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/

France May Make It Illegal To Promote Extreme Thinness

A bill was adopted today by the French parliament's lower house that would make it illegal for anyone to "publicly incite extreme thinness."
Article By: DEVORAH LAUTER, Associated Press Writer.
Paris- "The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes Tuesday, after the legislation won unanimous support from the ruling conservative UMP party. It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks."
"Fashion industry experts said that, if passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind anywhere. Leaders in French couture are opposed to the idea of legal boundaries on beauty standards."
"The bill was the latest and strongest of measures proposed after the 2006 anorexia-linked death of a Brazilian model prompted efforts throughout the international fashion industry to address the repercussions of using ultra-thin models."
"Conservative lawmaker Valery Boyer, author of the law, argued that encouraging anorexia or severe weight loss should be punishable in court."
"Doctors and psychologists treating patients with anorexia nervoas — a disorder characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming overweight — welcomed the government's efforts to fight self-inflicted starvation, but warned that its link with media images remains hazy."
"French lawmakers and fashion industry members signed a nonbinding charter last week on promoting healthier body images. Spain in 2007 banned ultra-thin models from catwalks."
"But Boyer said such measures did not go far enough."
Read the article in full here.For more information see Medusa's Post: France Tables New "Anorexia" Law
Special thanks to WildAngel6 for bringing the article to my attention.
source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/ap_on_he_me/france_anorexia
picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/safari_vacation/6260723020/