Wait, you kind of glossed over one little sentence that shocked me that throws another light on this shit show. "in photos taken by her mother". Wtf? How on earth is this girl going to ever even realize if something is wrong if her mother is enabling her? I have never heard of such a thing. I am shocked and unfortunately I think poor Eugenia is truly f#@$#$ked and not long for this world.
Spin is in the air. How about the "Inflation Reduction Act" that increased borrowing and inflation? Or the "Infrastructure Act" that pushes climate spending and DEI? See any new roads or bridges yet? Well, actually, I live in Florida (red state) now and Florida is building roads and bridges all over the place. But not so in Vermont (deep blue state) where I came from.
Here's a start: You can't drink alcohol before age 21. TikTok and Instagram should be prohibited before age 21. If you can't ban those apps, then restrict them.
I made the mistake of searching Zhanna D'Art on Instagram. How did she have a single follower when she chewed so wetly and loudly on camera. I am sorry she died. I'm also sorry I clicked on her video with the sound on. 🤢
Fascinating article. As a middle-aged male, I know next to nothing about anorexia, although I supposed I have impressions and possibly misimpressions.
The control angle makes sense for some cases, especially the holy, self-denying virgin of medieval times. It was one of the few outlets the Christian culture of that era gave to young women, and that was true of taking holy orders generally. A young woman (and for a young man, for different reasons that nonetheless converged on the same solution) could lift herself out of the lower, worldly realm of the coming-to-be-and-passing-away and into some sliver of eternity. These are neo-Platonic concepts that were rampant in late antiquity and persisted until early modern times. However, I doubt if they're much operative today.
I wonder if that seizing control idea makes sense for, say, Karen Carpenter. These strike me as more self-projections or self-assertions than self-denials. Maybe self-denial *is* a form of self-assertion -- I think we need Nietzsche here to sort this out for us. He lays out self-denial as a form of what he calls the will to power (a very broad concept in his approach).
We do have a problem in our society with accepting problematic mental and somatic dysfunction as such -- say, anorexia, or gender dysphoria, or obesity -- and doing something about it.
I'm glad your treatment worked and you made it to adulthood.
(I'm not sure veganism isn't a kind of mental disorder. For younger people and children especially, it's a form of dietary abuse. Humans are not herbivores and need some animal fat and protein.)
Transgenerism is, in my opinion, the new anorexia. It is an outward cry for an inner problem. Most of it starts at the same age, when girls are developing physically and having to face the realities of growing up. The vast majority of transitioners are female to male and it has become a social contagion. This is not to say that there are not people with true gender issues, but the numbers just do not add up. There is a sick and perverse power within social media that tweens and teens fall prey too. Plus parents simply stuggle to manage access to devices and keep track of everything their kids see. While there are many run and positive things on social media, there are some very deep, dark rabbit holes and anorexia, gender transitioning, sexualization of children, etc. are all right there at a click and it is having a profound effect on our children.
I am not going to get into an argument with you. You've made your point;I've made mine twice. The two can coexist if you are up to it.
(I thought about apologizing to you but that might derail the point I was trying to make. So, I stand by my remarks wondering how you could get what you are accusing me of from what I've written.)
My remarks have more to do with a growing sense that we, as subscribers, are becoming part of someone else's therapy group. I'm trying to find out where we stand.
Good psychiatrists don't "affirm" their patient's mental illness, whether it is anorexia or gender dysphoria. The doctor looks for underlying problems and ways to gradually overcome the illness and it's causes. Unfortunately, the medical profession has been politicized so that there are fewer and fewer good doctor's.
"Women in the early to late Middle Ages who starved themselves were later worshiped as saints." Your ignorance of the Catholic faith is showing, Hadley. God alone is "worshiped." Saints are not "worshiped"; they are venerated and honored for having lived lives of heroic virtue. Even Mary is not "worshiped" -- although, as the Mother of God, she is recognized and praised as the greatest of the saints.
Moreover, male saints through the centuries have often been at least as abstemious as female saints. St. John the Baptist, whom Christ himself declared "the greatest man born of woman" (unlike Christ, John was solely human, not both fully human and fully divine), lived on locusts and honey.
Add to the above the fact that people in the Middle Ages lived much shorter lives than people today, and were therefore often betrothed in infancy and married in early adolescence, and it is not at all surprising that girls who entered the religious life instead of marriage would adopt the rigors of that life, including strenuous fasting.
Were there anorexics throughout history? Perhaps. But that hardly renders spiritually motivated self-denial "starvation," let alone "starvation as spectacle," or mental illness manifesting itself in child-versus-parent power plays that end in the former's slow but inexorable suicide. Catherine of Siena was no "thinfluencer."
Eye opening article but, I think your comparison to saints is a bit off. Saints were known to not eat for multiple reasons and fasting was a regular part of their faithful life. This was done by both men and women. These people didn't become saints because they starved themselves, they became saints because of their actions in life. I don't think that comparison is accurate.
I struggled with compulsive eating for many years, starting when I was about 14 and my single mom married an angry alcoholic. I think for me it was a way of having some control over, or an escape from, an impossible reality. I am now 70 and am slender, but my struggle with food has cost me a lot of time and effort that could have been spent on other things. Geneen Roth's books have been helpful, as have Ayn Rand's ideas. Many of the ideas in Martin Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication have been valuable. I have a good life. Psychological problems can lead to so many issues - drugs, alcohol, gambling, uncontrollable anger, struggles with food...
Lean on God. The power is real!
Wait, you kind of glossed over one little sentence that shocked me that throws another light on this shit show. "in photos taken by her mother". Wtf? How on earth is this girl going to ever even realize if something is wrong if her mother is enabling her? I have never heard of such a thing. I am shocked and unfortunately I think poor Eugenia is truly f#@$#$ked and not long for this world.
Spin is in the air. How about the "Inflation Reduction Act" that increased borrowing and inflation? Or the "Infrastructure Act" that pushes climate spending and DEI? See any new roads or bridges yet? Well, actually, I live in Florida (red state) now and Florida is building roads and bridges all over the place. But not so in Vermont (deep blue state) where I came from.
Here's a start: You can't drink alcohol before age 21. TikTok and Instagram should be prohibited before age 21. If you can't ban those apps, then restrict them.
I made the mistake of searching Zhanna D'Art on Instagram. How did she have a single follower when she chewed so wetly and loudly on camera. I am sorry she died. I'm also sorry I clicked on her video with the sound on. 🤢
Fascinating article. As a middle-aged male, I know next to nothing about anorexia, although I supposed I have impressions and possibly misimpressions.
The control angle makes sense for some cases, especially the holy, self-denying virgin of medieval times. It was one of the few outlets the Christian culture of that era gave to young women, and that was true of taking holy orders generally. A young woman (and for a young man, for different reasons that nonetheless converged on the same solution) could lift herself out of the lower, worldly realm of the coming-to-be-and-passing-away and into some sliver of eternity. These are neo-Platonic concepts that were rampant in late antiquity and persisted until early modern times. However, I doubt if they're much operative today.
I wonder if that seizing control idea makes sense for, say, Karen Carpenter. These strike me as more self-projections or self-assertions than self-denials. Maybe self-denial *is* a form of self-assertion -- I think we need Nietzsche here to sort this out for us. He lays out self-denial as a form of what he calls the will to power (a very broad concept in his approach).
We do have a problem in our society with accepting problematic mental and somatic dysfunction as such -- say, anorexia, or gender dysphoria, or obesity -- and doing something about it.
I'm glad your treatment worked and you made it to adulthood.
(I'm not sure veganism isn't a kind of mental disorder. For younger people and children especially, it's a form of dietary abuse. Humans are not herbivores and need some animal fat and protein.)
Transgenerism is, in my opinion, the new anorexia. It is an outward cry for an inner problem. Most of it starts at the same age, when girls are developing physically and having to face the realities of growing up. The vast majority of transitioners are female to male and it has become a social contagion. This is not to say that there are not people with true gender issues, but the numbers just do not add up. There is a sick and perverse power within social media that tweens and teens fall prey too. Plus parents simply stuggle to manage access to devices and keep track of everything their kids see. While there are many run and positive things on social media, there are some very deep, dark rabbit holes and anorexia, gender transitioning, sexualization of children, etc. are all right there at a click and it is having a profound effect on our children.
I am not going to get into an argument with you. You've made your point;I've made mine twice. The two can coexist if you are up to it.
(I thought about apologizing to you but that might derail the point I was trying to make. So, I stand by my remarks wondering how you could get what you are accusing me of from what I've written.)
My remarks have more to do with a growing sense that we, as subscribers, are becoming part of someone else's therapy group. I'm trying to find out where we stand.
Good psychiatrists don't "affirm" their patient's mental illness, whether it is anorexia or gender dysphoria. The doctor looks for underlying problems and ways to gradually overcome the illness and it's causes. Unfortunately, the medical profession has been politicized so that there are fewer and fewer good doctor's.
So good to read Hadley Freeman here!!!
I wonder who the followers are and if this demographic supports the author’s claim that watching women die is like sexless porn.
"Women in the early to late Middle Ages who starved themselves were later worshiped as saints." Your ignorance of the Catholic faith is showing, Hadley. God alone is "worshiped." Saints are not "worshiped"; they are venerated and honored for having lived lives of heroic virtue. Even Mary is not "worshiped" -- although, as the Mother of God, she is recognized and praised as the greatest of the saints.
Moreover, male saints through the centuries have often been at least as abstemious as female saints. St. John the Baptist, whom Christ himself declared "the greatest man born of woman" (unlike Christ, John was solely human, not both fully human and fully divine), lived on locusts and honey.
Add to the above the fact that people in the Middle Ages lived much shorter lives than people today, and were therefore often betrothed in infancy and married in early adolescence, and it is not at all surprising that girls who entered the religious life instead of marriage would adopt the rigors of that life, including strenuous fasting.
Were there anorexics throughout history? Perhaps. But that hardly renders spiritually motivated self-denial "starvation," let alone "starvation as spectacle," or mental illness manifesting itself in child-versus-parent power plays that end in the former's slow but inexorable suicide. Catherine of Siena was no "thinfluencer."
Eye opening article but, I think your comparison to saints is a bit off. Saints were known to not eat for multiple reasons and fasting was a regular part of their faithful life. This was done by both men and women. These people didn't become saints because they starved themselves, they became saints because of their actions in life. I don't think that comparison is accurate.
I struggled with compulsive eating for many years, starting when I was about 14 and my single mom married an angry alcoholic. I think for me it was a way of having some control over, or an escape from, an impossible reality. I am now 70 and am slender, but my struggle with food has cost me a lot of time and effort that could have been spent on other things. Geneen Roth's books have been helpful, as have Ayn Rand's ideas. Many of the ideas in Martin Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication have been valuable. I have a good life. Psychological problems can lead to so many issues - drugs, alcohol, gambling, uncontrollable anger, struggles with food...
If there were ever 'influencers' worth burying by algorithm in the name of public safety, you'd think it would be these treacherous pied pipers.