Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, April 11, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Starving for appearances
For decades, America has been
falling wholeheartedly into a culture
that promotes eating disorders. Televi
sion programs and the media in gener
al create a symbolic order wherein
women are important, successful and
visible only when subscribing to a cer
tain physical appearance. And while is
sues with image are certainly a prob
lem for those of all shapes and sizes,
ages, and genders, the problem is se
verely and obviously polarized toward
affecting young women. As of late,
though, we haven’t been hearing much
about eating disorders.
There seems to be a silent pact be
tween media and industry that agrees
to shy away from details of bulimic ac
tresses or national death counts from
anorexia and instead focuses on the
ideal of a health-conscious society.
America is now all about eating health
ier, getting more exercise and living a
better life. As laudable as these goals
are, it is upsetting to see that a nation
wide discussion of eating disorders has
gotten lost among low carb potato
chips and pricey abdominal machines.
It is dangerous indeed to discuss eat
ing disorders when our consumer indus
try is now so heavily based upon selling
products to promote diet and exercise,
the fear being that if people concentrate
upon ending eating disorders, they
might by default become overly critical
of weight loss programs and supple
ments. America’s weight problem is
hardly a problem for the surge of busi
nesses with products based upon con
sumers having bad body image.
We can tell ourselves that we are try
ing to work out and eat right in order to
be healthy, but the truth remains that
most of this nation is trying to be healthy
in order to look good. A host of new
diets and health plans only mask the
problem of both disease and health,
convincing the average American that
A1LEE SLATER
FURTHER FROM PERFECTION
eating disorders have been replaced with
healthy living choices.
To clearly understand that this new
diet mania is coming from an obsession
with physical appearance rather than
bodily well being, consider this fact:
Heart disease is the number one killer of
women in America, yet there is little
campaigning to end heart problems and
certainly none that is anywhere near the
scale of our current nationwide promo
tion to end weight problems. We may
see an occasional public service mes
sage directed toward women’s need to
fight heart disease, but I guarantee that
not a single commercial break or maga
zine issue can be found without at least
one call to women to “get healthy” by
improving their body.
Not to overlook the problem of eat
ing disorders for men. Males too find
themselves caught up in a slew of pro
motions for a good body. However,
men have not been subjected to the
same systemic assault of intense body
worship as women.
The message, primarily to women, is
that keeping one’s body healthy and
happy is only important when that body
will be viewed by someone else. Heart
disease is kind of important, but an ex
tra roll around the stomach is actually
life threatening. Women are learning to
be healthy not for themselves, but for
others. In a heterosexist society, this
means that our national goal of beating
obesity is becoming a sad repeat of
women’s bodies being exploited for the
viewing purposes of men.
Advertisers and producers in Ameri
ca can claim they are working against
obesity in order to create a healthier
nation, but in reality they are preying
upon a nation of insecure women in
order to sell more products. And for
every company or campaign truly act
ing to promote healthier choices, there
are ten businesses exploiting a new na
tional ideal of healthiness as just an
other mechanism to convince young
women that physical appearance
should be valued above all else.
It cannot be denied that our nation
does have a relatively high rate of dan
gerous obesity. However, much of this
problem is based on national rather than
individual choices. In a society built
upon getting to the top through a go-go
go attitude, eating choices tend to be
quick and refined. Likewise, with a
longer work week and less vacation time
than other countries, it is no wonder that
Americans are less likely to take an hour
a day to exercise, or even an extra 10
minutes to walk rather than drive to the
grocery store.
A healthy nation and an eating dis
order-free nation need not be mutually
exclusive. In order to accomplish the
goal of true health, our society must
avert its priorities away from physical
appearance as reigning value and pro
mote healthiness while also recogniz
ing the harms and prevalence of eating
disorders. Almost any woman will tell
you that dieting doesn’t stick because
concentrating on food and weight only
breeds resentment toward the body. As
long as the women of our nation be
lieve they must be skinny to feel attrac
tive, the idea of being healthy to feel
good will continue to get lost in the cy
cle of exploitation.
aileeslater@dailyemerald. com
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■ Editorial
Grievances
necessary,
but could
disillusion
In the world of elections, there is surely
no phrase that elicits as many shudders of
disgust as the infamous “recount.” The
2000 Florida fiasco exemplifies, in a very
muddled manner, the two most important
facets of a democratic nation: the right of
every citizen to have a voice and the right
of every citizen to speak up if they believe
some of those voices are being stifled.
Unfortunately, those two noble values of
ten clash and result in a messy obstruction
of justice.
The situation that erupted late last week
concerning the ASUO executive primary
election is one example of such a clash.
On Friday, the Emerald broke a story
concerning three grievances filed against
the executive campaign of Ashley Rees and
Jael Anker-Lagos (“Executive campaign ef
forts elicit grievances,” ODE, April 8). Af
ter a clarification of rules, the ASUO Elec
tion Board dismissed two of the grievances
against the ticket. The last grievance, con
cerning a student affiliated with the cam
paign who violated election rules, resulted
in a sanctioned ban on the Rees-Anker-La
gos ticket campaigning until Monday.
The trouble did not end there.
With just hours remaining in the pri
mary election, ASUO Student Senator
Kevin Day filed a grievance with the ASUO
Constitution Court on Friday, alleging that
the Election Board had shown preference
toward the Rees-Anker-Lagos campaign
and lacked impartiality. Day’s request for
an injunction was honored, and ASUO pri
mary elections grounded to a dead stop.
Primary results could not be released until
the court was able to dismiss Day’s griev
ance Sunday afternoon, freeing up the
Election Board to rule on two other griev
ances it had received, which were holding
up the process as well.
Sound like a headache? We think so too.
These situations require a delicate
touch. We believe it is of the utmost im
portance that students be allowed to ex
press their voices by filing grievances, just
as Day did. Partisan politics have no place
in the Election Board, but the grievance
brought up more questions than answers.
What would have happened had the
court ruled in favor of Day’s grievance?
Would it have necessitated an extension of
the primary election, or perhaps an entire
ly new election? A re-vote could have been
yet another stepping stone in convincing
an already disinterested student body that
their vote doesn’t count.
It is also worthwhile to consider the
timeliness of Day’s filing. Why wait until
the very end of primaries to file the
complaint, especially after the Election
Board ruled against the Rees-Anker-Lagos
campaign?
The important goal at this point is to
move on to the general election before a
frustrated student body becomes fed up
with the process. The Emerald calls for a
swift and clean general election, and we
ask the candidates to stifle their ridiculous
pleas of ignorance regarding the very sim
ple rules that govern the election process
and to refrain from sketchy campaigning
tactics. We also advise the ASUO to make
moves to tighten the election rules with
the hope of preventing these bureaucratic
and judicial traffic jams in the future.