This body-image death spiral ends at universal self-hatred | Zoe Williams

parliamentarians have proposed that five years of classes to stop looking at how fat sample distorted our thinking is narcissism

"There is a growing body of evidence", which is a group of parliamentarians from all parties this week, "that body image dissatisfaction is high and is increasing and is associated with a series adversely impact the health and well-being. "The outline of the report took place from the banal to the bizarre." Remove food, "say," could stop 70% of eating disorders. "

Like all eating disorders could be classified as very extreme, dangerous regimes, then of course, if you were not "disappear" regimes. This is a statement of the bleeding obvious, in an absurd premise. Not one of these deputies, and nobody could stop the plan, even in his own house, let alone the nation. "Over 95% of dieters regain the weight they lose," the report continues, I remember reading in an annual report to Judy 1986.

"Up to one in five cosmetic surgery patients may suffer from body dysmorphic disorder" - again, the definition is neglected. Body dysmorphic disorder is the irrational hatred of her body. From there, you can argue that everybody cosmetic surgery for reasons other than physical comfort is body dysmorphic disorder, only because it is irrational to hate as long as you have someone cut you. Or we can say that he hates as an inappropriate response, but understood the pressures of their cultural environment.

What you can not do is take a picture out of the air "to one in five" to make a statement without doubt the burden of statistics. "One in three men to sacrifice a year of life to reach your ideal weight." Do not think it is entirely irrational: if you have a perfect body now - that, under this strange pact, Rosemary Conley meets Mephistopheles, I guess age is adjusted to be relatively great for the rest of your life - you probably have better health in his later years. Everyone would rather have 10 years of good health by 11 health problems. Who would read this as a sign of body dissatisfaction issues? What I find disturbing is the majority of their solutions. First, they recommend "Body Image and mandatory self-esteem lessons for children in primary and secondary schools." An interesting fact in the report does not mention the reason why five are obsessed with their weight: it is due to the high risk form of catastrophism are taught about nutrition. My son and his friends are constantly concerned about sugar, how it makes you fat, how can be found even in places you'd expect: there is absolutely no indication of understanding of good nutrition and evil - in part because "back in five, and partly because they are the program requirements. Children with these risk scenarios marked on things that are not given control of the anxiety you are old enough to be treated or evaluated. The suggestion of "self" lessons - we'll teach you to ignore all the concerns we have plants - is absurd enough to stop the transfer of the responsibility of adults to children, the whip is no longer out of their playgrounds., and wait 10 years to see how it works

• And then, of course, go to the big culprit, the media - their "unrealistic" imaging, airbrush, size zero models, their lack of authenticity. I do not hesitate to put pressure on magazines on issues of diversity - be it, the pages of a glossy, a stranger might think that the beautiful people who were black or Asian does not exist, c ' is a false impression that the reality has been perverted by racism. However, there is something very different from requiring that their images accurately reflect what the average human being looks like when the whole purpose of the magazine is to present the ideal.
• Models
• can not establish rules of "realistic" look to them because they are extraordinary. It is one of many pieces growth shocking that not everyone will be fine. This does not mean that the media has not changed, and has no effect, but is much more complicated than just images of people lifting thin, beautiful, with the feeling that we are all fat and ugly. U.S. journalist Lisa Bloom, How to Stay Smart in a peaceful world tested the idea of ??"mirror" - that celebrities are narcissists, and reflect both practices (plastic surgery) and impact (neurotic self -examination) of his narcissism.

But I'm not attacking celebrities - far from it, it is very difficult to analyze because they are and not become narcissistic - so the more you look, the more narcissistic that 'they become, the more we reflect his narcissism, the security system unless we show in our review. It is a circle decreases, or what economist Paul Krugman has called a "death spiral", which is not absolutely complete until everyone hates. I do not know how the stop, but I can tell you that all the money because it's not a campaign for Dove.

The issue of body image never goes below the surface - which, if children are involved, I say do not be worried, do not ask what became concerned or, Indeed, if it is not have nothing to fear. If young women feel under pressure in magazines, journals reprimand - do not ask me why this pressure is suddenly so unbearable, when physical perfection has always been the prerogative of a few. This is very aesthetic. If this report was a person, would you worry about your cellulite. Worry more about their IQ.

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