I KNOW VICTORIA’S SECRET: She Was Made Up By A Dude
BY TERRY CARTER, RTT, CHyp.
The Founder of World Wellness Today, The Home of Hope and Transformation
February is supposed to be all about love, but mental health issues do not take vacations.
It is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week this week (Feb. 20-26). And with Jax’s 2022 hit song Victoria’s Secret placing a spotlight on body issues, it has become obvious that girls and women are tremendously pressured by peers, social media, fashion and the media.
Jax’s powerful anthem about her youthful experience includes lyrics like this:
“Photoshop, itty-bitty models on magazine covers told me I was overweight.
I stopped eating — what a bummer. You can’t have carbs and a hot-girl summer.…
Cashing in on body issues, selling skin and bones with big boobs. I know Victoria’s Secret; she was made up by a dude.”
Females make up 90 percent of the 28.8 million reported eating disorder cases in America. According to statistics, 10,200 annual deaths are directly related to an eating disorder — that’s one death every 52 minutes. And approximately 26 percent of people with eating disorders attempt suicide.
Eating disorders are illnesses in which people of all ages, backgrounds, sizes, genders experience severe disturbances in their eating behaviors and related thoughts, habits and emotions. The most common eating disorders include: anorexia (slow starving), bulimia (including purging behavior) and binge-eating, according to a National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) fact sheet.
Among children statistics indicate a growing concern that can lead directly to improper eating and feeling judged by their appearance.
While some researchers believe this is the risk is based on hereditary factors, many therapists see eating disorders as coping mechanisms to gain acceptance with friends and when dating, as well as influenced by unresolved emotional wounds, such as verbal abuse, physical abuse, bullying/cyber-bullying.
Youth stats from ANAD include:
42 percent of first, second and third grade girls want to be thinner.
81 percent of 10-year-old children are afraid of being fat.
46 percent of 9-11 year olds are “sometimes” or “very often” dieting.
35-57 percent of adolescent girls engage in crash dieting, fasting, self-induced vomiting, and/or taking diet pills or laxatives.
The future of children and their mental health depends on each of us and how we treat others. Our example for our children is programming their minds. Use love, compassion and patience.
Take this week — and every week — to express care and acceptance to others. Acceptance inspires hope while critical judgement generally reflects on how you are feeling about yourself. Thus, the worst critics typically reserve the strongest, most harmful language for themselves.
Thank you for reading this article. If you know anyone who needs help with this issue, ask or guide them to WorldWellnessToday.com for a free conversation and immediate guidance and/or resources.
#WorldWellnessToday#mentalhealth#EatingDisordersAwarenessWeek#eatingdisorders#wellness#mindsetcoach
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