[Timoteo]

(07-05-2013 04:44 PM)Ocelot Wrote:  

(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.

You totally misinterpreted what I posted. My point was that people take extreme sides on the fat vs. thin discussion. I didn't say they were the same, or different sides of the same coin. In discussing issues in public, it's easier to oversimplify arguments in this manner. I don't think it's inaccurate to say that when fatties attack the thin, they use the argument that pushing people to be thin encourages anorexia to support their own sloppiness. And I don't believe I've ever heard anyone make the statement you made, in that anorexia is largely a mental health disorder. I've read that what anorexics see in the mirror is completely different from reality, in that they still see a fat person. That's obviously a mental illness. But then again, fatties will probably make the very same argument. I wasn't stating my personal opinion - I was commenting on the videos.