Spring Break
Pro-eating disorder websites should be regulated
Megan Lynch
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: Commentary
Now that winter break has ended, students are flocking to the gym. Some are trying to fulfill that New Year's resolution and others are simply shocked by what Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have done to their previously summer-ready svelte bodies.
Students can get nasty surprises when they remove the jackets, sweaters, turtlenecks and scarves to find lumps or bumps where there previously were none. Perhaps it is appropriate that February plays host to National Eating Disorder Awareness week. It takes place from Feb. 22-28 and encourages messages of hope and recovery.
In the United States alone, 10 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men are battling eating disorders, according to nationaleatingdisorders.org. Something needs to be done about this and society, as well as the growth of technology, is only hindering the problem.
By the time young women get to college, they have inevitably seen pictures and videos of models, actresses and just plain lucky women with fast metabolisms. However, it is unrealistic in American culture for these young women to reflect the airbrushed and doctored photos in magazines and live in America - a fast-food nation. Young girls in American culture don't have a healthy image to compare themselves to. Fifty years ago, people were considered beautiful with curves and some meat on their bones. Marilyn Monroe was the sex-symbol of her time and she was far from bony.
Now, in addition to media images, advertisements and societal pressure to be thin, women have growing technology and the internet to pressure them as well. There are numerous pro-anorexia sites popping up with tips on how to starve oneself better or stave off hunger. These Web sites are becoming commonplace and ruining millions of young women's lives.
Everybody certainly has a right to free speech and generally I would advocate that any information should be allowed on the web, but "pro-ana" Web sites are a different, dangerous story.
Students can get nasty surprises when they remove the jackets, sweaters, turtlenecks and scarves to find lumps or bumps where there previously were none. Perhaps it is appropriate that February plays host to National Eating Disorder Awareness week. It takes place from Feb. 22-28 and encourages messages of hope and recovery.
In the United States alone, 10 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men are battling eating disorders, according to nationaleatingdisorders.org. Something needs to be done about this and society, as well as the growth of technology, is only hindering the problem.
By the time young women get to college, they have inevitably seen pictures and videos of models, actresses and just plain lucky women with fast metabolisms. However, it is unrealistic in American culture for these young women to reflect the airbrushed and doctored photos in magazines and live in America - a fast-food nation. Young girls in American culture don't have a healthy image to compare themselves to. Fifty years ago, people were considered beautiful with curves and some meat on their bones. Marilyn Monroe was the sex-symbol of her time and she was far from bony.
Now, in addition to media images, advertisements and societal pressure to be thin, women have growing technology and the internet to pressure them as well. There are numerous pro-anorexia sites popping up with tips on how to starve oneself better or stave off hunger. These Web sites are becoming commonplace and ruining millions of young women's lives.
Everybody certainly has a right to free speech and generally I would advocate that any information should be allowed on the web, but "pro-ana" Web sites are a different, dangerous story.
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