Aug 90 20:19:40
From:   Elise
To:     Kim Storment
------------------------------------------------
 KS> Regarding anorexia, buliemia, etc., though, I've even
 KS> heard of the constant pressure on American women to be
 KS> thin referred to as "biological warfare against
 KS> women".  (I wish I'd heard that one first-hand:  an
 KS> acquaintance of Brad's went into great detail about
 KS> how being "overweight" [<-- case in point] is not
 KS> necessarily unhealthy.  Island women, for example, get
 KS> heavier as they get older and are healthier than
 KS> American women of similar girth.  The problem is not
 KS> the weight but the constant cycle of gaining and
 KS> losing the weight that stresses our bodies.
 KS> Interestingly enough, he said that the woman who gave
 KS> this charged rant was thin and petite, so it wasn't a
 KS> "defense mechanism".)

Quite true.  References include anything written by Kim Chernin on food,
weight and eating; a book called Shadow On A Tightrope, an anthology by
fat women; some of Susie Orbach's stuff; and a magnificent book called
Never Too Thin (ISBN:0-88961-127-0) by Eva Szekely.    "Biological
warfare against women" -- I like that.  I have, by the way, met some
male anorexics, but only two so far.  I have met and worked to support
more than a hundred female anorexics/bulimics who are getting out of the
cycle.

My take on it is the line: "Anorexia is socially acceptable suicide".

Yes, I enjoy watching the disbelief when I speak up against the Thin
Obession.  Many people don't expect it from one of my body type.  (I am still
considered fairly thin, although the disease I have will probbly never let me
realize this; my head will always see me as a fat loathsome cow.  But I'm
healing my body, and I trust that eventually my head will follow.  Amazing how
deep-rooted gynophobia is.)

--- Sirius 1.0w
 * Origin: Mammals' Melting Point  (1:282/8.19)