Bones

I was very overwhelmed and upset by the images that I saw when looking at pro-anorexia websites, as well as by just typing anorexia or bulimia into google images. It was very difficult for me to look at these, but I wanted to do a figure drawing based off of these. I used one of my friends as a base to look at, but I also used images to show a thinner and sick form.

"Bones"

This is done with charcoal

Works In Progres

Sketch

The beginnings of "Overwhelmed"

Phase one of "Fear"

Mounting "Bones"

Confused, Vivacious, and Afraid

This article from a magazine shows how media can cause girls to become obsessed with their appearance and become anorexic. She used pro-anorexia websites to support others, like herself, to starve themselves and become thinner and thinner. The images that websites like these post are extremely upsetting and honestly, repulsive, yet these girls are striving for these disturbing bodies. I am not going to post any of these websites, because it is disturbing, but I was using the things that they wrote, along with photos to use in my artwork. 

I created three pieces from reading this article and then looking at pro-anorexia websites.

The first image is meant to show the massive amounts of confusion, depression, and the difficulty of this disease. Much of the disease has to do with control, but this image is to show just how out of control the disease is. It also represents bulimia and an eating disorder in general because it is so overwhelming and chaotic. There are times of binging, purging, hating food, loving food. I used bright colors to represent how some regard an eating disorder as a good thing, urging others to do the same. 

                                                               "Overwhelmed"

                                                 This is done with watercolor and sharpie. 

My second two images are meant to go together. The first one shows a negative relationship towards food. The dark colors represent how people see food as a bad and fearful thing. The second one is bright and represents the beauty, vitality, life force, and energy that is in food. Food is meant to fuel our bodies and help them flourish. These are my two favorite images because I love to think of food as a beautiful and vivacious thing, so I really enjoyed capturing this. 

                       "Vitality"                                                                       "Fear"

Done with colored pencil                                              Done with crayon

Thompson, Arianne. "Why I Made Girls Like You Anorexic." WordPress. Sugar Magazine, Jan. 2011. Web. <http://arianethomson.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/sugar-magazine-‘why-i-made-girls-like-you-anorexic’-january-2011/>.

The Confusion in the Mirror

In my previous post, I showed some sketches that I drew as my reaction to the media and its depiction of women. I also posted pictures of the massive amounts of magazines that are all over our grocery stores with headlines all about weight loss, with beautiful women posted on the cover.

I was triggered to pay attention to this after the many articles that we read in my women's studies class that talked about the issue of how women are portrayed in media and the dangers that this has associated with it. I also found a study that I put a link to that showed just how these images and articles can potentially cause a woman to develop an eating disorder.

I used my pictures and previous sketches to come up with a final piece that is really just depicting all of this misinformation.

Anorexia is a disorder that causes you to have an obsession with weight loss, nutrition, cooking, dieting, exercising, and a fear of weight gain(1). While it is a good thing to pay attention to what you put into your body as fuel and to exercise, an obsession is not. My question is, how are we supposed to not be obsessed? We are literally bombarded with dieting tips, fat loss recipes, new exercises, and so many things in magazines all around us, that it is hard not to be. This is probably the reason that over half of teenage girls use unhealthy ways to control weight, 91% of women on a college campus say they are on a diet, and 25% of women on a college campus engage in binging and purging as a way to manage weight. (2)

I used only the covers of 4 magazines that were in the grocery line to fill the outline of this drawing and show just how much we are brainwashed to think there are quick fixes and also just a need to look like these models on the cover.

I drew a mirror, with a woman who was larger in the mirror than she really was to depict the disease, as women with eating disorders, even after losing weight, see themselves as fat. (1)

"The Confusion in the Mirror"

This is done with colored pencil and marker

1. "Eating - Facts on Anorexia Nervosa." Eating - Facts on Anorexia Nervosa. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/svp/uhs/eating/eating-anorexiafacts.htm>.

2. "ANAD." Eating Disorders Statistics « « National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/>

Love Your Body!

In regards to how we view our bodies and the perceptions we have ourselves and comparing ourselves to others....I wanted to post this amazing video that dove did, which shows just how flawed our perceptions of our own beauty and self are. This is a must watch and shows just how much we need to be taught to love ourselves as women.

How do magazine ads make you feel?

In my previous post I talked about a study that sought to prove how media can influence eating disorder behaviors or the mentality associated with an eating disorder. I went to the grocery store and took pictures of the numerous magazines, just at the check out line, that were geared towards women losing weight.

 

 

Then there was a whole aisle, with a majority of the magazines loaded with covers that had the same types of cover stories and plastered with beautiful women. 

I wanted to think about how this makes me feel when I am at the grocery store and  try to see what that sparked artistically. My reaction is typically wow, these girls look amazing, and then I can't help but want to see what information is in the magazine that will make me "lose 12 lbs in 10 days..."

Luckily, I am a nutrition major, so I understand the amount of false advertising and misleading information that is presented by the media on nutrition. However, that doesn't stop me from looking and wondering, "If I do this, would I look like her?" The main thing I realized that I do is pick parts of these women that I like. I might say, wow I want her arms, I love her abs, and her legs are amazing. I even have pictures that I use as inspiration. Comparing yourself to others is a huge issue though and can definitely lead to disorderly eating. These sketches were basically depicting these thoughts. I drew different bodies that I liked and wanted for myself

I then drew a picture of myself, and what I thought I looked like. My face is meant to be contemplative and imagining myself with the body that I want. I then drew in "corrections" that I would make to my body.

These pieces were my interpretation of how I feel when I look at magazines like this. Sometimes I feel down on myself and compare myself, while other times I am motivated. However, it can definitely be discouraging because how could you ever look like these perfect women that they are portraying on magazine covers. 

These are just sketches, but I think that the effects of media on how we view our own bodies is extremely important, so I think I will try to get a final piece created based on these sketches and the idea of comparing our bodies and picking them apart to create our ideal self. I definitely think that our need to compare ourselves is directly related to the media, because we are told, do this to look like this, which automatically makes us WANT someone else's body instead of our own. We should be learning to love our bodies, how they are right now. And, while it is good to be healthy, we should love our own bodies so much that we want to make them the best that they can be, not look like someone else's, but the best version of our own body. 

Among these issues with media and our body image, is our sexuality. Many of the magazines portray that if we can obtain these bodies then we will be able to attract more men. This was something that was discussed in the reading, "What's a Modern Woman to Do?" This depicted women as needing to be shiny and new to attract men, but today, it is all about obtaining this body that will attract men, which is definitely not good for body image and disordered eating behaviors. "Measuring Up" was another reading from class that talked about the influences of media on women. I think we really need to take a stand and own our own bodies and this is definitely something that should even be taught in school.

This picture is a sneak of a drawing that I'm doing that will definitely be a polished piece :)

Media Exposure's Link to Eating Disorder Symptoms

We are all familiar with the massive amounts of magazines with beautiful, skinny, toned, fit women plastered on the covers, with headliners telling you how to look like them.

This semester, I have been enrolled in a Women's Studies class, so the topic of how women are portrayed in media was obviously a huge subject.

But, how does this truly affect us? Sure, we can make assumptions, but where are the studies and the evidence?

I was able to find an article, "Relation of Media Exposure to Eating Disorder Symptomology," that actually studied how media and its images may cause an eating disorder. This study showed that media exposure led to a pathway that lead to eating disorder behaviors.

Basically, media exposure led to SYMPTOMS associated with eating disorders, not necessarily eating disorders, as obviously this study would not be able to performed to see if that were the case as it would be inhumane.

This evidence is still important because it showed that seeing these images makes women feel worse about themselves. Seeing all of these diets makes women restrict themselves, which can lead to binge eating, and disordered eating in general.

I took a few pictures of the magazines that I see in the grocery store regularly and then did a couple drawings based on how I felt after looking at some of the images.

Stice, Eric, Ericka Scheupak-Neuberg, Heather E. Shaw, and Richard I. Stein. "Relationship of Media Exposure to Eating Disorder Symptomology: An Examination of Mediating Mechanisms." Journal of Abnormal Psychology. N.p., 1994. Web.

The Mind of An Eating Disorder

What is your relationship with food?

Do you feel you have a healthy relationship with food, or are there areas that you could work on? Do you listen to your body? To your hunger cues?

Do you obsess over every calorie and macronutrient that you consume?

So many people suffer with eating disorders, even beyond anorexia and bulimia. While these are severe and life threatening diseases, there are other eating disorders. An unhealthy relationship with food, in my opinion, is an eating disorder. I think we all suffer with eating too much occasionally, but how does this affect our mood, our inner thoughts, or our opinion of ourselves?

I am going to do a series of posts over the next few weeks that delve into eating habits, whether healthy or unhealthy, and look at peoples relationship with food. I will obviously draw a lot from my own experiences and my relationship with food, but I will also look into poetry and literature from people who have suffered with eating disorders.

My main goal is to use art to portray different emotions associated with foods. I will do sketches, write, and create a few completed pieces of artwork that tell a story about different relationships with food.

this picture is from EveryBody is Beautiful's Facebook page, go there for inspiration on having a healthy relationship with yourself and loving the body you were given!

I admit that I sometimes have an unhealthy relationship with food and can have negative self talk based on what I have eaten and food can play a large part in my moods. I will delve more into moods associated with foods in my future posts.

Throughout my "study," I hope to look at ways to heal our relationship with food. I think our society has become very detached from our food, which plays a role in eating disorders. Being able to connect more with our food and listen to our bodies is extremely important to creating a healthy relationship with food and a healthy relationship with ourselves. Food is fuel and should be used to nourish our bodies, but we seem to have made it more about comfort, sadness, control, a way to celebrate, social, and many other different things. While food should be delicious and appealing and enjoyed, it should be appreciated for its ability to provide energy and nourishment to our bodies.

Nourish your body, your mind, your environment, and most importantly your soul.