One of the best first dates I’ve ever been on was to a sushi restaurant. I had never tried sushi before, and it ended up becoming one of my favorite foods. I ended up dating that boy for three years. And in those three years, our lives became increasingly intertwined. We were already in the same honors classes, we both played soccer, we both wrote for the school newspaper. We fit into each other’s lives so perfectly.

For three years, we got along perfectly. And then we broke up. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Some people eat after I break up, I couldn’t bring myself to eat. I was nauseous all the time. I lost almost thirty pounds. And sushi had never looked more repulsive.

For months after that, every time I saw sushi I thought of him. He was there every green car that drove by, every time I passed a soccer field of boys practicing. I had never been even the slightest bit phased by a break up before, so I had no idea why I was so upset. I felt so weak, so pathetic, for letting myself be so upset over a boy.

Time passed, and I gradually began getting better. It took little steps. I finally stopped crying. I didn’t have to see him anymore once school ended, and then I was able to stop thinking about him almost altogether. I started dating some other people casually, and soon I rarely thought of him. I could even eat order a California roll without a single painful memory. (Which instantly enhanced my life; I’d really missed those little guys.) Read More »

Women’s social issues have been treated in programs geared towards teens for ages. Remember when DJ Tanner went on a crash diet so she could look good in a bathing suit, and then passed out on a stairclimber?

On Saved by the Bell, Elizabeth Berkley gained pre-Showgirls notoriety, for the famous Jessie Spano Caffeine Pill Breakdown (I’m so excited! I’m so scared!). Of course, Full House and SBTB were heart-warming sitcoms, where everyone learns their lesson in the end, and move away from their self-destructive behavior, never to mention anorexia, bullimia, or drug abuse ever again.

The breakout Canadian teen sensation, Degrassi, which airs in the US on The N network, covers a variety of teen issues, without the cavity-inducing sugary sweetness of the stuff we grew up on. Among the kids who dabble in drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, and bi-polar disorder, Degrassi introduced the world to Ellie Nash, who is a cutter.

I’m too old for Degrassi, but I don’t care. I’m pretty much obsessed with it. The best part about the show is that it doesn’t sweep the issues under the rug at the end of each 22-minute episode. And because the writers have the balls to “Go There.” I mean, come on: we all know the caffeine-pill incident was a stand-in for a harder drug, like speed or something, but hard drugs don’t exist at Bayside High.

I remember when the cutting craze swept my middle school. I have no idea who started it, or why it caught on, but at my school, cutting was the iPhone of the late 90′s. Read More »

Here’s a shocker: BBC News reports that young girls face increasing pressure to become sexualized at younger ages, and besides becoming sluttier and sluttier, they also give into self-destructive habits to cope with social stress.

My first thought? Oh, no! Save the children. My second thought? Ummm, obvi?

When I was young, my role models were Barbie and Kelly Kapowski. Barbie had an impossible waist paired with magic tits, and Kelly Kapowski had cheated on Zack Morris with college boy Jeff, her boss at the Max. Parents today are concerned that the Bratz dolls negatively influence girls’ body images. I think they look like ghetto skanks with big heads, myself. But I suppose if they are inspiring young girls to seek a ghetto-skank look, there is cause for concern.

But I digress. BBC reports that girls are suffering from various social anxieties: two in five girls studied knew someone who had self-harmed; two in five knew someone who had panic attacks; and one in three knew someone with an eating disorder.

These problems suck; I know, I’ve dealt with all of them. I went through a brief bout of anorexia when I was thirteen, dropping to 104 pounds on a 5’7” frame. When I started eating again after an intervention, knives and razors became my friends. Read More »