The costume is not only sexualizing an eating disorder, but even more, the name of the costume is "Anna Rexia". Wow!
And recently I found out about an ad that Yoplait yogurt pulled after receiving criticism based on its promotion of eating disorders.
Minimizing such a serious issue is troublesome for me. The constant notion that women should be concerned about their bodies has led many to take extreme measures in order to meet societal norms of thinness. In both of these cases, eating disorders are made unimportant and insignificant. Particularly, with the costume, the matter becomes laughable--which it clearly is not. And, let's not forget, that as with many halloween costumes for women, the sex appeal remains. So, not only are we minimizing a serious health condition, but we're making it sexy and funny. What in the world?
I did a quick google search of pro-ana (anorexia) and pro-mia (bulimia) websites. A plethora of things were brought up including the term "thinspiration". Essentially, these sites reject the idea of Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia as eating disorders. And thinspiration signifies a term referring to role models individuals, typically with eating disorders, use to inspire themselves to lose weight.
Eating disorders are not something, in my opinion, to be sexualized or humorized. If you, or someone you know, is struggling with body image or an eating disorder, there are websites and organizations that you can check out.
National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA)
Eating Disorder Center of Denver (EDC-D)
Eating Disorder Organization List
