Monday, June 16, 2008 . 6/16/2008
Uhg. You know what's annoying? This. It's an MSN "article" on which celebrities are "too thin" and which ones are "just right". On the ones that they deem too thin (all of them), the obnoxious author says something like "HEY YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE STARVING THERE, EAT SOMETHING!!!". You know what, though? If those women have actual eating disorders, telling them to eat something or that they look like they're starving doesn't help. It really doesn't. In some cases, saying to someone with an eating disorder that they look too thin is actually a compliment and can encourage the disordered behavior. And just eating more isn't as easy as it sounds.
Some might wonder how I know this so I thought I'd just bring it out in the open already: I have a disordered view of food, myself. No, I'm not anorexic - I'd need to skip three periods in a row. I'm not bulimic, either. And yes, I do eat. But people telling me that I look too thin and that I need to eat more because "you're underweight already, you won't get fat" doesn't help one bit.
So please, if you know someone with an eating disorder, there are better ways to try to help them than by telling them to "just eat, already".
