Dear Mean Bloggers/News Outlets of the Americas,

Are you kidding me? Like, seriously; are you freaking kidding me?

You’re calling Jessica Simpson fat? FAT?! Maybe she put on a few pounds this winter (just like the rest of the population), or maybe she is the victim of a terrible, TERRIBLE, wardrobe malfunction (hello, mom jeans), but the girl is by no means fat.

I won’t even comment on how ridiculous our society is that this is one of the top headlines today. (Ok, yes I will. There are much bigger things happening in this world right now – things that matter – and all I can find online is a picture after picture of Jessica Simpson’s “severe weight gain”?) And who are we that we have the right to call anyone fat? Unless you have a medical degree or some kind of nutrition background, SHUT UP; it’s not your place to comment.

These days it is so easy to bring someone down thanks to the privacy we have behind our computer screens, but that doesn’t mean we should. Especially when the entire purpose of the comments people make is to be mean and hurtful. These comments are not concerned about her health – and she sure doesn’t seem to be at risk for obesity – so why are we even commenting on her figure at all? Does it feel good to see someone else with flaws? Does it make us feel better to be catty, mean bitches?

If anything I think it makes us look even more insecure about our bodies and ourselves. Read More »

Max weight loss FAST! Melt away belly fat! Lose 30 pounds in 30 days by eating more and exercising less! The Womanizer Diet: Get slim like Britney!

Unless your diet method of choice is a hearty bump of Adderall for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack, getting/staying trim is not that easy; however, it’s also not rocket science. As a long time devotee to the business of taking care of my body, I have fully explored the spectrum of ways to stay feeling good about my body (that includes eating disorders, which is, helpful hint, not recommended.), and I found that by putting the suggestions I’ve listed below into practice, I actually lost weight in college and have kept it off since, without the aid of prescription amphetamines.

So suck on that, Britney. Read More »

It’s not official unless it’s on Facebook.

You know the phrase is true. Did you hook up with a new boyfriend lately? Get a new job? Start grad school? You probably updated your Facebook to let everyone know about it. Social networking has acquired a terrifically powerful role in our culture, one which legitimizes every facet of our lives. But what happens when Facebook users begin posting personal details that don’t merit digital high-fives?

Such is the case with a new trend in Facebook groups that actually promote such eating disorders as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Think about your average, “Hell Yeah I Went To Public School!” group and channel all of that enthusiasm towards the idea of starving yourself. Imagine scrolling through a list of your friend’s groups and finding one like “Ana Boot Camp” (which has recently been disabled by the Facebook administration) which attracts users who view anorexia as a fitness goal, not an eating disorder. They’ve even co-opted the name “anorexia” to just “Ana,” as a way of reinforcing the idea of anorexia positively. Members of “pro-Ana” groups collaborate on starvation plans and look to one another for “thinspiration.”

Though the pro-Ana phenomenon has existed for some time on independent websites, the jump from private domains to the certainly more public sphere of Facebook is a new step in eating disorder pride. While Anas (the name for followers of pro-Ana) have lurked online and in private chats in the past, joining pro-Ana groups on Facebook signifies that they are confident in their beliefs and aren’t afraid to share their eating habits with friends.

Newsweek, which published an article on this story this week, interviewed 20-year-old Kate (who declined to give her last name) about the benefits of being pro-Ana on Facebook.

“[On Facebook], there’s a lot of really close networking,” she said, “so you add those people as friends and exchange phone numbers, and when you’re having a hard day, you talk on the phone.” And by joining pro-Ana groups, these individuals are declaring their relationship with eating disorders for all of their friends to see.

The tragedy with the pro-Ana movement is that its supporters are completely oblivious to (or defiant of) the fact that eating disorders are diseases that need treatment. Anas believe that people who deride eating disorders see them as bad habits. Through social networking, they stand to spread their unhealthy message of celebrating anorexia to many more people. Young female Facebook users could be persuaded to turn to starving themselves to stay thin, if the cultural pressure to slim down remains and the cult of pro-Anas expands.

And even if Anas don’t convert everyone to anorexia (they’re not particularly mobile proselytizers), allowing their groups to expand on Facebook would mean tolerating eating disorders, which is an insult to those who truly suffer and deserve medical attention. Thankfully, Facebook administrators have already begun to disable pro-Ana groups, which should be a step in the right direction. Nonetheless, Facebook has evolved as a legitimate medium for trend spotting, and tolerating anorexia should not be another passing headline on the news feed.

Every college girl has been alerted to the fact that they should detag incriminating pictures or take down inappropriate quotes from online profiles because it could harm the status of a future internship, job, or even college application. That’s all common sense at this point.

But now, common problems for young females such as eating disorders are being used as evidence by an insurance company to not insure them. An article in the New Jersey Law Journal details this surprising case.

Apparently certain girls were denied health insurance by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield because of online writings and posts pointing to “emotional” causes of disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. Why would this matter whether it was emotionally or biologically based? Here’s the catch:

The insurer is only required to pay for illnesses that are biologically based, so they are attempting to prove through facebook, myspace, etc. that the reasons behind them are purely emotional.

The article goes on to say that, “Judge Patty Shwartz ordered the plaintiffs to turn over by Jan. 15 the children’s e-mails, diaries and other writings about their “eating disorders or manifestations/symptoms thereof, and related health conditions” that had been “shared with others, including entries on Web sites such as ‘Facebook’ or ‘MySpace.’” Read More »

There are a few things I could’ve done without in last night’s Nip/Tuck episode:

a) A guest appearance by Rosie O’Donnell. Gross.

b) Marshmallow fluff. Gross.

c) The ass bandit story line. Where in god’s name did the producers come up with this one? (However, Liz’s comment about “digitally dittling” the victims was pretty damn funny.)

Anyway, on to the good stuff…eating disorders.

As someone who very recently wrote a blog about “thinspiration,” I was especially intrigued by the role it played last night. Naughty Eden has introduced poor MacNamara’s daughter to the trials and tribulations of being a young girl who’s overly concerned with her weight. Not only does Annie ask Dr. Mac for lipo because her ass is too big (???), but she gets coached by Eden on “ana” and “mia” not to mention which “thinspiration” websites she visits so that she gets thinspired to skinny.

She even goes as far as making Annie practice purging. Good lord this was so f-ed up! Aside from the fact that this is only a TV show, it’s no wonder so many young girls are developing eating disorders with the kind of influence that’s out there. Read More »

There is a video of me as a little girl where I am pretending to be She-Ra.

Of course, my sister had already done her She-Ra skit but I wanted to be just like her, so I put on the plastic dress and the plastic mask, ran out onto my grandparents porch and said “For the honor of Grayskull, I am She-Ra.”

Then I made some flying noises, ran in a circle and quickly exited our makeshift stage.

I always wanted to be She-Ra.

She had (according to Wikiepdia) “the archetypical female traits of kindness, compassion, and a soft-spoken manner” but she also had “bravery and perseverance in the face of danger. As well as the super-human strength and stamina shared by He-Man after his transformation, She-Ra had additional skills in her changed form. These include a healing touch and telepathic communication with animals.”

Of course I wanted to be like She-ra. She kicked ass.

But when I was in kindergarten my best friend was always She-Ra and made me be her sidekick, Perfuma. Since I had the Perfuma action figure, that made perfect sense to her stuck up ass. Even as a five year old, she was a total bitch.

Maybe that’s how I always felt, the sidekick to everyone: my best friend, my big sister. Which is why I developed such a perfectionist complex at such a young age. Read More »

Any girl who has been to college realizes the pressure that you feel to be slim. I know that when I first arrived at my college campus, it was hard to ignore all of the stick thin girls strutting around. No matter how much you try to completely ignore it, the feeling that maybe you should lose some weight or get in better shape will inevitably come over you at some time throughout your four years.

Although I eventually developed a healthier lifestyle in college, there were times when my slimming down habits were not necessarily healthy or good for me in the long run (i.e. fad diets). I was lucky that I never developed a serious eating disorder like so many college girls do after feeling all of the pressures to be thin.

Well, apparently, some genius dude thinks that the pressure girls feel is a great thing and that it will help them get healthy! Obviously, he has never been a girl in college and had to deal with any body image issues… Read More »

Much like the fashion show organizers in Madrid who only use models with healthy BMIs, the higher powers at London Fashion Week have taken steps to make the event (somewhat) healthier by electing to eliminate models under the age of 16 for their Fall 2007 event.

14 and 15 year old models tend to be thinner and bonier than their older counterparts, as many of these girls have yet to fully develop and create an even more unrealistic perception of what a body should look like.

While England is showing some effort in eliminating these prepubescent girls from their runways, they have yet to ban size zero models. Women 16 and up whose ribs and collar bones protrude will be free to grace the runways. These bone-thin models advertise clothing designed for women who are realistically, at least 10 years older than them and have fuller, more common body types. So why would organizers at London Fashion Week want to use teenagers and uncommonly thin women to advertise clothing aimed at a completely different demographic? Read More »

Everyday there’s something new in the gossip columns about Nicole Richie’s skeletal frame. And there’s no doubt about it—girl needs to eat! She looks like she could be blown over by a gust of wind. All those pregnancy rumors? I honestly hope not cause that’s going to be one seriously unhealthy little baby.

Keira Knightley and Kate Bosworth also face a lot of scrutiny over their diminished frames. They can lie all they want about being healthy, but their rib cages poking out say otherwise. Actually Kate’s looking a little healthier, so that’s good. Mmmm food…isn’t it good, Kate?

OK, so all these girls are uber-skinny, and I’m obviously sort of a hater. You can call it jealousy, and it partially is. I eat a piece of lettuce and its girth is immediately added to the side of my thighs. And it makes me maaaaaaad. I really, really just want a cheeseburger, but my butt can’t handle the added pounds. But I would much rather look like the lovely Kate Winslet than any of these scary looking pre-pubescent shaped actresses.

What makes me even more mad, though, is image they portray to women. When my friend’s 13 year-old sister said she thought Nicole Ritchie had the perfect body I almost shoved a sheet of Oreos down her throat right then and there. I mean, really?

But instead of always commenting on Nicole (she’s obviously not enjoying the paps lately anyway) why the hell does no one ever say anything about Victoria Beckham?

She reportedly has a 23 inch waist—which, after doing some research, I learned is equivalent to the waist of a seven year old child! Some people are naturally really skinny—and Victoria is obviously one of them— but if you look at Posh over the years, she’s definitely been withering away. Read More »