I support a ban to eliminate poor self-esteem in young girls.
Did you know that:
• girls as young as 6 and 7 are struggling with body image?
• 80% of 10 year old girls are afraid of being fat?
• by middle school, 40-70 % of girls are dissatisfied with two or more parts of their body?
If you answered the above questions with, I had no idea, you’ll understand why it’s an appropriate 2014 theme for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (Feb 23-March 1). Sadly, indiviudals suffering from poor self-esteem and body image often resort to unhealthy tactics to ‘improve’ their appearance. Believe it or not, dieting is one of these unhealthy measures and is often a trigger for an eating disorder. Thirty-five percent of normal dieters progress to pathological dieting, and of those, 25% progress to partial or full syndrome eating disorders.1
More bad news on dieting: young girls who dieted had three times the odds or being overweight five years later compared with girls not using weight control behaviors.2
Is there really a campaign to help girls understand their value comes from character, skills, intelligence, kindness.. and not appearance?
Yes, and Mayor Bloomberg’s office is rolling it out – the NYC Girls Project. Images like the one here will brighten up buses, subways, and phone kiosks.
What do you think about the Mayor’s most recent ban?
1 Shisslak, C.M., Crago, M., & Estes, L.S. (1995). The Spectrum of Eating Disturbances. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18 (3): 209-219.
2 Neumarksztainer, D., M. Wall, J. Guo, M. Story, J. Haines, and M. Eisenberg. “Obesity, Disordered Eating, and Eating Disorders in a Longitudinal Study of Adolescents: How Do Dieters Fare 5 Years Later?” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 106.4 (2006): 559-68. Print.
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