Monday, May 12, 2008

Aneroxia

I guess some of you have seen this poster before. This is an ad campaign during a Fashion week in Milan. The shot was taken by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani. The picture is of a naked anorexic woman - Isabelle Caro.

I myself was battling a mild eating disorder some time early this year. When I looked at the poster, it sort of reminded me that besides the pursue of beauty, there seems to be the neglect of health. Sometimes we get so lost with this beauty pursuit, we forget what is the exact beauty that we really do want.

To me, looking at this ad really woke me up. However in some parts of Italy, this poster had been banned. It does stir mix reactions. The extremist point of views - the pro-anorexia & the anti-anorexia. And of those in between.

Pro-anorexia thoughts: That is so not the look of an anorexia person. It's filthy and disgusting. Get it away.

Anti-anorexia thoughts: Finally someone is speaking up. Anorexia should be banned!

Well, having gone through such an experience; you sort of forget the people around you are pretty much suffering. It was hard to really start eating again. Everything you smell food, you'll feel nausea and just don't feel like eating. It's not easy. But with such a campaign, it makes the first step much more worthwhile.

11 comments:

Deepan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deepan said...

Aneroxia is really extreme man...

had a friend who staved herself for a week, just because the staff at this certain shop where she wanted to buy a dress told her off tactlessly that they only had 'normal' sizes...

how do we define normal ?

Zelda said...

Anorexia is the result of the many societal problems we face today.

For that model's cause was her mom. Guess it just reflects on the weak side of humans. ~Shrugs~

finding myself said...

Aneroxia is really scary i must say. However, sometimes a mindset of being super slim is all that people think about that they forgot about such thing called inner beauty.

therefore, i feel that it is definitely a no no to diets.

samantha

Ian said...

Wow that picture just look sick. Why would anyone want to put themselves through hell to look that girl in the picture?

Zelda said...

You never know. The mind can really deceive you.

Marilyn said...

the picture is really a turn off.

aneroxia is definately a no-no solution to become "Thin".

let's say NO to aneroxia !

Ariane said...

crazy as this may sound, but i have a friend - naive and young, who wishes so bad to be 'skinny' that she actually announced, loudly and quite proudly might i add, that she intends to be aneroxic in hopes of losing the 'excess' fat.

i was, in a word, appalled.

and looking at this ad does indeed worries me in regards to her health in the future. somehow, i feel that the problem has yet to be fully addressed, or at least i haven't heard of any actions taken place to stop this problem.

aliciapan said...

using this picture for an anti-anorexic campaign, to me, is justifiable. I have seen girls this skinny and numbers seem to be rising. this IS what they look like. People don't realize it cause the skin-and-bones girls are covered in clothes. Anorexic girls are not aware of their situation and will always want to be skinnier. Having this picture up might make them aware of how they are perceived by people.

Mark Soo said...

Disturbing, its simply disturbing. Its sad to see beauty being defined in such a way. For any of you who have friends whom intend to pursue such "Beauty" to feel confident, you have to really try to make them change their mindsets. Such ads are good ways to convey the message that Health is much more important than looks.

Anonymous said...

interesting topics here...hope girls out there would cherish the body shape/size they're given and stop trying to achieve the impossible..