Airbrushing was the topic of today’s breakfast chat. They’re trying to get it banned. Again.
The inevitable link to the rise in eating disorders – and particularly those within the female under 18s group (apparently) – caught my attention, resonated with my distorted-body-image-peer-pressure-inappropriate-role-models debate.
The story’s old and I’ve been sceptical in the past (anorexia isn’t just about the vanity of meeting social expectations), a little indignant (I am capable of distinguishing between reality and illusion, thank you very much); but, there’s another way of looking at it that I’m happier to accept.
When I was growing up, American teenage fiction was all the rage. With new books appearing all the time, it was easy to get lost in an alternative world of blonde size 6 cheerleaders with perfect lifestyles, clueless-esque wardrobes, sports cars and all the boys. It leaves you feeling quite dissatisfied with your own life, a little disappointed with your lot – because when you’re younger you don’t question what’s real and what’s not.
Adults are always right; Beth from Little Women is a heroine rather than a too good to be true literary character; it’s always sunny in America; what you see is what you get….and we’re back to airbrushing.
I have to accept that I’ve outgrown the younger generation now, that I’m no longer au fait with the under 18s reading material, the celebs of the day – but, if how you read the world is based on what you see around you, I’ll happily concede that airbrushing is lying to a whole generation.
And they’re not likely to live up to it.
Do eating disorders therefore emerge as a passport to the aspirational world of the glossy magazine and the fashion media? I’m still not convinced – but they tend to latch on to people who aren’t feeling particularly great about themselves, to piggy back onto perfectionism and high ideals, to target that difficult stage when you’re trying to get to grips with the wider world and where you fit into it all…
When the standard’s fake, it’s not surprising that you don’t measure up
- and that eating disorders make the most of the insecurity.
Tags: headlines
