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The Edmonton Sun, February 27, 2004
Eating Disorders not just a teen
issue — just ask this grandmother .
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this woman from what she wants: This image is
featured in Beyond Compare: Women Photographers
on Beauty, which runs at Manulife Place
March 20-29.
Photo
show attempts
to shatter the stereotypes
TORONTO (CP) A young
woman kneels in a bedroom bathed in pink and
white.
Her pigtails and rosy cheeks convey a pretty
innocence, but the heavy, black thread securing
her to the mattress introduces a sinister tone.
She's also surrounded by little pink cakes wrapped
in cellophane
"I always thought they were beautiful but
horribly artificial," Ottawa-based photographer
Bridget Farr said of the confections featured
in her image Protect Me from What I Want.
The same might be said of the images of women
presented in the mass media.
In an effort to confront stereotypes surrounding
beauty, the Beyond Compare: Women Photographers
on Beauty tour will feature images of women
of all ages, sizes and cultural backgrounds.
The show, sponsored by Dove, will be held at
Manulife Place from March 20 to 29 before heading
to Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and
then Europe.
Donations raised from the tour, which includes
works of Canadian photographers as well images
from such artists as Annie Leibovitz and Ellen
V on Unwerth, go to the National Eating Disorder
Information Centre.
"The images that we are presented with
in the media are largely static images of what
is perceived as perfection," said Merryl
Bear of NEDIC. "Research shows that exposure
to those kinds of images lowers women's self
esteem."
"Statistics suggest eight per cent of women
are currently coping with an eating disorder
in Canada," said Dr. Carla Rice, who runs
the Body Image Project in Toronto. "Other
studies suggest these problems are increasing
among young and adult women."
While an eating disorder represents an acute
manifestation of body dissatisfaction, those
feelings can also lead to self doubt, anxiety,
depression and sexual inhibition.
So where does this crippling beauty ideal come
from?
"Often the messages women receive about
beauty, they don't only come from the obvious
culprits like the media, said Rice.
"Messages also come from people who surround
them over a course of a lifetime."
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Elizabeth Cowie wants people
to know that it's not only teenage girls and movie stars
that are obsessed with starving themselves to get thinner.
She's been there, done that many times.
The 60-year-old grandmother is "slowly healing, but
still in the grasp" of the eating disorders that have
plagued must of her adult life.
"I always felt that if I was thin my life would be
beautiful," says Cowie, a five-feet-six addictions
counsellor whose weight has fluctuated between 110 pounds
and 230 pounds over the years.
"I went on my first diet -the egg and grapefruit diet-when
I was 12. My father was an epicurean. My mother a wonderful
cook. But I never looked at food as something nurturing."
Cowie has suffered at various times from both anorexia and
compulsive overeating, always triggered by personal crises
in her life. Depression, alcoholism, three divorces and
skin cancer have marked her difficult life.
There were days she'd eat nothing but a single bagel. Other
times she exercised frantically. During other spells she'd
comfort herself with huge amounts of food.
"I'd hurt myself by starving and then I'd go completely
the other way. I felt empowered by doing that."
Yet it was only two years ago that she was finally diagnosed
as having eating disorders.
"When people have an eating disorde, they get better
and better at hiding it," says Dr. Carol Kostynuk,
a psychiatrist and president of the Eating Disorder Education
Organization in Edmonton.
"You can't tell from the outside — not from their
age, size or gender — that someone has an eating disorder.
It's a mask."
That's why painted and feathered masks are the theme of
February's Eating Disorder Awareness Month.
What begins as losing weight to improve self-esteem may
evolve into a power and control issue, says Kostynuk.
"Body image problems start in puberty when girls say
'does this make me look fat?' They dont realize that it's
perfectly normal for girls to gain 20 pounds of fat during
that time."
More than 65% of Canadian women say they would change at
least one thing about their face or body if they could,
according to a Decima Research survey of 1,000 women.
In extreme cases, dissatisfaction with body image can lead
to eating disorders. Anorexia is an intense fear of weight
gain even when markedly underweight. Bulimia is a cycle
of binge-eating and purging.
Statistics on the problem are unreliable, says Kostynuk.
"It depends on who conducted the survey, how the questions
were asked and the type of group being questioned."
Still one study suggested eight percent of Canadian women
have some form of eating disorder. Another survey figured
40% of college-age women had bulimia.
But the numbers may only be the tip of the iceberg because
many other people have "disordered eating habits that
are not fully-fledged," says Kostynuk
Among these are followers of fad diets.
"The Atkins low-carb diet is not healthy and can lead
to a more serious situation," says Kostynuk.
Meanwhile, Cowie says she is "making strides"
to recovery with the help of psychiatric counselling. She
currently weighs over 180 pounds.
"I have learned my body is a vessel for my spirit and
that I have a wonderful contribution to make to society."
The Eating Disorder Awareness Month main event taken plase
tomorrow (Saturday) at Bernard Snell Hall, University hospital,
from noon to 5p.m with speakers, displays and an all sizes
fashion show.
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