Body Image

Have you ever thought about why women are so much more likely to develop an eating disorder than men are? What made this to be?

In Women's Health, I ask my students to consider where they learned about being a woman and where they learned about what "good" women look like. Most students report that they learn these things from the media, magazines, Victoria's secret and other fashion stores. If this is true, what do these places teach us?

To be sexy, to congratulate being dangerously thin, to be scantily clad and to present your body as a pleasure island for the men around you.

We congratulate people for losing weight without knowing how they're going about losing the weight. You don't have to be 70 lbs to be anorexic. Yet we never question the healthiness of our means because being thin is so important.

I have skipped meals, skipped weeks of eating and have stood in front of mirrors for hours marking every imperfection. My teenage years are a blur of disappointment. My body was never good enough for me, so seeing that it was good enough for men was my only boost of self confidence.

I tell you this because I am taking a political stand for the bodies of women and for the health of women. It is not about being liberal or conservative, but instead about wanting all women to love the way they look, an celebrate other women for how they look, too.

Use your voice. The personal is political.