My daughter’s favourite singer, Adele, has recently made the news for her positive attitude towards her body image and her responsibility as a role model for her fans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57374255/adele-on-her-body-image/

One of the difficulties in maintaining a public access blog is the high volume of spam that it seems to attract.   So many inappropriate comments appear in my “pending” file that it is almost impossible to filter through and find the “real” comments that people are trying to leave.    I am able to search through comments for specific words or phrases, so if you are interested in leaving a comment that refers to the actual novel or blog topic, please include the words “body image” in your comment.  This should help me to filter through so that I can post your comment.  Thanks!

An interesting article about the changes in media representation of body image….or at least the changes made by some media…http://www.styleswept.ca/2011/05/the-weight-in-publishing-a-foodless-food-diary.html

 Body image issues seem to be starting at younger and younger ages.  Beauty pageants for very young children are a growing industry.  As a mom, I find it hard to watch anything to do with beauty pageants for young children (or any pageants for that matter).  This blog post is one person’s opinion about this issue.   http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/0411/blog_tv_tvwatch.html

Are beauty pageants dangerous for young children…both the participants and those who can now watch it on TV?

Why Are Women Obsessed With Weight?  Found this interesting brief video on MSN, tracing a bit of the history of society’s obsession with weight and looking at possible current trends that might be a bit more positive.  Might be worth a look.  http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/why-are-women-obsessed-with-weight/17yfqaoje?from=en-ca-infopane

ED  – NOT a “female” issue

A recent comment received on this blog strongly reminds us that men suffer from Eating Disorders in much higher numbers than most people might think and that society as a whole tends to see ED’s as a “female issue”.  Not only do males suffer, but often that suffering is done in silence because of this perception that ED’s are really a “female” problem.   New studies are showing that men and boys are much less likely to seek help because they are embarrassed or ashamed, hampering recovery rates.  Here are a few articles that address this issue.  There are many other good studies and articles on the subject out there as well, and as I find others that address the issue in an informative and helpful manner, I will definitely post them.  

http://www.caringonline.com/eatdis/topics/males.htm

http://www.bulimia.com/client/client_pages/usatoday.cfm

http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/issuesformen.php

“Health is Beauty”  …this was actually a phrase quoted on one of those “Top Model” reality TV shows that I was watching with my daughter…can’t remember the exact title of the show, but I was impressed to discover that the judges were quite serious about advising the potential models to keep healthy body weights.  While all the girls were slim, one was painfully thin and stating that she wanted to be even thinner, and the judges on the show told her she needed to take better care of her body if she wanted to become a model.  Nice to see that positive message being put out there on the one show that you might expect to be promoting thin as the only way to be beautiful.

PRO or Against?

There seems to be a new interest in the continued presence of  “pro ana” sites, with research being conducted by reliable sources.  This article is written as a warning to parents but should be of interest to young people also.

?

A couple of posts ago, I talked about the question that asks why some people develop eating disorders when others in similar situations do not.  This news article poses the idea that a possible genetic component may be at work.    There is no absolute proof of this as yet but it is an interesting possibility.

http://sify.com/news/blame-genes-for-eating-disorders-news-international-kgfpudfbajg.html

GLEEful cheerleaders?

I recently watched an episode of GLEE (yes..I watch it every week…my daughter’s fault!) where the cheerleaders in the club talk about their diet habits and Mercedes ends up fainting from lack of eating when she tries to fit in.  Cheerleading can be a really wonderful activity but there are some concerns about the affect of some aspects of it on body image.

This article takes a look at this issue.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190727.php