Wrinklexia? :: An Open Letter to Glamour Magazine
Dear Glamour Editors,
I am writing to bring to your attention an issue in which you are certainly not alone. In your July issue, you included a short piece titled, “Stop the Wrinklexia!,” yielding to a disturbing trend of “exia”-ing issues with which individuals struggle.
In this particular piece, you were highlighting the recent uptick in anti-aging injections, which you suggested indicated a unhealthy focus on the status of our skin. You defined “wrinklexia” as “obsessing over the the fine lines of aging before you’re actually aging.”
As a body image advocate and a woman, I truly appreciate the inclusion of articles like this one in your magazine. As I have mentioned several times on my blog, I believe that magazines such as yours have incredible, and often untapped, power to foster positive change in the way that individuals perceive their beauty and sense of themselves. Bringing to light issues of the unnecessary increase in cosmetic procedures is one such way of doing this, and for that I applaud you.
As an eating disorder specialist, however, I am disappointed to see your magazine sharing in the disheartening trend of labeling obsessions and dangerous practices with the suffix “exia.” Your article comes on the heels of the recently dubbed “drunkorexia,” which reportedly refers to the trend of self-imposed starvation combined with alcohol abuse. “Pregorexia” is another distressing example, and refers to to preoccupation with controlling one’s weight while pregnant.
These terms obviously garner their meaning from their parent word, anorexia, which refers to the psychiatric and medical disorder, anorexia nervosa. (Though commonly misused, “orexia” derives from a Greek word which means “appetite.”) While using this clever wordplay might draw the attention of readers and even speak to the level of distress caused by these practices, what is also does is diminish the significance of this very real psychiatric diagnosis.
Eating disorders, including anorexia, affect over eleven million individuals in the United States alone, and can be absolutely devastating to individuals and their loved ones. In fact, eating disorders kills more individuals each year than all other mental illnesses. These brain-based diseases can wreck havoc on the minds and bodies of those suffering with them, and yet unfortunately they continue be regarded with less seriousness than other illnesses, as shown by the lack of equal treatment and insurance coverage.
When popular media trivializes eating disorders by labeling recent trends with the same terminology, individuals with eating disorders suffer. We have a large body of evidence suggesting that words are powerful in shaping beliefs and values, and so is the media. Terms such as “manorexia” or “wrinklexia” serve to desensitize us to the seriousness of the very real illnesses from which these labels derive. Simply stated, eating disorders deserve to be regarded with the utmost gravity.
Thus, while I commend your attention to issues of body image and unhealthy practices, I encourage you to reconsider the language in which you frame these issues. By doing so, you will be speaking out for the unnamed and countless number of women who read your magazine and suffer from anorexia.
____________________________________________________________
With kind regards,
Ashley Solomon, Psy.D
PJ
661 days ago
Hear hear! Thank you so much for voicing such eloquent concern to what is becoming a far too common trend among the media. The minimisation of anorexia is not ‘all in good fun’. Anorexia is terrifying, soul-destroying and deadly. It is not a joke. As a sufferer of anorexia who is finally seeking treatment after 20years, I have become increasingly upset at the damage this is doing to those adults still sufferering in silence, and who now feel their eating disorder is too silly a problem to require help.
My response to a similar recent online article can be found at http://recoverypjstyle.blogspot.com/2011/07/ticked-off-orexia.html
Katie @ Health for the Whole Self
661 days ago
Well-put, Ashley. I’d sign this letter in a heart beat.
Mary
661 days ago
::applauds:: Thank you for calling them out, so clearly and so well.
I would add that — while terms like “tanorexia” and “wrinklerexia” are simply making light of the actual anorexia diagnosis — terms like “pregorexia,” “manorexia,” etc — are, in many cases, actively obscuring it. The cases detailed in those stories often ARE cases of an eating disorder — or cases of comorbidity, (“drunkorexia, etc). In those instances, the use of a new term veils the reality of this story as an illustration of a diagnosable ED. I can’t speak to whether that keeps those profiled from getting the help they need, but I definitely think it reifies a dangerous narrative about what anorexia looks like, as anything that veers too far from our “young White girl dieting to lose weight” plotline now garners its own distinct term. The use of separate terms, in these cases, not only makes light of anorexia; it suggests that people who engage in anorexic behavior and are male/ pregnant/ alcoholic/ etc cannot truly BE “anorexic.” And that’s a dangerous story to keep telling in the press.
KCLAnderson (Karen)
661 days ago
Brava Ashley…
I would also want to add this: if this “wrinkle” issue is that important to this magazine (or others) they’d stop airbrushing wrinkles out of photos!!!!!! Grrr…
Jill Will Run
661 days ago
+1 – Like – RT – Ditto
This is a great post on an important issue.
Kat
661 days ago
I read an article recently about how an often missed effect of sensationalized things such as this is that it’s making eating disorders seem ‘trendy” as these new words represent things that usually progress out of trends – such as the tanning trend, the botox trend, etc becoming “tanorexia,” “wrinklexia,” etc.
As one of the other commenters pointed out – some of these trendified (how very Zora Neale Hurston of me) words take away from the seriousness and LEGITIMATE link of some of them to eating disorders. Such as “liearexia” and “pregarexia” – which could also be classified as either disordered eating or ED-NOS.
Along with doing that it diminishes the gravity of eating disorders in general by making them seem cutesy (and once again trendy)
As you alluded to, the misuse of “orexia” also shows a willingness to display a lack of knowledge of linguistics and derivations in favor of things that will catch on in a sociological context. — I’m actually REALLY happy you pointed this part out as it’s been something that truly has bothered me with regards to this whole phenomenon.
charlotte
661 days ago
It’s hard for me to get past the hypocrisy endemic in lady mags. Over the past few years I’ve cancelled all my subscriptions to them, even the “healthy” ones. Like another commenter pointed out – it’s hard to believe their faux-concern over wrinkle obsession when all their ads and photo spreads are the reason women are so worried about aging. So thank you for writing this letter, I hope you really sent it! P.S. Loved Mary’s comment. Exactly.
Kate
661 days ago
Very well put! I’m also becoming tired of adding “exia” at the end of activities certain groups of people participating in.
Scott
661 days ago
This is something that needs to be brought to the forefront. I honestly don’t know sometimes if the publishers even realize that they are causing harm. Great letter :]
Lori Lieberman
660 days ago
Loved this post, and loved the comments! Well done everyone!