all good things...

this is my last blog for race/gender, and i must say i'm a bit sad! i enjoyed this class, even though it frustrated me sometimes. i am definitely finding myself looking at media in a more critical light. there were times when i disagreed with what was being said during class, but it's always interesting to see how other people think, and how they've been brought up.

race/gender is definitely my most memorable college class so far. i've already recommended it to friends!

america the beautiful

i really loved the documentary in class on thursday. i almost wish we would've watched it earlier in the semester, because some of it seemed a little repetitive now. but i thought the section featuring gerren was completely fascinating, and sad. she was a beautiful young girl, and seeing her have a mental breakdown after being told she was too big was really hard to watch. it really shows how crazy the fashion industry is when a 6 foot tall girl is too fat at a size 4.

i had a few friends in high school suffer from eating disorders. they were all friends from dance, and they were all girls who were skinny to begin with. one of my friends, who mostly did ballet, had to go to a rehab clinic for anorexia, and I know it's still something she struggles with today. she's healthy now, but still finds herself counting calories and other things every so often.

in jr. high and high school, i was really interested in the psychology behind eating disorders/body issues, and read 'wasted' by marya hornbacher. it is a autobiography about her struggles with anorexia and bulimia, and was completely fascinating. it's one of the hardest books i've ever read. usually i read books straight through, but this one i had to actually put it away at times. she becomes bulimic at age 9, and anorexic at 14. she was in and out of treatment centers, and finally had to be put in a mental hospital. she talks about being on a diet at the age of 4, because she was following her mothers example. it's a haunting book, that really gets you in the mind of someone dealing with eating disorders.

here's one of my favorite (saying favorite seems weird. maybe most memorable?) quotes from the book:

"The bragging was the worst. I hear this in schools all over the country, in cafés and restaurants, in bars, on the Internet, for Pete's sake, on buses, on sidewalks: Women yammering about how little they eat. Oh, I'm Starving, I haven't eaten all day, I think I'll have a great big piece of lettuce, I'm not hungry, I don't like to eat in the morning (in the afternoon, in the evening, on Tuesdays, when my nails aren't painted, when my shin hurts, when it's raining, when it's sunny, on national holidays, after or before 2 A.M.). I heard it in the hospital, that terrible ironic whine from the chapped lips of women starving to death, But I'm not hun-greeee. To hear women tell it, we're never hungry. We live on little Ms. Pac-Man power pellets. Food makes us queasy, food makes us itchy, food is too messy, all I really like to eat is celery. To hear women tell it we're ethereal beings who eat with the greatest distaste, scraping scraps of food between our teeth with our upper lips curled.

For your edification, it's bullshit."

-marya hornbacher