An Unhealthy Society?

For Women's History Month, Eve Russel from Mentality Society shares a view of how today's fashion trends dangerously lead to unhealthy and unsustainable fad diets.

TW: Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders are the most romanticised mental illness in today’s society, at least in my own opinion, despite them being so dangerous, and being the most fatal mental illness.

As women, our bodies aren’t seen as the incredible things that work every day to keep us alive, instead, they are treated as accessories. It has always been a ‘trend’ for our bodies to look a certain way, and this constantly changing trend places such pressure on women to keep changing their bodies to fit with what society now deems attractive.

‘Eating disorders’ is an umbrella term for a mental illness that is characterised by an unhealthy relationship with food. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. The most common misconception paired with eating disorders is that they are simply just a lifestyle choice or ‘dieting’, but they are in fact dangerous and fatal illnesses that affect millions of people, especially women, worldwide.

In particular, I want to pick on the current ‘trend’ for women’s bodies, which has re-emerged from the 90s called ‘heroin chic’. This 'look' encourages women to look malnourished and stick thin, and is being pushed by countless celebrities from Kim Kardashian to Bella Hadid. This trend in itself encourages women to starve their bodies to obtain this stick-thin physique. Yet, just a few years ago, a curvier figure was all the rage, with countless celebs getting BBLs and boobs jobs. With all this pressure on us to make our bodies fit constantly changing trends, it’s no wonder that women disproportionately suffer from eating disorders and are three times more likely to develop an eating disorder in their lifetime.

You Are Beautiful

It is so important to know that your body is beautiful no matter what, and it should never be subject to trends or scrutiny, but as much as I myself can sit at my laptop and type this, I cannot make anyone believe it. To be brutally honest I find it hard to believe it myself, no matter how much I repeat that same sentence to myself. I personally have struggled with my own relationship with food, and the body image issues it can be paired with.

For years I have scrutinised my body for being too bony or too lumpy, and I’d adjust what I ate accordingly. While my own relationship with food has improved, I still struggle, and I believe it will always be a struggle, and it’s ok if you feel the same. We as women owe it to ourselves to not be so harsh on ourselves, as cliché as it sounds, we've only got one body. Everyone else around us seems to believe that they are allowed an opinion on what standard our bodies should look like, based on what serves them. The reality of it is, I’ve learnt that, my body was put on this Earth to serve me, and me only. It is solely here to keep me alive, and not here for anyone else’s pleasure but my own. So I try my best to feed it what I, and only I, want to feed it, and whatever it looks like because of that is completely ok. I had to relinquish my control over what my body looks like, which was incredibly hard, and while I still have my moments, I think I’m there, but it’s ok if you’re not.

Our relationship with food is a personal journey, and it’s also completely ok to have your own ups and downs with it. Healing from an unhealthy relationship with food, and the eating disorders that come with this is bound to be hard in today’s society. It is important not to compare your journey with anyone else’s, healing will never be linear, especially not when millions of people online are telling you what you should and shouldn’t eat, and what your body should and shouldn’t look like.

That being said, it will never be as easy as me just typing this, and it is society that needs to change to create a real shift in how we look at women’s bodies. Anything I type here is not going to make anyone automatically cured of any eating disorder, so I encourage you if you are struggling with an eating disorder, to reach out for help.

Eating disorders are never just about food, they are also about an attempt to have control in life, and because of this, everyone’s journey is bound to be different, and we all require different things to recover. I would suggest speaking to the Wellbeing team, which can be found at mentalhealth@rhul.ac.uk or wellbeing@rhul.ac.uk, or your GP.

Useful Helplines

BEAT: 08088010677 or text SHOUT to 85258

Eating Disorder Support: 01494793223

National Centre for Eating Disorders: 08458382040

Seed: 01482718130