Quote: (07-05-2013 04:44 PM)Ocelot Wrote:
Quote: (07-05-2013 01:46 PM)Timoteo Wrote:
Of course, this is an argument that tends to the extremes - there's the argument that promoting being thin causes girls to be anorexic, and that saying it's okay to be fat, you're encouraging laying around and doing nothing but eating.
I'd actually disagree with this. Whatever media outlets are telling everyone 24/7, anorexia is a control disorder. Anorexics don't not eat to emulate arguably underweight models. They do it because by controlling their eating patterns, they feel a sense of control over their life that they otherwise lack. There are plenty of male anorexics, and it's hardly as if male models are infamous for being "skinny".
Obesity, on the other hand, is a result of a complete lack of impulse control, and having the resources/time to eat too much. They're completely different, and not really opposite sides of the same coin: anorexia is a mental disorder, obesity is absolutely not (although it can be an indicator of poor mental health). The fact that both are on the increase is a sign of a fucked up society, more than anything.
That's a very interesting point about male anorexics and it has partially altered the way I thought about the underweight-overweight paradigm.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. - H L Mencken