ED's and magazines

Hey this is so true! I can totally understand this I think what your doing is amazing!

Love Jennyxxx

Hi Shabba,

I agree completely with everything you have said!!!  I'm also a b-eat young ambassador, and was approached by my local news to do an interview for tv to be shown during EDAW - I, like you, had said I'm not doing underweight photos/lowest weights/calories etc as it was unhelpful, especially as I have been triggered by these factors in the past, so it would be unfair and unresponsible of me to put someone else in this situation, knowing what it was like myself.  Because I wouldn't give them the underweight photos, they pulled the interview at last minute.

What got to me more than the fact they pulled the interview, was that I had said from when I got in touch with them, that I wouldn't give them underweight photos, and couldn't as I had destroyed them as part of my treatment (I do have backups on the computer, but they didn't need to know this).  I had made this very clear with the first journalist I spoke to, and then to her collegue the next day.  I then got a phone call the day after, to arrange them coming to do the filming, for them to ask again about photos (and tell them no again), to which they replied that they'd been told by the first journalist that I was happy to give them underweight photos!!!!!  They then tried to bully me into giving me these photos, and when I refused, they pulled the interview.

I wanted to get a different ed story out there - one that doesn't focus on food/weight etc, but it just doesn't seem the media are ready for the truth - I know the media line are getting more calls from journalists saying that their editor wants to do a sensationalist story, but they don't agree and how to do the story justice, so this is definatly progress - it just makes me furious that the media are willing to bully and manipulate vunerable people.  However, I don't want to put anyone off talking to the media - there are some very good journalists out there - I've done some filming with another company to help them get a bid to make some documentarys on mental health, who were absolutly brilliant.

As someone who doesn't necessarily fit into the usual ed textbook case, I get really annoyed at the stigma and myths that still exsist about ed's - particulalry you have to be skelatal to have an ed - I was hospitalised at a healthy weight, which goes completely against this, but felt ashamed because I wasn't so emaciated I was about to drop dead - this is partly to do with the myths around ed's - even when I was hospitalised when I was very underweight, I felt ashamed as I wasn't in the life threatening category (which with hindsight is a good thing!) becuase the media associates weight with the amount of suffering. 

The thing to remember is that weight is only a measure of that - your body weight - not of self worth, or of how ill you are.  All the focus on weight/size/food only helps you continue avoid the emotions that are behind the ed, and therefore stay ill - I also think the focus on weight with ed's in the media reinforces the myth of once your at a healthy weight you're well, which I know made things very hard for me - I felt like I should be ok emotionally once my weight was ok, but was anything but - it's taken a lot of therapy and time for me to work through my emotions - and if just gettng to a healthy weight was enough, ed clinics would tube feed people until they hit their ideal weight, and then they would skip out all happy and smiley and never have an ed ever again (if only!!!!!)  I guess this just really gets to me, as getting to a healthy weight is hard enough, as is normalising your eating patterns, without the world expecting you to magically be ok......

Ok, that got into a bit of a rant.......sorry - once I get on my soap box, it's hard to get me off!!!!!

Lots of love Claire xxxxx

Thank you both for your replies.

Claire, I enjoyed reading what you had to say.  It's so true, and that last paragraph really hit home - although I have already said this, it's just different hearing it from someone else.
I'm so glad you're doing all this media work too.
This is something I feel soo strongly abaout. Before I developed anorexia I was one of those naive people who thought anorexics just starved for the sake of it and to look like models etc. How wrong I was.
Now I want so much to raise the issue that this is not the case. I want the media to back off from the weight and looks of people with eating disorders. Why can't they write stories of the individuals, about their lives and their feelings? 

Take care,

Olivia xxxxx 

Shabba,

You are  an inspiration! Your so right people think that people with ed's want to look like models .People always used to say to me "why you do this to yourself just to look like a model or a skinny celeb" but its deaper than that! A lot of people think its vanity of self obsession. I wish you all the best and I try to expain to people too about the real reasons for ED's cos I think this important! Yeah lots of magazines are full of skinny celebs and who is or isn't on a diet and it just does'nt help.I try not to buy them magazines anymore! It just makes people body concious! I wonder whether these magazines know what they are doing to people!

Good Luck!!!!

Love Jennyxxxxx

So true!

I hate the fact that people think your case is only serious if you're dangerously underweight, it's like f*** *** that's the worst excuse I ever heard!! There can be so much going on, in fact I know of more NORMAL WEIGHT people that suffer very serious conditions as a result of the ED than I do underweight people, because the serious conditions often come a while after regaining the weight & also you don't need to be thin to be ill, jesus it annoys me! & I totally don't blame you for refusing to send the pictures!! This whole image around EDs needs to be changed & people should know the truth & it shouldn't be such a taboo subject!