[Read the transcript below]
Are you watching Bulimic Porn?
One of the questions I often get is “How much does advertising and media affect the development of eating disorders and body image problems?”.
While I’d say that these factors aren’t the only reason these difficulties develop, I would say that they play a major factor.
The reason I say this is you have to think about how advertising works. I can’t remember the last time I saw an ad that said “you are great as you are” because quite effective advertising actually preys upon insecurities. It looks for what it is that you lack and offers that as a solution. So it says “you’re not good enough as you are, but if you buy this product, you might be and you might even look like this”.
And what is THIS?
THIS is usually an image that sits within a very narrow range of societally sanctioned beauty.
It’s usually thin. It’s usually tall. It’s usually white and moreover it’s airbrushed within an inch of its life.
How can you feel good about yourself if you’re constantly bombarded with these types of messages telling you that you’re not good enough as you are?
When I work with people, I say that it’s time to do a social media overhaul. Who is it that you follow? What types of images are you exposing yourself to? Because the stuff that I just talked about, the stuff that makes you feel like you’re not good enough, I call bulimic porn.
And the reason I call it bulimic porn is because it literally turns on the self-critic. It turns on that part of you that tells you that you need to be something different. The shoulds and the musts, all of those things, that’s what these images feed. They don’t feed positivity. They don’t feed inspiration. They don’t feed self-confidence.
So do a social media overhaul.
Think about the magazines you read. Think about the television shows that you watch. Do they lift you up? Do they make you feel good about yourself? Do they feed you images that you are good enough as you are, because I promise you, if you expose yourself to positive people, positive images, things that lift you up and inspire you, you can improve how you feel about yourself.
