Should Weight Never Be Discussed Just Because It’s Triggering For Those With Eating Disorders?
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
news
11:30AM, Monday August 24th 2009
Julia Allison, former dating columnist, occasional “It’s On With Alexa Chung” guest, and subject of snark from yours truly, is issuing herself a fitness challenge! The challenge: to lose 10 pounds in 30 days. She’ll be documenting the whole process on her “lifecast” so that the accountability she feels towards her readers will guilt-trip her into accomplishing her goal. To kick-start it, she did the Presidential Fitness Assessment at Equinox and posted her measurements on her blog. [“I’m 5’4” 1/2, 137 pounds, with a bust of 33, waist of 26 1/2 and hips of 36, butt of 40, and a BMI of 23.8 percent.”] She got the following email from a reader as a result:
“I don’t think it’s smart to post your measurements (including weight) on your lifecast. It could be insensitive to those struggling with these issues. Although you may not mean it, it can come across as though those numbers are important markers of being ‘pretty’, ‘successful’ etc. — you catch my drift! I see that you have struggled with bulimia; so, there could be many others too. Well, there are. Just a thought!”
Here’s a first. I’m going to defend Julia on this one. She’s not posting her measurements for s**ts and giggles—she’s doing it because she’s doing a fitness challenge and it’s the way she can measure her progress, which she’s documenting on her blog. Could these numbers be a “trigger” for those suffering from eating disorders? Sure, but so are a lot of things—“The Rachel Zoe Project,” premiering tonight!—and it’s not really the job of individual people like Julia Allison to tiptoe around them and their issues if she doesn’t have the desire to.
Julia feels similarly. She responded to the reader explaining her reasoning behind posting her stats, also saying, “It’s equally important for me to emphasize that this is NOT a struggle to lose weight for the sake of being ‘skinny’— I don’t feel ‘fat’ … but I do feel out of shape.” Fair enough.
What I did find awkward, however, was that Julia then proceeded to post her weight in previous years, telling the reader, “108 soph year of hs, 116 when I graduated, 125-35 throughout my bulimic years in college, 140 in 2005 when Alex & I dined out constantly, 122 when Jakob dumped me in 2007, 127-30 through much of 2008, and finally 134-7 for most of 2009.” Um, Julia, this girl wrote to tell you that she, essentially, found posting your weight to be triggering and you respond by telling her your stats for the last two decades? That was way harsh, Tai. [NonSociety]
TheFrisky.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 10:59 am: [report]
Conversely ‘Race’ should never be brought up because angry white people with guns will be triggered.
Pfft, everyone is too sensitive these days. Eat a hamburger you anorexic twig, don’t eat a hamburger plumpy!
Riley
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 11:02 am: [report]
Cheese, please change your avatar. I am lactose intolerant and just seeing it hurts my feelings and make me long for a slice of sharp cheddar.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 11:04 am: [report]
@Riley: I’m actually allergic to cheese, but it doesn’t stop me from eating it.
Suck it up, and go choke on some gouda.
_jsw_
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 11:08 am: [report]
I agree with your first point: it was fine to post her weight as part of the fitness plan. I’m not sure I agree with the second one, that it wasn’t cool to post her weight history. I think she was just pointing out the general history of her weight fluctuation.
Weight (or more specifically, body fat percentage) is an important marker of health and attractiveness (although everyone has a different idea of what is attractive), and discussing it shouldn’t be considered a forbidden topic. Yes, there are women who struggle with bulimia, anorexia, and other eating disorders (a niece of mine has been battling bulimia for years and I completely sympathize with others who are doing so as well). However, I think the idea that needs to be gotten across is that one should try to target a healthy weight (or, more accurately, percentage of body fat) as a goal. If you are underweight, you should try to increase your body fat, and if you are overweight, you should try to decrease it.
We’re weight and size obsessed. We should be body-fat-percentage and overall health obsessed, but weight and clothing size are so much easier to measure. I’d love to see body-fat biometric devices made freely or cheaply available to all, so that, and not weight, became a metric of choice.
My biggest issue with The Biggest Loser, by the way, is how they emphasize weight and not body fat. Granted, for the morbidly obese, weight is a decent metric, but, as the contestants lost fat and gained muscle, they were, in effect, penalized for getting into shape.
stephoney22
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 11:53 am: [report]
Well it’s obvious Julia has had some obsessive issues over weight but you kids are killin’ me - what the heck is a lifecast?! But I would tell the reader “Thanks for sharing but too bad! If you can’t handle it, read something else. If you’re not the one with the problem, quit trying to speak for other people, they need to deal on their own.” Lastly, I LOVE the Clueless reference!
Casper
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 12:44 pm: [report]
I really don’t see why this is a problem, yes people with weight issues generally focus on numbers but this clearly isn’t the point she’s trying to make. It’s her blog, why shouldn’t she post these things on her blog? I know the struggle with eating disorders is hard one but why does this mean we aren’t allowed to discuss measurements, not everybody uses numbers obsessively or sees them as something that you’ve got to be, to be pretty.
That comment probably came from a reader with an eating disorder or someone who is close to a person with one, understandably but it was a bit of an overreaction.
ThatWeirdGamerChick
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 04:21 pm: [report]
@CheeeeEEEEse I’m a vegetarian, but it doesn’t stop me from eating meat! (JK)
)
I think that of all the images and information a person comes across in daily life that could be “triggering” to a person with an eating disorder, a blog is something that one intentionally views. If this person knew that the writer was going on a weight/health-related challenge, shouldn’t the reader have realized that, maybe, some things related to health and weight would be posted? And if she knew that those topics would upset her, wouldn’t it be her job to not seek them out?
I think that a person like this would be more affected by the many things she cannot help but see throughout the day, like commercials featuring too-skinny girls while watching TV, or billboards while driving.
(@Riley - I’m lactose intolerant too! But I eat pizza… I guess I’m just stupid
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 07:37 pm: [report]
@ThatWeirdGamerChick: My mom is a vegan and my dad is going back veggie because it’s easier for him to be around her. They are both nuts.
ThatWeirdGamerChick
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 10:22 pm: [report]
@CheeeeEEEEse Are you suggesting that I’m also nuts because I’m vegetarian/vegan?? Because if so, you’re totally right. None of us are sane
I’ve never met a single vegetarian man in my entire (albeit relatively short) life. Where are they all hiding? Or are they just all taken already? :O
Coral
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 11:19 pm: [report]
@thatweirdgamerchick: Oh, there are plenty of vegetarian/vegan men in Massachhusetts. Please take them.
fallonthecity
wrote on August 24 2009 @ 11:53 pm: [report]
It’s a big Internet. If you don’t like what you’re reading, go somewhere else.
ThatWeirdGamerChick
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:05 am: [report]
@Coral- So that’s where they’re all hiding! Yar! I’m all the way across the country.
@fallonthecity- Lol, and thank you! Maybe she should try 4chan next?
fallonthecity
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 12:10 am: [report]
@ThatWeirdGamerChick: Yeah, if she found someone posting their measurements triggering, she should give /b/ a try!
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 03:21 am: [report]
@ThatWeirdGamerChick: At least you admit you’re admitting you’re not sane. Welcome to the club.