Jennifer Clemens

Co-Spotlight Editor

February 21st to 27th  to  was National Eating Disorder Awareness week. Throughout the week the National Eating Disorder Association’s members and its supporters were bringing attention to the seriousness of eating disorders. In America, there are 20 million cases of clinical eating disorders at some point in a woman’s life. From anorexia to bulimia to binge disorders, there are many different types of eating disorders prevalent throughout the country. By the early age of 6 years old, many children start to express concerns about their body weight and image. Although it is possible for boys to also have these thoughts and eating disorders, they  are most commonly expressed  by girls, who tend to be concerned with  becoming “too fat”.  

With the media heavily saturated with images of individuals who embody our culture’s idea of a ‘beautiful body’, a message is sent to everyone else that their bodies  are not good enough, and not ‘beautiful’. With societal messages constantly being sent about an ideal body, it can often feels like one’s body is just not good enough, no matter how skinny or curvy.

As eating disorders become a rising and critical problem, some companies, like Aerie, have begun to choose models with diverse body types and use in their campaigns  unedited  photos of them. Additionally, Barbie has now released dolls with seven different skin tones and three different body types to illustrate that all body types are their own kind of beautiful.

Aware that eating disorders are such a pertinent topic, especially among teens, Milken decided to also take part in this awareness week with “It’s Me : Atzmi”. This was Milken’s attempt to communicate with students that  different body types are all beautiful. Mrs. Fisch, one of the guidance counselors at Milken, shared that the hope for body positivity week is “to bring about positive social change to the current thinking and conversation around what is considered ‘beautiful’.” Mrs. Fisch also spoke about the urgency of the issue. The , the situation is getting urgent in terms of what teens may do in order to fit into society’s ideal of a perfect body. She mentioned the Kardashians, who have infamously promoted waist training. Mrs. Fisch added, “We’re hoping to provide an alternative definition and relieve students of the negative consequences of trying to fit their bodies into unattainable and unhealthy ideals.” It is great that Milken got involved with this rising issue, and hopefully Milken students will help influence society to view their own selves as beautiful.