Eating Disorders Are NOT Fashion Statements

Ever since I was little I’ve always been kind of chubby.  I grew out of it for the most part but when I was little I got made fun of a lot for it. And I guess it really didn’t help that my sister was seven years older than me (sixteen at the time), short, beautiful, blonde, blue eyes, big lips, and Anorexic. At the age of nine I thought that I was never going to really live up to her standards. How was I going to ever look as beautiful as her?

Now, Nora (my sister) is recovering from her Anorexia and is really healthy. Which is like the best thing ever! She has told me so many stories and just things that she thinks about that has helped me understand why Anorexia and Bulimia have become almost like a fashion trend. Girls post pictures on social networking site of their ribs, thigh gaps, collar bones, pretty much a picture of every bone that sticks out of their bodies. Why? Because it’s “fashionable’”. Why a bone that every person has is fashionable, is beyond me.

“Pro-Ana” and “Pro-Mia” are nicknames given to sites or blogs or Twitter accounts that are Pro Anorexia and Pro Bulimia. The fact that these eating disorders are being treated like it’s a blessing to have them just show how society is affecting young women in a whole other way.

Gossip Girl

Lately, I have been re-watching Gossip Girl on Netflix (Yes, I’ve already watched the whole show once before. No judging.). Now just let me tell you how much I like Gossip Girl, no wait scratch that please, I LOVE Gossip Girl. Like everything about it. I love the character development, the soundtracks, the clothes they wear, seriously like EVERYTHING. But I guess even the best things have their flaws too.

The other day when I was watching it I forgot how one of the characters, Chuck kind of like, pretty much tries to rape another character, Jenny. AND THIS GUY IS ONE OF MY FAVORTIE CHARACTERS. And this happens so early in the show that by the time the show is over we, as viewers, totally forgot about it.

Some people may say that this adds to the character development that we love so much in Gossip Girl but I don’t see it that way. How can we so easily forget that Chuck tries to rape her? And later Jenny is portrayed as being bad and Chuck suddenly becomes a little more human. WHAT? How does that even work? Why does he get a second chance? Yes, Dan, Jenny’s brother, does get mad and punch him but this whole deal isn’t ever really talked about again and Chuck has no long term consequences for his actions, besides a black eye.

Advertisers, What Do They Want From Our Kids?

For ages, Advertisers have known that parents will do many things in order to get their kids to stop crying, throwing a tantrum or complaining non stop. So of course Advertisers have been using this to their advantage since the beginning of time. Similar to how parents will do anything to get their children to be quiet for about two minutes, kids know how to work their parents in order to get what they want, whether it's a new action figure/Barbie, or a candy bar. 

Companies have been trying to use the cradle to grave idea when creating advertisements. This is the idea that when a company is creating an add or commercial they want to grab the consumer when they’re young so that when they are growing up they become loyal to that company. For example, if a person really likes Coke over Pepsi because of the Polar Bear commercials that you saw when you were young, you have become a cradle to grave Coke consumer. These companies have realized that if the persuade you that their product is the best when you’re young, then you will always choose that product over the competing one.

Advertisers have also used other ways to see how convincing or how much of our kids attention they can get. Advertisers have created something called the blink test in order to see how drawn in they can get kids while they watch a commercial. And this is called the blink test. All they do is put a kid down in front of a TV while they watch an advertisement and count how many times they blink. The less they blink the more drawn in they are to the TV.

Is Porn Healthy?

Many female Porn Stars say that porn really empowers them and makes them feel in control of themselves and the situation that they are in. But do the viewers see it that way? Is typical porn healthy for young adolescent men to watch? Is it healthy for young women to watch? What is it teaching the future leaders of the world?

A lot of "regular" porn features young skinny white women being dominated or submissive to/by slightly older white men. The sex that is in porn isn't really the type of sex that is had by ACTUAL NORMAL people. It's amped up, edited, everything is airbrushed and smooth, and all the women look "perfect". Thats not real sex. Porn is teaching a lot of people, especially men, as to what sex is "supposed" to look like. When men grow up watching porn and expect exactly what he see's in the videos, they start to expect that with real women. This becomes very problematic because it's creating these unrealistic expectations for real women to fulfill, but they're impossible to!! Not all women will be able to fit into a XS sexy lingerie piece, even at their fittest! And when women realize that men expect these impossible goals to be met, it makes women feel like they aren't doing what they're supposed to be, which isn't true at all!

There are some sites that might refer to themselves as "feminist" porn, or something along those lines. There are definitely some sites that attempt to be seen as feminist and aren't owned privately and not by large companies just trying to make load of money. SuicideGirls.com is a website that shows different types of women (or they at least try to) with piercings and tattoos and fun different styles of hair. But the problem is that SuicideGirls is still run by men. And so is a lot of porn is still filmed and directed by men, therefore the only porn out there to be seen is the porn that men want to watch.