Feminism causes eating disorders

[AtroposHeart]

Feminists really don’t want to face the fact that eating disorders, which are almost entirely a female complaint, were virtually nonexistent in the bad old days of patriarchy and then skyrocketed with Women’s Lib.

It isn’t surprising. Feminism destroyed marriage, which means that women can’t hope that anything other than a sexy body will keep their husband in their lives. In sane eras, the affection built up over years and the shared responsibilities of parenthood did it pretty well, enough that many older women could even cope with their husbands having affairs because they knew he would still come home to them. Also, women used to get married young, but feminism has encouraged them to wait until they’ve lost their looks, figures, and fertility, so women are obsessed with keeping their figures long past the age when nature intended. Hence, anorexia and bulimia.

Most overweight women, also, are subconsciously trying to keep men away, for various reasons. They might also be lonely and wish they could attract men, but down deep, they distrust men. Why? Because, again, feminism has screwed up relations between the sexes. When respectable women knew they wouldn’t be expected to provide sex to men who hadn’t committed to them, and that the commitment was real, men weren’t so threatening and few women had reason to keep them away.

An Italian doctor named De Giacomo has come up with a highly effective treatment for anorexia, which he discusses in his book Finite Systems and Infinite Interactions. His prescription is simple: the anorexic and her father are to take a month’s vacation together, and spend the time learning about each other. He has persuaded 22 families to try this remedy, and it succeeded in 21 of them.

Yet more proof that fathers are necessary.

femalemisogynist.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/feminism-and-eating-disorders/

I know this is an old post, but I felt the strong urge to share it. Seriously, this is one of the most ill-researched posts I have ever seen. Eating disorders have been documented since the late 1800's before da evub feminism.

Also as a fat woman myself, I do not push men away from me, and neither does any of my other fat girlfriends. She claims that anoxeria and bulmia happens in late adulthood, when in reality most of the biggest victims of eating disorder happen to be young girls, who are still fertile.

This just made me angry, both as a fat young woman, and someone who has suffered through eating disorders

[Full enough quiver]

What...the...everloving...fuck?!?!?!? Do these people ever listen to themselves?!?!?

[Trynn]

No, I think eating disorders skyrocketed because thin became the new sexy, and men and the media obsessively objectify that, whereas a hundred years or so ago, it was seen as better to be bigger because that meant you were well fed. Also, there was less media back then to push the ideal. It existed, no doubt, but today it pervades our lives.

These people have no concept of... Anything.

[sugarloaf]

Surely even if eating disorders hadn't been documented, the rise of feminism saw a greater interest in things usually inflicted upon females- eating disorders, but also things like domestic violence. These things were no longer things to be hidden away, but diseases and conflicts that needed resolution.

As for the idea that everything about a woman's being is because of men, the way they view her, and the relationship that she wants to have with them... I don't think I'm going to dignify that with a response.

[LostSamurai]

I've read some seriously evil shit on here; Arkansas succeeding in their abortion laws, thanks to Smuggar, the Duggars continuing to make 'Murrica proud, Steve Maxwell's cult, Lori's bullshit.......but this takes the cake.

Feminism isn't the cause of eating disorders; the media is.

Fuck this shit. So sick and tired of hearing how feminism destroys everything....god forbid a woman shouldn't want a quiver or look like a real woman. I bought into the thin is in mentality myself when I was younger and was diagnosed myself with an eating disorder. It took a lot of therapy over the years for me to come to terms with the fact that I was never going to look like the women in the magazines, no matter how much I dieted and accept my body as it is.

Feminism has jackshit with body issues. Hearing bullshit like this and getting blamed for what I am, makes me rage more than anything.

[NoneandDoneinCali]

Erm ... I don't really know where to start with this, so I suppose I'll just focus on a couple of the more egregious points. First off, eating disorders tend to begin in adolescence and very young adulthood, not "later in life." Sorry to bring science into this little tirade. Second, the more developed a country becomes, the more likely its citizens are to have eating disorders - this is because they are NOT REALLY ABOUT FOOD (sorry to shriek the obvious). So, back in the day when food was scarce, and a little extra meat was a sign of prosperity ... yeah. Not quite the same. Next, if I read this correctly - women would ideally marry young before they'd accomplished anything on their own (i.e. had provided themselves with any job skills/education/savings), and THEN look forward to a "comfortable" middle life of being cheated on? Oh, okay. No thanks.

And lastly: please see Exhibit A, or 2 Animal Crackers. See? It's not just evvvviiiiilllll feminists and their hateful "love your body" message.

[ladyamylynn]

Huh, my fat, feminist self never had a problem attracting men. Now I'm happily married, and have healthy friendships with lots of men.

My anecdotal evidence is worth as much as this sack of shit's right?

[sugarloaf]

Huh, my fat, feminist self never had a problem attracting men. Now I'm happily married, and have healthy friendships with lots of men.

My anecdotal evidence is worth as much as this sack of shit's right?

Probably not, you're female. :roll:

[MandyLaLa]

I've been battling my ED for 13 years now, my ED is not a choice, fab, a diet, an attempt to be beautiful or skinny, a cry for attention or any of that bullshit. My ED is this voice that lives within me it's the first thing I hear in the morning the last thing at night, it's been my closest friend for years and has cost me so much, memories, friends, school, activities I used to love, the strain on my family and my romantic relationship. My ED tells me I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve to eat, it reminds me of all my embarrassing moments, my regrets, my fears. I've spent weeks in hospitals, a lifetime in therapist offices and it's cost thousands upon thousands of dollars. Eating disorders kill more people than any other mental illness yet receive peanuts for research funding.

But more than my story are the amazing people I've met along my recovery journey, MEN and women who are strong, dedicated, amazing people who like me have lost so much this illness, and over the years I've seen girls younger and younger coming into treatment centers, as young as 12.

The person who wrote that blog post can go to hell.

[VooDooChild]

Um.....I'm so dumbfounded I can't even articulate a reply. Are these people even part of this planet? They obviously only know their own definition of feminism. They can't even be schooled about it because they are so.......uh....stubborn, unteachable, blind....I don't even know. But I'm just so damn glad to finally know that my mom's, my aunt's, and my EDs were the result of equal rights for women. Yeah! That just makes all the sense in the world! :?

[ladyamylynn]

Probably not, you're female. :roll:

Good point...

[indygirl76]

I'm having a hard time getting worked up over this one, because if you can set aside all the rage-triggers, it's just too asinine to bother with.

* Eating disorders are a new-ish phenomenon. False.

* Eating disorders come on when old, out of their prime marriage age, ladies want to attract a man. False. (!)

* Overweight women are trying to keep men away, because of a trust issue. False.

* Something something cheating husband, but it's okay, so no ED. False? Ish? This was one step over word soup, so I have no idea.

* Road trip with dad will cure your ED. False. (Sadly.)

Tldr: too stupid/uninformed/etc for rage.

[Lillybee]

I have a feeling that more than a few Fundie women have eating disorders. Being thin is part of Gothard's ideal of feminine beauty and food may be the only thing that a fundie woman may be able to control.

[AtroposHeart]

I have a feeling that more than a few Fundie women have eating disorders. Being thin is part of Gothard's ideal of feminine beauty and food may be the only thing that a fundie woman may be able to control.

Believe it or not, the author is not a fundie, but a lesbian.

[samurai_sarah]

Well, I, for one, am glad to finally have discovered the source of my eating disorder. For years, I thought it was due to trauma. If only I had known that being disempowered was the answer! /sarcasm

[sugarloaf]

Well, I, for one, am glad to finally have discovered the source of my eating disorder. For years, I thought it was due to trauma. If only I had known that being disempowered was the answer! /sarcasm

Don't you just love how they manage to frame feminism as disempowering?! :?

[samurai_sarah]

Don't you just love how they manage to frame feminism as disempowering?! :?

Hey, being a "feminist" means you only haven't been tamed yet! "Power" means accepting your god-given role, and rolling with it!/sarcasm

(I may have felt sick writing that... :? )

[So Many Lies]

I have a feeling that more than a few Fundie women have eating disorders. Being thin is part of Gothard's ideal of feminine beauty and food may be the only thing that a fundie woman may be able to control.

Oh exactly. And how is putting a man, or anyone, at the centre of your life as in a "biblical family model" going to fix an ED. The writer knows nothing about ED, that it has, at its heart, nothing to do with roles. This is nothing but flimflam

[gardenvarietycitizen]

All I can say is, the feminism *I* believe in demands that women not be valued primarily for their looks. It says eff the media and its dangerous commercial messages. It says let's focus on abilities - just like teh menz get to do.

Perhaps her feminism is different... perhaps her PLANET is different...

[sugarloaf]

All I can say is, the feminism *I* believe in demands that women not be valued primarily for their looks. It says eff the media and its dangerous commercial messages. It says let's focus on abilities - just like teh menz get to do.

Perhaps her feminism is different... perhaps her PLANET is different...

It seems to be a common thread among some political and religious circles- that words have radically different meanings when spoken in certain contexts. Even when the same word contradicts itself (e.g. faith is the ultimate virtue/ I don't have enough faith to be an atheist).

[Funky Chicken]

So, I can just see how well it would go, sending my friend and her father on a holiday together. He sexually abused her from the age of 3, which pretty much caused her anorexia nervosa. One of them would come back dead (with any luck it would be him).

Vague ruminations:

We learnt in med school that a lot of eating disorders are due to issues around maintaining a pre-adolescent body in some cases (varying from persons whose self-worth is tied up in that, eg gymnasts, to persons who for many reasons are unable to handle the dramatic physical and emotional changes of puberty and the transition to adulthood); for others it is purely about control, and this is the one area in life they're able to control. We weren't actually told it was so they could look "sexy", although I'm sure there must be a subset for whom this is true - but I think this number is a lot smaller than people like this would have us believe (our take was that eating disorders have their roots in much less simplistic causes). There is a subgroup who appear to "develop" eating disorders later in life (ie middle age) but our psych lecturer said that in many of these cases there had been an undiagnosed issue in adolescence that was then suppressed for some years, only to re-emerge under a new set of stressors or losses such as children growing up and moving away. I think it is possible that with persons who eat to become very overweight, that they may use (and wish to retain) the weight as a kind of barrier to intimacy - but I wouldn't have thought that it happens as much as what this moron says.

[Mama Mia]

I don't remember where I read it, but I could swear I read something recently that said eating disorders actually have some sort of chemical disorder component as the primary cause - much like o.c.c., bi-polar disorder, a.d.h.d, or any of a number of other issues that have historically been blamed on non-physical causes.

[Free2BeMe]

I've been battling my ED for 13 years now, my ED is not a choice, fab, a diet, an attempt to be beautiful or skinny, a cry for attention or any of that bullshit. My ED is this voice that lives within me it's the first thing I hear in the morning the last thing at night, it's been my closest friend for years and has cost me so much, memories, friends, school, activities I used to love, the strain on my family and my romantic relationship. My ED tells me I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve to eat, it reminds me of all my embarrassing moments, my regrets, my fears. I've spent weeks in hospitals, a lifetime in therapist offices and it's cost thousands upon thousands of dollars. Eating disorders kill more people than any other mental illness yet receive peanuts for research funding.

But more than my story are the amazing people I've met along my recovery journey, MEN and women who are strong, dedicated, amazing people who like me have lost so much this illness, and over the years I've seen girls younger and younger coming into treatment centers, as young as 12.

The person who wrote that blog post can go to hell.

Hugs!

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I think one of the ways feminism gets blamed for this sort of thing is that it led women to be more out there in the marketplace, they were more easily able to hold office jobs and the like. Where people IMHO go awry though is assuming that it's somehow just "natural" that once women are more out in the public sphere instead of being hidden away at home, that they must, NECESSARILY, be judged for their looks with a very critical (male) eye 24/7. That part isn't feminism. There is no reason why women need to be eye candy on top of whatever else they're doing. There's no reason why we need to critique Hillary Clinton or Condoleeza Rice's hairstyle and pant suits when we don't do the same for Kissinger.

To give some more modern example, you can see all over the media how now supposedly it's "okay" (as if anyone needed permission) for girls to be geeks, now, but in those same articles it implies heavily that while girls can now do X, Y, and Z, they better look "hot" and sexually attractive while doing it. The emphasis is on looking cute while being so "daring" to do these "boy" activities. It's still about look, you can get a boyfriend!

That's not feminism.

[LostSamurai]

I think one of the ways feminism gets blamed for this sort of thing is that it led women to be more out there in the marketplace, they were more easily able to hold office jobs and the like. Where people IMHO go awry though is assuming that it's somehow just "natural" that once women are more out in the public sphere instead of being hidden away at home, that they must, NECESSARILY, be judged for their looks with a very critical (male) eye 24/7. That part isn't feminism. There is no reason why women need to be eye candy on top of whatever else they're doing. There's no reason why we need to critique Hillary Clinton or Condoleeza Rice's hairstyle and pant suits when we don't do the same for Kissinger.

To give some more modern example, you can see all over the media how now supposedly it's "okay" (as if anyone needed permission) for girls to be geeks, now, but in those same articles it implies heavily that while girls can now do X, Y, and Z, they better look "hot" and sexually attractive while doing it. The emphasis is on looking cute while being so "daring" to do these "boy" activities. It's still about look, you can get a boyfriend!

That's not feminism.

This.

People will cheer for you if you're for a example, a geek...but you better be damn hot or GTFO.