There's a very, very thin young woman a few tables down from me in the coffeeshop. Over the half-hour she's been here, I've caught myself looking over at her, wondering. Is she? Isn't she? Can you really be that thin, naturally ... or is there something more?
I do that. It's morbid. It's also incorrect.
Because we all know, all of us, that eating disorders are about so much more than being thin. And you can have anorexia no matter what size you are. The not-as-thin girl who just walked in could have it. The Macbook boy in an armchair could have it. Older, younger, American, foreign, boy, girl - you just don't know by looking.
Thanks to my father, I know what happens when I assume things - I make an "ass" out of "u" and "me." So no more of that. She might be skinny, she might be anorexic; but then again anyone might be. I mean, you wouldn't know from looking at me that I don't come by my clavicles honestly.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A mouse in a house of catcalls
About Me
- Lisa
- NOVA via Ohio. Wannabe teacher - anthropologist at heart. Engaged. Some food issues. Let's see where this goes.
Sites to See
- Adventures in Wanting
- Bearing, Eating, Being
- Between Living and Existing
- Blogoxygen
- Building Beauty Beyond Body
- Center for College Affordability and Productivity
- Eating with your Anorexic
- ED Bites
- ED Deception
- Every Woman has an Eating Disorder
- I Hate to Weight
- Just Eat It!
- Marine Snow
- Shapely Prose
- Size Ate
- Sunday Confessional
- The F-Word
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(220)
-
▼
April
(29)
- Something good
- Ka-boost
- Weighed down
- Itchy
- El futuro
- Hillbilly burn
- Octopus
- Stern note to self
- Nerves
- A fly in the ointment
- Some better news
- I should have seen this coming
- I'll be guilty
- Hold me closer
- A lack of originality
- Holy melodrama, Batman!
- Yep, overreacting
- Everyone overreacts
- Quit yer bitchin'...
- Not fair
- Hippity-hoppity
- I specialize in Pratfalls
- Challenge
- Ruffling some feathers
- Sense-making
- Another annoying post about the boyfriend
- Lucky
- Doughnuts or Donuts?
- Facepaint
-
▼
April
(29)
6 comments:
Same here, guilty as charged. Most of the time I have a "you must have an eating disorder until you prove to me otherwise" mentality. I'll even admit that I thought that one of my male friends who eats like a horse and is a rail had an eating disorder when I first met him.
Guilty also. Living in a college town, it's hard to separate the freshmen that are "still filling out" from the students that are consciously whittling themselves down. And I ALWAYS wonder. And wonder if I would wonder about myself if I were an outside observer. If that makes sense? The sad part is that there are many ED sufferers walking around in "normal" sized bodies as the emaciated ones.
I know what you mean. I am quick to look at an individual and question their eating habits.
A very dear friend is having some thyroid issues, and so I've become quite sympathetic towards people who lose weight quickly without 'intending' to do so, at all, and try to not make assumptions While joking a bit about how she can eat whatever she want and she still is losing weight, she is also freaking out about it. Fortunately it can be controlled with medication.
It's just the flip side of the coin, someone who has not ever had an eating disorder, and is, strangely enough, struggling with weight.
this is a good reminder that weight is only a small part of the equation. There have been times that i desperately needed help but was too afraid to ask because i felt i was too "fat" to really be sick. I suspect i am not alone in this.
Also guilty! Quite glad to hear I am not the only one though!
Post a Comment