Skinny Kids

The Starved Soul

The influence of the West has always been a powerful force on other cultures. These influences can be seen taking place in countries where at one time extreme addictive behaviour such as eating disorders was non-existent. On Thursday 20^th May 1999 the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) showed a documentary on a more relaxed and spiritual culture, one the west had envied for hundreds of years; however was now in decline. How did this change of thinking and beliefs occur?

Western technology had invaded the tropical island of Fiji. Since the advent of television in 1995 a huge change in eating patterns and body image occurred amongst teens in Fiji. Anne Becker an anthropologist at Harvard Medical School researched eating habits of Fijians in a three-year period from 1995 to 1998 when she noticed a huge change in attitudes amongst the female teens.

Obsessed With Body Image

Compared to the past, when simply ‘being’ was the priority, Fijian teens had become as obsessive about body image as teens in the west. Prior to this invasion of television the Fijian female body was considered more attractive when fuller and naturally feminine, which Fijians considered ideal for childbearing and child rearing. Becker noticed that almost 74% of young women in Fiji now consider themselves ‘too fat’ and thinness was what most Fijians teens wanted most.

Addictions Cause Emotional Stress

Over-exposure to television, magazines, advertising and the radio has brought eating disorders to the forefront. The media bombards the senses with messages that food and drink have secondary gains, which cannot be missed. Air brushing photos and soft lenses on cameras are the by-product of vanity and a desire for perfection. Watching television just two hours a day exposes a person to over 20,000 subtle messages each year (BBC News January 2003). Whilst addictions are causing great hardships both to the Health Authorities and family life, to the victims the emotional suffering of eating disorders is horrendous.

Skinny Kids

On Monday the 23^rd of January 2003 a documentary was broadcast on television called “Skinny Kids.” This documentary showed pre-teen youngsters spending large amounts of time obsessing about image. The youngest child was nine years old. Her mother a confirmed weight watcher and addicted to clothes, shopping, gyms and beauty treatments, educated her daughter in the refinements of makeup, weight loss and dressing beyond the child’s age. The mother defended her actions, believing she was preparing her daughter for ‘the better things in life.’

Confusing Messages in Eating Disordered People

Rather than being a parent, her mother was trying desperately to be a friend. The other five children interviewed on the programme were aged no more than eleven and were also addicted to gyms, jogging and exercising. Each night in the isolation of the bedroom, the children exercised and calorie counted rather than interacting and joining in family activities with their parents. The lifestyle portrayed in ‘Skinny Kids’ was injected with calorie counting and negative messages of disproportionate body images. The six teens pinched imaginary fat on perfectly firm underdeveloped thighs and groaned in despair. One child wept openly at her lack of control over food, and because she was always hungry.

Forced Growth in Teenage Bodies

Articulate and bright, each one of these vulnerable children substantiated a lifestyle with phrases identical to those the mothers used to justify a need to lose weight, exercise and have the latest designer clothes to feel good. Desperate for healthy natural guidelines, these teens anticipated and obeyed their mother’s whim of a fashionable society. Looking forlorn, older and sadder than their years, each one appeared way out of their depth emotionally, portraying a bleak future for many children in an addictive society.

The Thirst For Wholeness in Eating Disordered Thinking

This television programme depicted an ever-increasing epidemic of disordered thinking in young people, which could well be the bedrock for other addictions and dysfunctional behaviour later in life. This article was written almost ten years ago and while anorexia hardly touches the media today, we have another extreme eating disorder that equally matches the trauma; we now have obesity and binge eating amongst children.

Christina Grof (1994) wrote in her book, The Thirst for Wholeness (p.12) and is as true today as in 1994. Grof said “People talk about a nonspecific hunger for something that seems missing in their lives. They describe a gnawing emptiness within, which is never filled. This insistent stirring from within is so intense that at times, can be painful.” If this ‘hunger’ is never addressed or understood the person will go through life replacing one addiction for another.