If you write it, they will read it

18th January 2008

If you write it, they will read it

posted in Arts and Music, Body Image, Eating Disorders, Fat Bias, Pop Culture |

Food, fat and feminism can be weighty topics, no pun intended. So, I’m always glad when I stumble across the rare nugget of positive news to share.

The increasingly strident anti-obesity rhetoric I see regurgitated in news out of Australia has been disturbing, but it appears not all Aussies have bought into the party line that thin is in. Two newly published magazines aimed at young girls and teens are challenging the ethos of what is beauty – and it’s not a pretty face and a slender waist.

Indigo Magazine Sisters Jean and Erin Young founded Real magazine after seeing the high degree of eating disorders amongst their high school classmates, while concerned parent Leanne Koster founded Indigo, a glossy magazine for girls aged 10 to 14, with the catchline “Giving Girls a Voice.”

The first issue of Real — themed “Happy or Hungry?” — focused on the true meaning of beauty and body image. The sisters distributed 5,000 copies with the assistance of state funds and are now looking for a sponsor for their second edition.

Indigo tackles topics like cyber-bullying, and includes articles about self-esteem and fashion with stories written by girls themselves. More than 250 schools have taken out subscriptions.

The only criticism I have is with the article about the two ventures, not with the magazines themselves. Author Jill Stark makes the same erroneous assumption that many do – that eating disorders, depression and self-harm are inspired by the almighty fashion industry and its scores of super-skinny models.

The fashion industry does negatively affect the self-image young girls and women hold of themselves. The Women’s Forum Australia recently debuted a five-year study in which it found “thin, sexualised and digitally enhanced images of women are linked with women’s experiences of poor body image, depression and anxiety and eating disorders. The images contribute to self-harming behaviours and not performing well academically.”

But it’s not only the fashion industry at play here, it’s also the well-intentioned, government-sanctioned scourge against obesity, especially childhood obesity, that contributes to a negative self-image and eating disorders, as recognized by the American Psychological Association. With mounting pressure for children to either lose weight or avoid becoming fat, it’s not a far leap to imagine they might resort to extreme measures to do so. In fact, a recent study of overweight teen girls found more than one-third engaged in what the researchers called “extreme weight control behaviors,” like vomiting or taking diet pills or laxatives in an attempt to lose weight.

All of which goes to show just how needed voices like that of Real and Indigo magazines are needed. The initial popularity of both magazines also suggests that girls are hungry for this kind of alternative message – if you write it, they will read it.

For more information on either publication, visit Real magazine’s MySpace page or Indigo’s website.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 11:34 am and is filed under Arts and Music, Body Image, Eating Disorders, Fat Bias, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On January 18th, 2008, Kelly said:

I remember growing up wishing there were more magazine choices besides Vogue and Elle (this was in the early 90s before all the teen editions came out). I was dying for articles that gave me tips on how to survive a full work day in high school which for me included a full work load, sports and at least two other club requirements. I was also desperate for cool summer ideas and volunteer opportunities as opposed to what was cool to wear for a summer date. Oh and don’t even get me started on Cosmo and the 50 million ways to please a man! I fully admit that I enjoyed reading the high fashion articles and looking at the photos but I was sick to death of the idea that that was all I was supposed to worry about as a girl.

Hopefully these magazines will gain a fan base as I can unfortunately see them being cast off as “uncool and stupid” by targeted audiences.

posted on January 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

2 On January 18th, 2008, Rachel said:

I too came of age in the 90s and never bought into magazines like 17 or Vogue. One of my favorite magazines was Sassy, which, as I remember, did offer more than just diet tips and advice on how to land a boyfriend. I wish I had known then about magazines like Bitch or Bust.

posted on January 18th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

3 On January 18th, 2008, Lisa said:

Eating disorders are psychological (self esteem) issue and the media is just a trigger.

One must look at the person and their family dynamic and there will be the answer to why there is a disorder.

I should know….I am a recovering anorexic.

posted on January 18th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

4 On January 19th, 2008, Ready Maid said:

One of the great ironies of our day is Chico’s catalog. While they may have one of the greatest sizing charts going (0-3), their catalog always features bone-thin models. Go figure.

posted on January 19th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

5 On January 20th, 2008, Fat Girl said:

You actually touched on something that’s really been getting to me, lately. A lot of people are really quick to blame the fashion industry, or Barbie, or magazines, or the media for disordered eating and an obsession with being thin. Constantly deriding that attitude as “unhealthy.”

And then, like you said, they’re coming at you from the other side with all this government-sanctioned anti-obesity crap. So they’re basically saying be thin but NOT TOO THIN while at the same time trying to say “Accept yourself for who you are” and blaming Barbie for making people want to be skinny.

Yeah..

Right.

posted on January 20th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

6 On January 21st, 2008, Fatadelic said:

You are right, there has been an increase in anti-fat rhetoric in Australia recently. Despite the fact that, as a nation, we have one of the world’s longest life expectancies (I think we are second just after Japan), our health care policy takes many of its cues from the US since the US lifestyle is considered similar to our own. Therefore (faulty) research performed in the US is extrapolated to the Australian population and our policy makers and “health lobby groups” go nuts with the anti-obesity stuff. Eesh.

posted on January 21st, 2008 at 1:54 am

7 On January 21st, 2008, Angelique said:

That cover of “Indigo” is absolutely gorgeous. I would have loved mags like this when I was a teen girl… perhaps they would have set me on a better path than the one I chose?

posted on January 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am

8 On January 23rd, 2008, K said:

I completely agree that all the anti-obesity rhetoric is doing as much harm, if not more, than the fashion industry. I’m 18 and lost 10 kgs in the past year that I didn’t need to; I decided to lose weight not because I wasn’t as thin as your average model (even though I admittedly, kind of want to be), but because I’m secretly too scared of being part of the “over 49% of Aussies [that are] overweight” (stats courtesy of the Aussie biggest loser ads).

During year 10, my school made us weigh ourselves during PE and then gave all of us BMI reports. The first thing we all did, naturally, was compare numbers, and I ended up feeling like a whale thanks to my 21, when I compared it to other peoples’ 18s and 19s. I can only imagine how much worse this is when you’re 10 years old and everyone is around the same height, since it’s pre-adolesence.

My point: In recent years, there’s been enough discussion about how we shouldn’t aim to be size 0 models, but not enough to encourage people, and young people especially, to accept the bodies that they’ve been given and make choices accordingly. I think it bears noting that most people my age (that I know) diet not only to get/stay thin, but to avoid being labelled as overweight or obese.

posted on January 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 am

9 On January 28th, 2008, NFB said:

Thank you for this blog and for your terrific representation of healthy, heavy women on the morning shows I’ve been watching. It is disgusting how the media and these ridiculous “anti-obesity” groups have villainized heavy people when many of us have had the same experience you talked about — where we are much healthier at a weight normal for us than at a typically-thin weight.

I am 5’6 and fought weight issues as a child and teen. Although never more than 20lbs overweight, I was constantly afraid to go out or exercise in public because I was often cruelly ridiculed by passers-by. Self-loathing and eating disorders ensued, and I fluctuated between gaining and losing lots of weight. By the time I was in my early 20s, I was about 220lbs as a result of all the diets I’d been on as a teen.

By 24, I lost 100 lbs to become an “average” 120lbs. 2-3 hours of daily exercise (I became a part-time Pilates instructor to help with maintenance) and a macrobiotic diet of close to starvation was the only thing that kept me at that weight — for over 10 years. However, I was also constantly ill and more and more depressed as a result of these abnormal efforts.

As an aside — during this time, I returned to school to do graduate work in developmental psychology at Harvard. In my psychology and children’s media class, I wrote a paper on obesity, children, and the media in which my overall thesis was “if you encourage the public to ridicule heavy children/people through the media, you perpetuate the cycle of self-hate, unhealthy eating, and cloistered, sedentary lifestyle that makes heavy people unhealthy. You need to promote healthy, heavy people in the media so other heavy people will be encouraged and supported in living a healthy lifestyle regardless of their size.” I still believe this to be very true. However, one of the foremost professors in this field, who was an adviser to the CDC’s campaign against childhood obesity, responded to this statement with “you’ll only encourage children and people to be fat!” I decided then and there that I wouldn’t be doing a PhD at that school, and left after completing my master’s.

Meanwhile, I finally got sick of all the work needed to maintain this unrealistic weight (for my body anyway) and decided to let myself eat normal meals again. I still eat healthy (I am vegan but I do eat white fish now for protein), I still eat a great deal less than most people, and I exercise 5 hours a week, but I am now back up to about 185/190. Although people comment on how good I “used to” look, I know I am much happier, saner, and healthier now than then. I am also happily married and expecting my first child, and let’s not get started on how much grief heavier moms-to-be get from the public. However, I am healthy, and my baby is testing to be very healthy as well.

So, your point about focusing on “fitness and not fatness”, your point about how discouraging people from engaging in exercise and life in general is bad for their long-term health, and your representation of larger women in general needs to be applauded and supported, and I just wanted to do that.

Thank you for all you’re doing!

posted on January 28th, 2008 at 11:56 am

10 On May 1st, 2008, Layla said: