Do college gals help or hinder one another?
September 16, 2008 by angelique
Filed under Women's Health
We all know that females can be downright cruel when it comes to making fun of other women based on appearance. On college campuses, that attitude (in my experience) seems to be magnified a trillion (or so) times.
This leads me to wonder… do college gals tend to help or hinder other college gals, especially those struggling with body image problems or full-fledged eating disorders? Do they just avoid asking roommates why they vomit after every meal? Do they ignore obvious signs and symptoms of anorexia? Do they just chalk it up to the “freshman fifteen” when a binge-eating coed starts putting on significant amounts of weight in a short time period?
I know most campuses are “officially” on the lookout for eating disorders now more than ever, but is education really helping? Truly, I still see the same problems whenever I visit a university. Do you? If so, what can we do to help stem the tide of disordered eating and thinking?
This is a good question. There is treatment available on my campus. Although it’s not widely advertised, it is there. But college friends have never ever said anything to me. Not roommates or close friends who must have suspected. There needs to be a health education campaign targeting these people, encouraging them to say something! I know I would have been defensive at first, and even lied about it, but if my friends would have known about the support I needed, and still need, I think that would have been infinitely beneficial.