Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2011

Today kicks off National Eating Disorders Awareness Week for 2011. This year's theme is '"It's time to talk about it."

Isn't this the truth? Though eating disorders are getting out there in the public, it is still stigmatized in many ways. Whether it is someone who is in the early stages of an eating disorder/recovery or more of a veteran, people still feel very ashamed about how they struggle. It makes it even moreso why there is a need to talk about it and realize like anything else, that if we never do, society will never get better.

NEDA has been hosting a video PSA contest. The deadline has already passed, and the winners will be announced in March.

Take a look at at a select few of the submissions. If you go on youtube, there are more.










This last one is an older video from 2009 that I thought was powerful.

Advocacy

Most of us know that this week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Whenever NEDAW rolled around in the past, there used to be a slight awkward, uneasiness feeling for me. It's not that I didn't think awareness for eating disorders was important (far from it), but it left a two-fold feeling of worrying that someone was going to find out/guess and also feeling like a fraud for not being more proactive at recovery.

I see now how much this thinking was flawed as NEDAW week is supposed to bring eating disorders to the forefront in talking about it rather than just beating around the bush.

There's been much support shown through twitter, facebook, various articles, college events, advocacy groups, news channels, etc. It's phenomenal actually! It's funny, because if you follow me on twitter, you know I post a number of articles related to eating disorders, body image, mental health, psychology, as well as just my own random thoughts and observations. But yet, sometimes, I still feel on the sidelines. Some may call me an advocate of sorts, though I feel uncomfortable with that label. In all honesty, I'm not sure what I'd call myself. Perhaps, I feel this way because I'm not truly in the public eye, putting myself out there or disclosing my own struggles with eating disorders. But in real life, how many of us are really? How many of us could include ourselves in the campaign to talk about it beyond just the medium of the internet?

I know there is more to advocating than simply talking about it. Advocating is about awareness, education, health, and recovery. It's about defending and supporting the cause. It's about connecting and reaching out to those who need help. I am always amazed at the wonderful eating disorder/body image/self esteem advocates out there. They each make a difference and place their own stamp on the world. Although I may not put myself in the category of "advocate," I am hopeful that I can make a small difference in this corner lot I have here.

"Beyond eating disorders..."

Sorry for my lack of posting this week. It wasn't due to being really busy, but rather being exhausted. I'd come home from work, do my usual stuff of feeding dogs, a few chores here and there, and then would find myself drifting off to sleep around 9:30/10 PM which is quite early for me. Sometimes, I get really concerned about this since it deviates from my norm, but more than likely it is due to some combination of eating, sleeping, mood, and/or exercising. :sigh:

Now that you have that preface, onto the actual blog post. A few of you were interested in hearing about Bordo's presentation I attended last week: "Beyond eating disorders: why we must rethink everything we thought we knew." The presentation itself was good but it only touched the broad surface, but I guess that's all that can be done in an hour's time. Much of the presentation focused on consumerism--the ideology to get us to "see it, love it/want it, buy it/here's how to get it." From there, Bordo used a step by step approach to show the progression of how this type of thinking/advertisements have lead to the problems we are currently seeing in impulse disorders which includes eating disorders.

A few interesting key words in her presentation were the "pedagogy of the binge" and "deregulation." She uses "pedagogy of the binge, " because consumer society has trained individuals to be without limits. Looking at a variety of current advertisements, frequent words like "voraciousness," "indulgence," and "craving" have appeared more often. This type of idea is not strictly related to food ads but also ads about perfect bodies, overexercising, shopping, etc. In essence, this continues the cycle, leading to an increase in what is deemed as impulse disorders, like binge eating, kleptomania, shopaholism, etc.

In relating this all to eating disorders, the term "deregulation" comes up. Often times, deregulation is seen more in terms of the government reducing, restricting, or simplifying in order to raise productivity. With anorexia, what is looked at as deregulation, i.e. food and other pleasurable activities, Bordo sees it as a "failure of self-regulation." Consumption is not seen as just guilt-ridden but rather dangerous. She didn't go into much detail here, but I think she talks about it more in depth in her book, Unbearable Weight.

There were several other interesting points she made. For example, much of society is about "craving," and how with anorexia, it is about being in a state of "beyond craving." This isn't exclusive to food either but many other areas of life. I thought that was a different way of looking at it or at least a choice of words.

I should also mention that Bordo is skeptical of the medical model pertaining to eating disorders but does feel that eating disorders are multi-dimensional. She doesn't discount the medical model, but she feels it leaves out important other criteria. Her thoughts are that some individuals are vulnerable to eating disorders (or whatever disorder), but culture brings out those vulnerabilities. In essence, culture is like a "smoking gun." She makes a much better argument than I can here in her book. There is one line that I think really stands out to me in her book about this issue. It's that as she sees we are not all exposed to the same cultural environment, but rather "what we are all exposed to, rather are homogenizing and normalizing images and ideologies concerning 'femininity' and female beauty."

**********

After the presentation, I decided to go say hi to Dr. Bordo. What I did not mention in my last post was that I in fact know Dr. Bordo. I took an english/women's studies class she taught on "Lolita" as an undergrad, so I do have a relationship with her, though this was about seven years ago. This was another reason why I felt nervous about going.

I waited my turn, and then said "Hi, it's Tiptoe." She kind of looked at me puzzled, but then P. (this is the former professor/client who boards her dog at the kennel) who was there, yelled out, "It's Tiptoe," like shouting it out would jostle her memory better. I guess it worked, because then she remembered me. However, she also said, "Omg, I didn't recognize you. You look so much thinner." Argh! Those of you who have read this blog know how I feel about this sort of comment --drives me insanely mad and paranoid. But I will let go of this statement and move on.

I gave her a brief thing about how I was blogging these days and keeping current with eating disorder/body image stuff. I should also note that I had shared a body awareness piece with her that I wrote in college which recounted how the ED evolved, so she was one of the few who ever knew. Why, I shared it with her, I'm not sure but there seemed to be some comfort, or maybe just because I knew she was familiar and wrote about these types of topics.

Anyway, Dr. Bordo ended our conversation with "We should get together and catch up." I'm super stoked that she offered this even with her very busy schedule. I can just think now all the questions I have for her.

In the end, I left feeling like I rekindled an old connection, one that I hope to keep in touch with better.

*Note--for the record, I didn't sit in the back--in the middle

Unbearable weight

There's no doubt that Eating Disorders Awareness Week is important. I truly value it, however, the week has always left me feeling a bit awkward. In college, I belonged to an eating disorders awareness group. We did activities like a health fair, had panel discussions, showed movies, and even sponsored the Century Project one year.

I always did my part for the group and attended the events. My favorites were usually the panel discussions, however, I always found myself sitting in the back, slumped down in my chair, worried about who might be there/see me. I still feel this way at times going to eating disorders events. Maybe if I was in a stronger place in recovery, it might be different. Or maybe if I went with other people, I might feel more at ease. It's hard to say for sure, but I'm giving myself a challenge this week.

On Friday, there is a presentation by Susan Bordo, the author of Unbearable Weight. I've known about this for months and have even arranged to take the afternoon off of work to go. I also reread the book just to refamiliarize myself with her theory on "body studies." It was interesting that even though this book was originally written in 1993, I still saw the same basic issues relevant to today. It seems body studies are an in thing and don't go out of style. I also realized in her notes section of the new preface, an article was cited that I was in some years ago.

The challenge I'm giving myself is to sit (upstraight I might add) in any other place than the back row. I'd say front row, but that might be a little daunting for me. I just have to remind myself that really no one is going to care whether I am there or not. I'll give a report back if anything interesting is said.

*Note--rereading this, it seems like such a pathetic challenge, but I'll do it anyway ;-)
*Note--the book is quite good. It is philosophical and academic, and some parts do go over my head, but it does give an in-depth look at the role of culture and our bodies.

Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Today marks the beginning of Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW). It runs from today through March 1, 2008. The theme this year is "Be comfortable in your jeans." How many of us have jeans that do not really fit us but buy anyway hoping to fit into them someday or because they are cute? At truejeans.com, an online store which helps consumers buy jeans that fit them correctly, consumers can takes their measurements, find a style, and then buy it. I'm still for going to a store and trying them on before purchasing any jeans. However, this could be a good tool for those wanting to get an idea of what kind of jean style might work for them. I will note that these are designer jeans, so the cost is more expensive. Some proceeds from purchase will go to NEDA.

There are normally other events going on this week as well. Many have to do with celebrating positive body image, talking about eating disorders, having guest speakers talk about their struggles with eating disorders, etc. I encourage anyone to see what is in their area. Education is key to understanding. Even though in recent years there has been more research on eating disorders, both on the biological and psychological realms, it's still an illness which is understood.