Spring Break(down)
As I mentioned earlier, I'm on the Today show this morning talking about eating disorders and spring break. Here's the video of the segment.
I think many of us probably know all too well the pressures of looking like Bo Derek in a skimpy suit while walking on the beach. Now imagine (or remember) that pressure when you're in college, still developing your confidence, forming your self-image, all under the stress of good grades and getting a job and finding new friends and all that fun stuff. I know I've told you about the freshman I spoke to on my college tour who literally cried as she told me about her friends using drugs to shed pounds for Spring break. And recently, I wrote about the pressures for the Huffington Post - here's a sampling...can you relate?
When I was younger, I remember watching MTV Spring Break with the kind of slack jawed attention usually reserved for a child staring glassy-eyed through the bakery shop window at gooey chocolate cupcakes.
Oh, how I longed to be there. Jamaica, Panama City, Lake Havasu - wherever Bill Bellamy and Salt N Pepa were, I wanted in. Mind you, I had never even been kissed...but I knew that this was the definition of sexy, of cool, of hot.
Heaving throngs of lubed-up young adults, all six-packs and pecs and bleach blonde hair, converged around a stage as Marky Mark danced and grinded - coming oh-so-perilously close to losing his Calvins. PM Dawn sang their swoon-worthy "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" and Pauly Shore stuttered through his seemingly pot-produced jokes. I remember inane, insane competitions in which girls and guys teams had to switch outfits in aboveground, see-through pools and total strangers would hook up on stage in very not-make-your-mother-proud ways.
One image that will forever remain burned in my mind: During a swimsuit fashion show featuring women "discovered" on the beach, a young lady (very naturally pretty in the face, perhaps surgically altered in the chest) emerged from backstage wearing what I suppose could be described as a swimsuit: Picture two white strips of fabric starting at the shoulder, extending over the nipples and converging, thong like, at the bottom. The cheers and howls which greeted her were deafening, drilling into my psyche that hot, popular girls wear skimpy bathing suits, and they do it on Spring break.
Comments
Great job Leslie! The segment was well done and you were very polished :)
Great show, Leslie! It was very well done.
GREAT JOB.
you were so calm cool and collected (and yes. I could and could *not* believe that cocaine story...)
M.
Great job, Leslie! Very professional and together! And a great topic, as well.
V.
That was a really good show!
In Canada, I don't think spring break is all that much of a big deal (we call it "reading week"... go figure)- it's not like there's really anywhere hot for us to go:) So maybe that's a bit of a blessing, if in the end it correlates to a lesser amount of body image issues. Or perhaps the body obsessive behaviour focuses more on a different holiday/time of celebration? It's something worth looking into, anyways.
You have such great posture!!! Seriously, that was my first thought. Sorry it was so superficial:) You really did a great job on there though - I'm amazed at how well you think on your feet (all those stats!) and how well you could articulate in just a few sentences what all of us on here discuss endlessly.
The segment was very moving. The thing that stuck out most to me was how normal the girl looked to me even at her thinnest. She didn't look "eating disorder" to me at all. Which says 1) how skewed my perception of normal probably is and 2) that you don't have to look the part to be actively engaged in disordered eating.
and AMEN to what you said at the end about what mothers can and should do.
I Think Leslie Did an amazing job...HOWEVER, I thought thought the questions the interviewer asked were ...ridiculous! I have an eating disorder, and to see her her asking "How much did you eat" "What was your thinnest" Honestly, That is NOT what its about people! I hate it when interviews are conducted that way!
Great Job, nonetheless, I la-la-love this blog:)
I watched the interview with so many questions that were not answered! My daughter, age 24, has had Anorexia Nervosa for 8 years and she is close to dying! The treatment centers we have checked out are so expensive (a minimum of $35,000. and up for 30 day treatment) and there are a lot of people who simply cannot afford it! If you have any info on other centers, please e -mail me, karenannhavinsa@yahoo.com. The clip was very good, but my daughter is in the critical stages now and parts of her body are shutting down! Please help me if you have any info at all.
Hi Leslie! Well put together segment, a lot of honest points made. I think it's unfair to ask like some posters on here have said that more should have been addressed or not addressed, like treatment costs and asking weight-specific questions. As someone who works in the news business, it's not always possible to touch on all areas. In broadcast, especially, the goal of 3 to 10 minute segments is to get the main points across based on a specific central topic or angle. I feel this was accomplished based on the central topic, which was spring break and dieting extremes. Very well done.
It's great to see your blog is doing so well after one whole year, too. Keep reading everybody, that's what will ensure its continuation.
Take care Leslie!
EXCELLENT job!!!! You were great!
What an awesome interview! You looked so calm and self-assured. :)
Well, sorry 2 say, she looked goooodddd..
She still looks good, tho, r u sure she's not still ana?
I'm not promoting..just effed up, ever since I couldn't afford 2 feed myself all that much anymore, all I get is compliments and "how good I look"..niiice...
Wow! Leslie, u r stunning! My name is leslie, 2..
I just wanna know..what was it like with thinnesss in the early to mid-nineties? I don't know if it was my thyroid..but MY GOD do I wish more than anything that I could have NOT been plus sized in high school.
I deeply feel my life could be VVEEERRRRYYYY different, right now. Sometimes I think about how bad it was 2 be soo fat (and I wasn't even that big and still active)and I get very, very angry with myself and wish I could go back in time and tell myself to put the Doritos and cream cheese the hell down!!!
Ok, I won't harass u, anymore, thanx 4 listenin'.
maybe i missed it, but i thought it interesting that guys' preferences didn't come into this conversation. dudes are just as jaded as women on having a thin (anorexic?) girl. i think that pressure can be just as powerful as magazines and the media.
