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Media Portrayal of Eating Disorders

If there were one message I would want to beat into the collective conscious of our culture, it would be this: You can have an eating disorder at any weight, shape, or size. It seems that no matter how many eating disorder awareness weeks we have, we continue to have this idea of eating disorders that is dominated by Karen Carpenter, Mary-Kate Olsen, and a handful of other famous anorexics. Strangely, this belief seems to go both ways. If you are very thin, you must have an eating disorder, right?
There's a common misconception that eating disorders are only about being thin. This is both incorrect and harmful to those struggling with eating disorders. I talk about why in this eating disorder video.
Who doesn't remember the pictures of a fragile and wan-looking Mary Kate Olsen, draped in a pale lavender gown as she and her twin, Ashley Olsen, received their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? The majority of people saw a young woman on the edge of death; clearly too thin, bones protruding. Then there are those of us who were enmeshed in our eating disorders. We saw a gorgeous young woman; someone to aspire to be like. Therein lies the dangers of the media.