Source: BBC
Amazon is rightly under fire, for currently selling a shocking hoodie. Described as an ‘anorexia styling hoodie for women’ it is sold on the company’s US website by a third party retailer for $25.88 and exhibits the slogan “Anorexia: Like Bulimia except with self-control”.
“This product is completely unacceptable” says BodyMatter’s Director Sarah McMahon. It not only trivialises eating disorders, it pits one disorder against another. This serves to undermine efforts by professional and consumer groups internationally to have eating disorders better understood as legitimate and potentially life threatening mental illnesses.” Myths and trivialisation prevent help seeking, impacting on recovery outcomes for sufferers.
Many people with bulimia describe feeling like “failed anorexics”. This product has the potential to perpetuate the often unspoken (and incorrect) belief that there is a pecking order between eating disorders. The fact is, just as we cant select which physical illness we will develop, we also cant select which mental illness we are vulnerable to. Development of mental illness is usually due to a complex cocktail of biological, psychological and social factors.
Eating disorders are a serious mental illness, effecting over 1 million Australians and carrying a huge economic and social burden.
Amazon has a long history of selling unacceptable products that Collective Shout has undertaken activism on since they stocked ‘The Paedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A child-lovers code of conduct’ back in 2010. Some more of Amazon’s exploitative products that Collective Shout has challenged Amazon to remove include:
- a sexist bumper sticker referring to women as “ugly bitches”;
- pornographic t-shirts for children;
- rape guerilla figurines;
- rape comics; and
- a “nice tits” baby onesie.
More information on Collective Shout’s efforts against Amazon are available here.
If you are experiencing eating and body image issues, please feel welcome to contact BodyMatters to schedule an appointment and start the journey to recovery.
