Body image

im less fat w00t

Goddamnit...I'm obese..

Stuck With You:

Goddamnit...I'm obese..

you don't look like it in the picture!

stop using this forum for chat.

Toby:

Stuck With You:

Goddamnit...I'm obese..

you don't look like it in the picture!

It's my BMI, it's 27.1

hitchinalife:

stop using this forum for chat.

yes please, I'm a new mod and I'm not afraid to abuse my banning privelages....
if you talk about anything but weight, it's fifteen minutes

spill_no_sick:

hitchinalife:

stop using this forum for chat.

yes please, I'm a new mod and I'm not afraid to abuse my banning privelages....
if you talk about anything but weight, it's fifteen minutes

I'm just kinda pissed because I'm obese.

I think that it maybe people misinterpreting the media, but I also think that the media shouldn't be using that kind of role model. The real world isn't like that, and I can easily believe that you get anorexis four year olds because they're probalbly playing one day and think "My Barbie has more fun than I do! Maybe if I get thin like her, then I'll get laid with Ken too!" well, not exactly those words, but you get the general idea. And the media is also causing teenage girls (much like myself) to have a contorted body image. My friends Kate and Lara are both fine, if not a bit skinny, but they're trying to lose weight and I just don't get why.
I had a body image issue last year, and I'm only just realising that. You are who you are, and if you want to change that then cut down from like 6 bars of chocolate a day to one a week or something, and exercise more, but don't go anorexic or bulimic. It's probably not your fault, though. It's most likely the media or things which are going on around you which are causing you to be that way.

Stuck With You:

Why can't they just face the facts and live their lives normally instead of just throwing up and hurting themselves internally and emotionally?

Once they get anorexic or bullemic it's extremely hard to get them back
to normal...their brains think differently- like making them think
all food is bad.

Gillian:

In our society today, problems are cropping up everywhere due to issues with body image. The number of people diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulemia are at an all time high. Children as young as 4 years old have been diagnosed with symptoms of anorexia, and girls as young as 9 are dieting to due to pressure from the media and peer pressure. However these problems do not only affect teenage girls and young women, but men and elderly people can have disorders such as these too. 78% of deaths due to anorexia are accounted for by the elderly.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous how the media can get away with the things they do and pressurise one of the most vulnerable age groups (teens) into thinking they are overweight and ugly. I do, however, understand that many people have such conditions because of other factors - like mental health problems, family problems, psychological problems etc.

On the other hand, there are the people who are obese and are told to lose weight rather than gain it. Strangely, this is also at an all time high. With all the junk food, lack of excersise and effort saving methods of doing things it's no wonder some people, especially children, are becoming increasingly overweight.


So, what are your views on body image? Discuss!

well, its not really my problem if people coose to starve themselves to death and pump themselves with silicon, and should be able to do it if they want. They arent made to do all of these things, and its always been like this, its not just recently, its just they were pressured in different ways

FRANKIE OF SURBURBIA SAY-

Not saying that I have, but I was shocked when I saw this topic hadn't been addressed yet.

I'm guessing you all have heard of the Terry Schiavo case, anorexia, blah blah blah...but what about bulimia?

For those of you who do not know, bulimia is even worse than anorexia, because your body is not only deprived of vital nutrients in order to live, when you do eat rarely, you throw it back up in order to keep 'in shape' or for whatever reasons you are starving yourself. It's like cheating yourself out of food, and it's a terrible thing to do.

We just had a Eating Disorder week, in which anorexics' pictures were posted around the school, and all the mirrors were papered over, so that for just one week out of our year, we could stop focusing on ourselves and accept out bodies for what they are: beautiful.

Not saying that I have ever attempted this, but I want to know: have you? And if not, do you know someone who does or has recently been at the receiving end of the terrible consequences that bulimia offers?

The media today is telling the girls of today that in order to get the guy, we need to be big-breasted and skinny as hell. After talking to some of the guys here on GSB, I have realized that even though these people haven't seen what I look like, they accept me for who I am and I appreciate that, since all the kids at my school think I'm ugly or think of other hurtful names to call me. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Just a sidenote, thank you to everyone here who's accepted me for me. Now let the discussion begin.

I think some people need to get a reality check. I mean, most of the shit they see on TV is like airbrushed and shit. And the people in "the bizz" have so much time on their hands so they get plastic surgery, they have personal trainers and they are on strict diets. Us regular people don't have time for this, so some of us think that we need to look exactly like the people on TV or in Magazines, skinny and pretty, but in reality, the people we see on TV and in Magazines aren't completely real because they're airbrushed, they have profeshional make up ect ect...so it's stupid and sad to see people trying to be like these people, because they're not even really like that, and we're all beautiful in some way...
and for the whole thing about obesseity, some people have health problems, which makes them obesse, and some people just need to make lifestyle changes, but some people who are like size 5 think they're fat and I think that they're healthy than people that are size one...so yeah, obessity is kinda umm...a weird subject...because it all depends on health...no nessisarilly size of your waist...

Gillian:

In our society today, problems are cropping up everywhere due to issues with body image. The number of people diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulemia are at an all time high. Children as young as 4 years old have been diagnosed with symptoms of anorexia, and girls as young as 9 are dieting to due to pressure from the media and peer pressure. However these problems do not only affect teenage girls and young women, but men and elderly people can have disorders such as these too. 78% of deaths due to anorexia are accounted for by the elderly.
Personally, I think it is ridiculous how the media can get away with the things they do and pressurise one of the most vulnerable age groups (teens) into thinking they are overweight and ugly. I do, however, understand that many people have such conditions because of other factors - like mental health problems, family problems, psychological problems etc.
On the other hand, there are the people who are obese and are told to lose weight rather than gain it. Strangely, this is also at an all time high. With all the junk food, lack of excersise and effort saving methods of doing things it's no wonder some people, especially children, are becoming increasingly overweight.
So, what are your views on body image? Discuss!

Great thread. I have experienced bulimia as a teenager and am currently about 20kg overweight and trying to lose it, so this is an issue close to my heart. My bulimia was related to my mental health problems (manic-depression) but also the whole teenage-self-image thing, which was also linked to my parents' divorce. Basically binging and purging was my way of punishing myself for being ugly, unloveable etc. The problem was of course that once I stopped purging, I didn't stop binging and gained heaps of weight. I'm trying to lose it (have been for a couple of years now) but changing the habits of a lifetime is bloody hard. The media is terribly tough on young women, but also perversely highlights how ridiculous these so-called role models look. I cannot imagine anything worse than looking like Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, to me they're both hideous. Then again, I am nearly in my mid-20s and my point-of-view has changed a lot since I was 15. It's hard when you're young and impressionable and you want so desperately to be accepted by others.

personally i hate the way the media write and put pictures about supermodels and actor/actress and how they lost weight and how your SUPPOSED to look.i think it's stupid and little girls are getting persurised to look good and wear make up and loose weight.i think they should be happy with the way they are and not try to change themselves.

the teen mags write things like "everyone should be happy with their bodies... blah blah blah" and then print pictures of very thin models on the next page. its the young girls that read those things and it can make people very self conscious.
it used to be that bigger women were considered the most beautiful and that skinny women were ugly - if you were bigger it showed your wealth because you had people to do things for you and you lived a life of leisure. now its the total opposite - skinny is pretty (according to a lot of the media)
i used to hate the way i looked - ive always been tall for my age (im 5 foot 11 now and 15) and used to shrug my shoulders cos i stuck out and used to wear big tent clothes cos im quite curvy - im not not overweight but ive got quite big boobs and hips - and hated it. i felt hideous next to all the smaller, dainty girls in my year but now i love it and i love standing out. i think it comes down to whether or not you take all the celeb pictures to heart - they've all been airbrushed and it isnt accurate anyway, but young girls listen - i used to

PrettyVacant:

personally i hate the way the media write and put pictures about supermodels and actor/actress and how they lost weight and how your SUPPOSED to look.i think it's stupid and little girls are getting persurised to look good and wear make up and loose weight.i think they should be happy with the way they are and not try to change themselves.

Gillian:

In our society today, problems are cropping up everywhere due to issues with body image. The number of people diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulemia are at an all time high. Children as young as 4 years old have been diagnosed with symptoms of anorexia, and girls as young as 9 are dieting to due to pressure from the media and peer pressure. However these problems do not only affect teenage girls and young women, but men and elderly people can have disorders such as these too. 78% of deaths due to anorexia are accounted for by the elderly.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous how the media can get away with the things they do and pressurise one of the most vulnerable age groups (teens) into thinking they are overweight and ugly. I do, however, understand that many people have such conditions because of other factors - like mental health problems, family problems, psychological problems etc.

On the other hand, there are the people who are obese and are told to lose weight rather than gain it. Strangely, this is also at an all time high. With all the junk food, lack of excersise and effort saving methods of doing things it's no wonder some people, especially children, are becoming increasingly overweight.


So, what are your views on body image? Discuss!

well before i never cared about my body at all because i swim and excersize a lot and eat good, but then ex-best friend became anorexic and never ate anything, and that kind of opened me up to people's body images. especially at my school, people care about their looks waaaay too much. it bothers me sometimes when my some of my friends are always doing their hair or whatever and say i should do something with mine. if i cared what people thought, i wouldn't be who i am now.

as for obese people, they're either born with it, like it's genetic, or they eat McDonald's every day. they need to lose the wieght, because already children are becoming obese and ruining their lives. it's really sad.

I think its a shame but i have been there myself, i think the media is digusting and the way they plaster pictures of skinny 'beautifull' unrealistic women to make evry normal girl and women fell ugly and bad about themselves is horrible

Grëêñ Dåÿ Mïñx:

PrettyVacant:

personally i hate the way the media write and put pictures about supermodels and actor/actress and how they lost weight and how your SUPPOSED to look.i think it's stupid and little girls are getting persurised to look good and wear make up and loose weight.i think they should be happy with the way they are and not try to change themselves.

eh...

I think that media is just part of everything that makes people (not just girls) feel so self-conscious about the way they look. One of my friends is a size 8 (UK size) and considers herself to be too fat, which is ridiculous. I don't think any of my friends are happy with the way they look. People should try and be happy how they are, but its hard when people are shown pictures of models who are skinny and taught that is the only way you can be beautiful.