It looks like the French are trying to take aim at the media-manufactured thin ideal, but seriously missing the mark. A bill, approved by the lower house of Parliament but still set to face a Senate vote, would make it illegal to “provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of exposing them to risk of death or endangering health.� See The New York Times for more.
As someone who has spent years immersed in research, reflection, and discussion on this topic, I am continually amazed at how short-sighted the government response is to body image issues. It's not website and magazine policing, or even runway banishment, that we need most. It is, first and foremost, health care systems that subsidizes treatment for eating disordered women and men. At present, most health insurance companies stateside (France is a different story) give and withhold treatment based on physical symptoms, even though eating disorders are psychological diseases--resulting in a revolving door of pain for most eating disordered patients and their families. For more on this, check out pieces I wrote awhile back for HuffPo and Women's eNews.
If government officials seriously want to deal with the culture that promotes food and fitness obsessions, self hatred, and body anxiety, they need to make sure that public schools are infused with physiological education (for example, we each have a set point within which our metabolism adjusts automatically), media literacy (airbrushing and the like), and social and emotional learning (most eating disorders stem from emotional issues that go unresolved).
For too long we have congratulated leaders when they decide to point the finger at media moguls. Sure, these schmucks play a role, but so do we as consumers, mothers, fathers, pastors, coaches, and peers. Eating disorders won't be eradicated by policing fashion magazines or pro-ana and mia websites. They'll be eradicated by a paradigm shift where we all take responsibility for our part in promoting a body-focused society.
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Re: "subsidized" treatment for eating disorders: you do realize that this law is in France, where pretty much all health care, included mental health treatment is not only "subsidized" but free, right? I mean, I agree the health care angle is a problem, that part of the problem is pretty uniquely American.
I'm not a supporting of this proposed law, either (I think it's likely going to revictimize a lot of mentally ill people who are running "pro-ANA" websites rather than actually address any of the media moguls), but the health system aspect isn't the same in France.
my problem with this law is that many/most of the individuals running pro-ANA sites are often individuals with this eating disorder. If you want to combat this body image ideal, don't punish many of the victims of it. Punish those who contribute to it. Perhaps nutriionalists who support unnatural beliefs on weight( I dont know if this exists, this would just be an example)
As someone who continues to deal with eating disordered behavior, I totally agree with you. The fact that mental health isn't covered adequately (if it is covered at all) by most health insurance plans in the US is a major problem. And then when you consider that most people don't even have insurance, that complicates the matter. Obviously, France is another story. But I don't think passing a law is going to do anything to make womyn feel better about their bodies.
"my problem with this law is that many/most of the individuals running pro-ANA sites are often individuals with this eating disorder. If you want to combat this body image ideal, don't punish many of the victims of it. Punish those who contribute to it."
What about when someone's both a victim and contributing to it?
I'm sorta reminded of STIs too. Years ago I read a Dan Savage column (but I don't remember when) in which he said something about how he thought some HIV prevention efforts treat all HIV+ people as 100% helpless victims of the system instead of telling them "don't infect more people, here's how not to do that."
This is kind of OT, but related to the media/body image relationship:
I'm all for the push that has pressured TV networks to feature characters of different races and sexual orientations. It's been a slow change but it does seem to have an effect. Can't we feminists organize the same kind of push for a diversity of body types? REALLY let them know that we DO want to see some size 8, 14, 22 women, and not just in bit roles?
Mina,
I guess it depends on what you mean by contributing to it. To my knowledge, pro-ANA groups pretty much want to be left alone. Their was an excellent link either on here or Feministe about an interview with on of the original Pro-ANA starters and they talked about how there are two different types of Pro-ANA pages.
Both pages, however, are designed for people who already have anorexia and are either willing to just discuss it and why they may not be ready to stop or other pages which are the ones you usually hear about, where they share tips on getting skinnier.
When I think contributing, I think of people who are spreading a message to individual's, not people who are talking about the message to fellow believers