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Friday 26 April 2013

Leeches, vampires and Planky eyes




Things have caught my attention recently:

The first from Sweden about leeches - sorry, model scouts - hanging around an eating disorder clinic touting for business.  If this is true, it is utterly disgusting, sick and generally "pond scum" behaviour.  I have little time for the modelling industry as a whole.  I would liken them to vampires, except that some vampires can be quite good looking and, in my experience, those working for model agencies tend to be less than average in the "Wow" department.

Mind you, so do most models, until covered in slap, airbrushed, photoshopped and otherwise enhanced as so beautifully illustrated by Dove.

What bothers me about this article was this particular comment:

"For people who have an illness centered around weight and looks, it's catastrophic to throw them into a business that focuses on exactly those things." psychologist Andreas BirgegĂ„rd, chair of the Swedish Anorexia and Bulimia Society (Svenska Anorexi/Bulimi SĂ€llskapet, SABS), told The Local.

Sigh.

In my not very humble opinion, weight and looks concerns are often either a symptom of the eating disorder itself or a co-morbid condition (BDD).  Weight and looks are not an eating disorder.  It is way too simplistic to describe any eating disorder as an illness centred around weight and looks.

Which leads me neatly on to this article.  We all understand that Samantha Brick is an idiot and a narcissist of the first order.  However, I didn't realise how utterly vapid she was until I read this

“As I see it, there is nothing in life that signifies failure better than fat”.

Ewww.  Having used the pond scum thing already, I am at a loss as to how to describe her - any suggestions gratefully received.  

I had a bit of an insecurity moment, when my mentor and friend, Marcella "strongly disagreed" with the Independent article in the poll at the bottom as I had "strongly agreed".  She is much cleverer than me and has a degree and everything, so, overwhelmed with a "I've missed something" moment, I asked her why she disagreed, as I thought this was a thoroughly sensible article.  She said something along the lines of taking the plank out of your own eye first Mr Independent Journalist and taking a cheap shot at the tabloids is, well, taking a cheap shot.

Just in case you have missed any of my previous rants about dieting, diets don't work.  If you are a habitual dieter, please note this and just STOP.


"Prof Mann found that, though dieters typically lost up to 10% of their starting weight in the first six months, at least one-third to two-thirds of people on diets regained more weight than they lost within four or five years.
Among those who were followed for more than two years, 83% eventually put more weight back on than they had lost. One study showed that half of dieters weighed over 11 pounds more than their starting weight five years after the diet."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/apr/10/medicineandhealth.psychology

Which leads me neatly on to the Award Winning Blog by Carrie Arnold (edbites.com) that, as usual, explains it best.  

If you are parent, please think really hard before modelling dieting behaviours to your children.  You just might be condemning them to the most lethal psychiatric disorder there is.

Just saying

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