Disclaimer: This article features several images from the Lauren Greenfield “Thin” exhibition, that highlight the physical effects of anorexia nervosa.
Return of Kings, alternatively titled: 5 Reasons Objectifying a Mental Illness Makes You a Colossal D**k
Earlier this month a highly disturbing article surfaced on the Internet, titled “5 Reasons To Date a Girl With an Eating Disorder”. The title alone speaks for itself about the women shaming, misogynistic, and bigoted nature of the whole website. Other featured articles include “24 Signs She’s a Slut,” “20 Things Women Do That Should Be Shamed, Not Celebrated,” and “Stay at Home Moms Don’t Work That Hard” among many other gems. While everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinion and sometimes you must grin and bear it, “5 Reasons To Date a Girl With an Eating Disorder” crosses this line as it is an absolutely deplorable insult not only to women but to a recognized mental illness. And nope, not just any mental illness but the mental illness with the highest mortality rate. So let’s get some facts straight here.
1. Her obsession over her body will improve her overall good looks.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders this obsession easily leads to side effects such as lanugo growth (fine hair all over the body to keep it warm, as compensation for lack of fat), tooth decay, bloating, arthritis, osteoporosis, gum disease, stunted growth, “chipmunk cheeks” (due to swollen salivary glands because of vomiting), balding, and many other accessories to enhance her overall good looks.
2. She costs less money.
Until she ends up in an expensive recovery clinic, must pay therapist bills for decades to come, as well as huge and various medical bills for the life long physical effects of the disease.
3. She’s fragile and vulnerable.
Ah nice, you are into needy women? This is perfect then because just in case you skimmed over it before eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. So remember this when she’s so fragile her bones are literally breaking and her organs are failing, or when she’s so vulnerable that she succumbs to the deadly side effects such as heart failure, suicide, and malnutrition.
4. Probably has money of her own.
Yes, thank you so much for having done your research by having “dated several girls with eating disorders.” So glad you care about this cause. Studies have shown that despite the misconception that eating disorders are for a privileged class, the opposite is really true. A study at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland concluded that “the relationship between anorexia nervosa and high socioeconomic status remains to be proved, and that there is increasing evidence to suggest that the opposite relationship may apply to bulimia nervosa”. A myth about eating disorders is they are solely based on body image, when in reality they often stem from a need for control. Everyone desires control, no matter his or her socioeconomic class.
5. She’s better in bed.
“Because she’s crazy.” Yep, you’ve got the crazy part right because she has a diagnosed mental illness. Not only is it damaging to classify mental illnesses as some ambiguous and sexualized “crazy,” but this point is just plain wrong. Eating disorders lead to malnutrition, which means low energy. Sex becomes nearly impossible as the lack of fat on the body stops production of estrogen as well as testosterone (which is the hormone that regulates sex drive). No sex drive, no sex.
What makes “5 Reasons To Date a Girl with an Eating Disorder” so upsetting is not just the objectification of women and belittling of a devastating disease, but the outrageously wrong “facts” it conveys about a disease that despite being deadly and affecting all classes, races, and ages of women AND men, still is commonly disrespected and misunderstood in society. A mental illness is a mental illness no matter the physical manifestation of it, and sufferers deserve to be treated with compassion rather than sexual objectification.
Photo Credits: Lauren Greenfield- ‘Thin’ Exhibit- http://www.laurengreenfield.com/