In another example of a government body acknowledging the seriousness of anorexia, the Kentucky State Senate recognized Eating Disorders Awareness Week a few days ago:
http://surfky.com/index.php/hopkins...-awareness-week
The sentiment is certainly commendable:
Quote:
RANKFORT, KY (3/1/12) – The Kentucky State Senate has recognized that February 26 through March 3, 2012, as National Eating Disorders Week and honored the National Eating Disorders Association on the floor of the Kentucky State Senate.
“Eating disorders are a continually growing problem in Kentucky,” said Jerry P. Rhoads, D-Madisonville. “It is important to raise awareness about this issue so that our citizens will achieve a healthier lifestyle.”
Eating disorders are potentially life-threatening health conditions that greatly affect an individual’s health and well-being. Organizations such as the National Eating Disorders Association seeks to provide aid to those afflicted with eating disorders and prevent the spread of eating disorders among citizens by raising awareness, according to Senate Resolution 151 that passed unanimously.
An estimated 10 million females struggle with anorexia...Many more cases go unreported due to the lack of awareness of the symptoms of the disorders. Studies show that approximately 13 percent of Kentucky girls in grades five through eight and 18 percent of Kentucky girls in grades nine through 12 suffer from some type of eating disorder.
“Our goal is to reduce these numbers and save lives,” said Senator Rhoads, a co-sponsor of SR 151.
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My only reservation is that while it's easy to devote a week to a specific cause, it's harder to actually do something concrete. I would have preferred to have heard about a Senate initiative to ban the use of underweight models or mandate the use of fuller-figured models.
Also, while this is a nice gesture, it's terribly easy, and lets the government seem like it's doing something without actually doing anything.
And we all know that government
can get involved. Too much so, in other areas. By contrast, the invasive and intrusive quasi-totalitarian actions by state governments in bullying and shaming curvy girls, right down to policing their lunches and sending home humiliating report cards praising them for how much they've been starving themselves, have been appallingly aggressive.
It's almost as if, with paper resolutions, governments are acknowledging the crisis of eating disorders, but with their concrete actions, they are causing them.
It's time for all government bodies to wake up to the reality that there
is no "weight epidemic," except for the epidemic of curvy girls worrying needlessly about their weight and about their naturally full figures and generous appetites.
It's time for government to stop aiding and abetting diet/exercise corporations and their profiteering agenda, and to start caring about the girls whom these corporations' actions victimize.