Does anyone else think that if young women had more of a feminist education then less of them would develop eating disorders?
I've thought this for a while and been reminded by all the fuss re the incredibly skinny models at London Fashion Week. The industry is clearly completely toxic when designers make trousers that are even too small for <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=cdni.condenast.co.uk/240x360/d_f/EOConnorBFA06_B.jpg&imgrefurl=www.vogue.co.uk/biographies/080422-erin-oconnor-biography.aspx&usg=__YuINYIPIL7I9957dPGqO9mykVqU=&h=360&w=240&sz=18&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=rRmaRgtVQop_gM:&tbnh=168&tbnw=118&ei=TuxmTcEtj-biBpmazPsI&prev=/images%3Fq%3Derin%2Bo%2527connor%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D509%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=446&vpy=102&dur=389&hovh=177&hovw=118&tx=61&ty=117&oei=L-xmTb7LDcWztAbqt5j0DA&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Erin O'Connor who was told to lose weight by a designer (but was thankfully strong and famous enough to refuse and tell them to make their trousers bigger). What else is that but punishing women for having women's bodies? Leaving aside the fact that all but the very most successful models are washed up at 27, and that if by that time they have completely screwed up their body chemistry or fertility no one cares, it's completely misogynistic and the attitudes do filter down. The focus for so many girls is always body 'improvement' (i.e. getting thinner) despite the fact it actually brings you nothing of worth.
Of course the extreme of this is eating disorders, where extreme effort is put into destroying yourself. I can't help but think that if more young women had more exposure to feminist ideas that they would see through the manipulation of the fashion and beauty industry and realise that their bodies and health are already priceless. It took me a long time to reach this conclusion and definitely helped me overcome my own eating disorder. For me the real wake-up call was the realisation that I could have jeopardised my chances of having children just to fit into a certain size of clothes, and also realising the difference between this Alice in Wonderland world promoted by fashion and beauty industries, where incredibly insignificant things are important and value is all topsy-turvy, and reality.
Bit of a ramble, but I wondered if anyone had anything more constructive to say about it.