nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
OK, but aren't the majority of anorexics young women who do have an active interest in fashion and celebrity culture? Or is this just a stereotype?
I think there's a social taboo aganst telling people that they're too fat, because it's considered cruel, whereas pointing out someone's thinness is "concern".
Isn't there actually a fat people's rights group in the states? That's like something out of a Judge Dredd comic.
Anorexia nervosa was primarily diagnosed in affluent white women, until more recently. This could be partially due to the social biases of clinicians--it's usually believed that thin men are just naturally thin, because men aren't naturally concerned with body image. (Not true, it turns out.) If anorexia were a disease caused entirely by the media or psychosocial factors, however, you'd expect a lot more people to have it. Here's a brief article about the genetic factors involved and what it all means.
I'm all for extending rights to the obese--there are plenty of people who are obese for medical reasons entirely beyond behavioral concerns--but I just don't understand the idea that it's unhealthy for people to be attracted to healthier, lower BMI folks. I don't get it. Evolutionarily, it makes all kinds of sense that people are attracted to good cardiac health.