Are eating disorders becoming a trend?
Underweight celebrities, underweight friends, underweight you?
By Christina Eriksson 16th January 2006
Reports and shocking pictures of celebrities and their emaciated bodies keep
coming. The astonishing weight loss seen in celebrities still shocks us even
though underweight celebrities have, sad to say, basically been a fact since
Twiggy’s days. Since then we have seen a line of frighteningly thin celebrities,
and some of them have even died from eating disorders. The latest and biggest
trend right now, not only among celebrities but among all of us, is to be
skinny. Accusations of celebrities with eating disorders are being slapped on
front pages of tabloids left and right, but are all these celebrities in fact
suffering from an eating disorder? Or is this just a new trend that has gone
too far?
Society has set a standard which is to be thin, thinner than everyone else.
Celebrities follow that standard as if it were their religion; in fact, many of
them even create the standard. It seems that as soon as a celebrity reaches a
smaller size than the other, a new standard is set that everyone is “meant to
follow”. Sadly, even many (or dare I say most?) of the so-called “plus size”
celebrities, the only ones that actually are near normal weight have now also
fallen for the “if I jump you jump too” trend.
Is it possible that people are going on “crash diets” and purging to loose
weight because they feel they need to follow a standard? Is this becoming a
trend?
Nicole Richie is currently one of the most talked about celebrities
unfortunately mostly because of her drastic weight loss. She has a large
following of young ambitious girls and even some boys, all of them looking up
to her eager to dress like her and some even want to look like her. Magazines
are slapping pictures across their front pages with headlines pointing at
eating disorders yet Nicole Richie keeps denying any accusations of an eating
disorder. Her drastic weight loss has shocked many, luckily a lot of people
know better than to follow her unhealthy example. There are however,
unfortunately, many young girls who do look up to Nicole Richie and fellow
celebrities that have lost extreme amounts of weight recently; they see them as
“thinspiration” meaning they use them as inspiration to loose weight.
Celebrities are constantly watching their weight, anxious to stay fit as they
constantly have paparazzi and media’s discriminating eye on them. Lately it
seems that one celebrity after the other has started going one step further,
forcing themselves to a lower and lower weight until there is only skin and
bones left, and barely that. Nobody can know for sure when or how this all
started but one thing is sure and that is that Hollywood needs to start setting
a better example both for the public’s sake and also for their stars. Media
only allows us to see the glamorous part of Hollywood, making thin celebrities
look happy and healthy. If this continues celebrities will soon be dying
because of their persistence to resist food and fans of these thin celebrities,
eager to be just like their role model, will eventually take it one step too
far and cause themselves serious harm. It is time we realize the danger in such
serious weight loss.
The world of Hollywood is full of trends, whether it is the latest “it” bag or
the coolest club, one A-list celebrity after the other follow each others
footsteps. It used to only be material things like “it” bags and shoes but in
today’s society it has gone too far. Celebrities are following each other in
the trend of loosing weight, seemingly going to any extent to loose weight.
Lindsay Lohan was recently rumoured to have stated she was bulimic during a
period of time last year. Drug use has also been assumed but there has been no
confirmation of this from Lindsay Lohan nor has there been any official and
final statement from Lindsay Lohan regarding the issue of whether or not she
was bulimic. She is still at an alarming weight but claims she has not problem
with food.
Mary-Kate Olsen allegedly suffered from anorexia and has been in rehabilitation
to recover from her eating disorder, however many assume drugs were part of her
drastic weight loss. In the world of Hollywood, drugs are as common as anything,
so they most likely play a huge role in the weight loss department. Weight loss
in combination with drug use is not in any way healthy. Drugs are extremely
dangerous for your body, brain and development as are eating disorders,
combining the two is a one way ticket to disaster.
So to conclude, celebrities are encouraging a type of behaviour that is very
unhealthy. They set examples for young adults that are unaware of the effects
of such behaviour. When it comes to Hollywood, literally anything can become a
trend and eating disorders are definitely a type of trend at this time.
Celebrity trends are quickly incorporated into our lives, celebrity “it” bags
are instantly copied and sold for cheaper to people without the million dollar
bank account. We have a wish to be as our favourite celebrities, to feel what
it is like to live their glamorous lives; media always manages to paint us a
very glamorous picture of what Hollywood life is like despite the fact that the
truth about diamonds is far from glamorous. The celebrity trend of crash diets,
drugs, purging and reaching an extremely unhealthy weight is unfortunately
mimicked by many young adults today, eager to look just like their celebrities
and unable to see through the sparkling media pictures to reveal the truth
behind the white tooth smile.
What should we do to stop this? Educate. What should media do about this? Show
the truth. What should celebrities do about this? Gain weight and set a good
example for their fans. Celebrities always talk about how important their fans
are to them. Then would you not agree that the least they could do to show
their gratitude is gain weight instead of encouraging their fans to live as
unhealthy lives as they do?
Pictures from Celebworld.org
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