It's National Eating Disorder Awareness Week

[nicolesvoice]

February 22-28 is National Eating Disorder Awareness week. In recent years it seems that eating disorders have seen more attention in the form of after school specials and the more current "fad" of teenagers and young women who choose dysfunctional eating styles as a way of life - just as they choose their style of dress. I’ve scanned various news

Comments

[anonymous]

You say, "Through some odd twist of fate, I was enrolled in ballet classes despite my desire to take karate."

Well, the karate teacher was, in my opinion, teaching women to be paranoid and always on guard. I took one of his classes. That was enough for me. I thought ballet might do less damage to your psyche. You showed amazing talent at a young age.

You live and work 5 minutes from a wonderful Do-Jo now. What's stopping you from taking karate as an adult if it's so important to you?

If you never have children, you will never make all of the incredibly potentially harmful mistakes that people who take that risk are prone to. Hmmm, you also talked a lot about becoming a herpetologist, then an architect. Should I have forced you into a specific college program because of another phase you were going through?

Personally, I think you're a lot less fucked up than most people on this planet. You continue to voluntarily go up on stage, and you always look great and do a fabulous job. You're also a successful business owner in very difficult economic times.

How awful is that?

It's good that you question things the way you do. Too many people just accept life and society the way it is. The only way things will change for the better is if people challenge the stagnant cultural mores and work toward positive change.

[tabloidscully]

So, I stumbled over this entry when trying to find some previous passages of yours that have brought me great comfort. I remember reading this post and being floored at the depth of your emotion, the biting point of your analysis, which captured so much of my own experiences with an eating disorder, perfectionism, and dance.

I was floored when I read the comment above. You completely missed the point of Nicole's entire post, an honest look at her journey through a disease that has, to a certain extent, defined her. The point is that for many, myself included, competitive dance is the entry point into eating disorders. It's ritualized, glamorized, and indoctrinated into all of us. Nicole recognizes that it was the joining of dance at such a young age and her own achieving personality that conspired to make her the ideal anoretic/bulimic. No blame in there for anyone; just recognition of what the industry's dirty little secrets actually are.

In your rush to defend the events that she treats as passing observations, you're doing exactly what her post criticized. You're glossing over the bigger issue with your own justifications that simply do not hold water to the bigger picture, "I thought ballet might do less damage to your psyche...what's to stop you from taking karate as an adult if it's so important to you?"

It isn't about taking karate or not taking karate. It isn't about who enrolled her in ballet, or supported her dreams during different phases of her life. It is about how the decision to become a dancer has colored and permanently impacted her life. She takes ownership of her condition, which leaves the mind all the more boggled as to why you felt the need to appear and defend actions taken over 20 years ago. And it's just disappointing that while you compliment her for questioning things, your entire response condemns her for doing precisely that.