government action. “Similar conversations have taken over the past few years,” they write in a press release. “However, to date, no action has taken place in the U.S.” In response, the Matlins propose The Self Esteem Act in order to encourage government and media to work together to address the body issues plaguing women and girls in the country.
Read in full: Warning Labels
Sexy Anna Rexia: Eating Disorders As Machisma
It’s almost October and you know what that means: Here come the goblins, ghosts, witches, and sluts!
The sleaziness of women’s (and little girls’) Halloween costumes has become an annual gripe for mommies and feminists.
But my friend Jeannine Gailey, PhD, a sociologist at Texas Christian University, clued me in on what might be the most appalling costume ever created: Anna Rexia, the sexy side of a life-threatening eating disorder.
Yikes.
Read in full: Anna Rexia
Somerset Woman Shortlisted to Win Grant to Help People With Eating Disorders
A WEDMORE woman is in the running to win a £10,000 grant to help people with eating disorders – but needs your vote.
Jane Smith supported two of her daughters through anorexia and in 2004 set up the Anorexia Bulimia Care’s befriending service, which supports families affected by an eating disorder via the telephone or email.
Now cosmetic giant Avon has shortlisted Jane in its Hello Tomorrow Fund 2011, along with five other finalists from across the country. Jane said she was delighted to be shortlisted and the money could make a real difference to the charity, which receives thousands of calls each month.
She said: “I speak to around 2,000 people a year personally. The £10,000 grant from Avon would make a real difference to my wish to develop an Anorexia Bulimia Care’s befriending service. I ask local people to vote for our project now and help make my dream a reality.”
Jane’s daughters suffered eating disorders aged 11 and 13, but have since fully recovered.
Jane said: “Our whole world turned upside down. We were a happy, loving family and then we were suddenly plunged into a nightmare. You can’t force someone to eat against their will.
“Our 11-year-old lost a third of her body weight over eight weeks and had to be tube fed for two weeks, for 24 hours a day.”
Read in full: Shortlisted
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
I recently found out that September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Wow! A month to honor fat kids! Way to go!!!
OOOPS!
Sorry. It’s a month devoted to ending childhood obesity. And the state of Georgia has a poster child. Or should I say poster children?
I suppose it pays to have clout. After all, if the First Lady of the United States wants to declare a month after her personal pet project, who am I to complain? If I were the First Lady, I may declare a month after something close to my heart as well. I just MAY declare MAY as: Everyone Loves Everyone Else No Matter What They Look Like Month! (ELEENMWTLLM!).Read in full: R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Heidi Diaz, Kimkins creator, is one of this years inductees into the 2011Rogues Gallery.
The Rogues Gallery was designed to hold people like Heidi Diaz. She had no problem being the first person to snuggle up to the otherwise reviled Kevin Trudeau. She duped people out of money, she lied about a diet that was found to be unhealthy and has since modified the diet and continues to try to sell it. She asked people to send her cheques when the court ordered her Paypal account money because she claimed that was the only money she had. She lied so often and so poorly it is amazing that she is not sitting in jail....She is an unrepentant con woman who continues to operate her website, but now she has finally added the court ordered warning to her page. It is in the barely visible colour of off-white on a white background.
Seriously, her own webpage says she has engaged in false advertising fraudulent business practices.
Read in full: Heidi Diaz Rogues Gallery
Dieting NZ Women, Girls 'Losing Chance of Children
Kiwi women and girls are dieting their way out of a chance to have children, says a leading fertility specialist.
Dr Stella Milsom says young women should slow down, eat more and exercise moderately - or pay "too great a price".
The Auckland Fertility Associates endocrinologist said she was sick of reading stories trumpeting the weight loss of the same celebrities who visited her clinic for treatment.
"It really frustrates me when I see my patients written up in the women's magazines when I know they've got the bones of an 80-year-old."
Read in full: Losing Chance of Children
Physician Focus: Eating Disorders on the Rise
As many as 10 million females and 1 million males in the U.S. are affected by eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. These conditions are often hard to detect, carry great shame, and present severe physical and mental health problems for patients. Many of those afflicted are young adolescents, teenagers and young adults.
The vast majority of patients with anorexia and bulimia some 85-95 percent are women. Binge eating disorder affects about 2 percent of all adults up to 4 million Americans, affecting slightly more women than men. Recent studies have discovered an increasing incidence of these disorders among males. The peak onset of these conditions occurs during late puberty and in the late teenage and early adult years.
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a refusal to maintain a normal body weight through self-induced starvation. Bulimia nervosa consists of episodes of binge eating consuming large amounts of food in a short amount of time in a way that feels out of control followed by actions to compensate for overeating, such as vomiting, restricting food or the use of laxatives. Those suffering from anorexia and bulimia have common traits: they fear gaining weight, are fixated on losing weight, and are very dissatisfied with their bodies. Binge eating disorder consists of consuming large amounts of food but without the compensatory actions to purge one's system; it's often associated with obesity.
Medicine has yet to pinpoint the specific causes of these illnesses, but we do know that certain factors contribute to them. Among them are cultural issues, such as the pressure to be thin or fit a certain body size or image, and stressful psychological situations, such as traumatic events in childhood, troubled personal relationships, or major changes in life.
Read in full: Eating Disorders Rise
Is Your Child Cutting?
Self-inflicted behaviors include cutting and burning oneself without the intent of suicide. It is a new trend that is becoming glorified especially on the internet. Here's how to identify such behavior and how to help your child.
It appears that there are a plethora of websites dedicated for the instruction and glorification of self-inflicted behaviors (SIB). One research study examined 100 videos on the internet regarding SIB and found that there were 2 million hits on some of these websites. 80 percent of these videos had no viewer restrictions. 58 percent had no warning of content. The question stands, “Do these types of websites glorify and encourage self-abuse?” With the amount of activity on these websites, it would seem that non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has developed a cult following.
Here are some facts about NSSI:
1. Cutting and burning usually occurs in adolescent females with the average age of 16.
2. The cutting and burning usually occurs on arms, legs and torso. These areas are easily covered by bracelets and clothing.
Read in full: Is Your Child Cutting?
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