Leading the movement toward self-acceptance: disempowering eating disorders | Mia Holland | TEDxBSU

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

Body dissatisfaction is the major contributor to the development of eating disorders. Our daily environment bombards us with unhealthy body images and body degradation. We must lead a movement that will encourage self-acceptance and dis-empower eating disorders.

Let me start by ask you
to close your eyes.

Please close your eyes for a few seconds,

and think about "the perfect body".

Just for a few seconds, picture
"the perfect body" in your mind.

Now open your eyes.

By a show of hands,

how many of you pictured
your own body as the perfect body?

Look around, look what do you see?

By another show of hands,

how many of you
have ever heard someone say

or have heard yourself say,

"I wish I had a different body?"

"I'm ugly," or "I'm fat,"
"I wish I had different sized body parts."

Now what do you see?

I think we see an opportunity
to change our future.

A very large opportunity
to change our future.

I think we see an opportunity
to change the future

for our generations of girls and boys
and let me tell you why:

the most common factor in the development
of eating disorders, anorexia, and bulimia

is body dissatisfaction,
or unhappiness with your body.

This is an important message

because every aspect of our lives

is bombarded with messages
of body image and body self-confidence.

We see it everywhere:

TVs, movies, magazines,
social media, the clothing industry.

Every encounter we have
with the external environment

is filled with messages about body image
and body self-confidence.

So are these messages
negative or positive?

You can probably answer this question.

How do they affect us?

Here's some information:

69% of school-aged girls
who read magazines

say that the pictures influence
the way they feel about body shape.

50% of those girls say that the pictures
make them want to lose weight.

Over 50% of teenage girls,
and almost one third of teenage boys,

use unhealthy behaviors to lose weight.

They starve, they vomit, they skip meals,

they use laxatives.

20 million women and 10 million men
in the United States

will suffer from an eating disorder
at some point in their lives.

Look at those numbers;
think about that for a moment.

Eating disorders have
the highest mortality rate

of any psychological condition.

If we think about clothing,

when did we start accepting
size 0 and size 000

as actual sizes of real live human beings?

Human people.

Zero?

The average fashion model is 5, 11",

weighs 117 pounds,
and wears a size 0, 2, or 4.

The average woman is 5, 4",

weighs 140 pounds
and wears a size 12, 14, or 16.

A little difference there!

50% of women wear size 14 and up,

but our clothing industry caters
to size 14 and under.

The average body mass index
of Miss America winners is 16.9.

The World Health Organization says
the average body mass index is 21.7.

Another big difference; almost 5 points.

So let's ask ourselves,
how did this happen?

Why don't we picture our own body
as the perfect body?

Why do we think our own body
is so imperfect?

And why are girls and boys
so unhappy with their bodies?

I think I have a potential
explanation, so bear with me.

We, as a society,
have become boiled frogs.

How many people have heard
of the parable of the boiled frog?

The parable's been around
for a long time.

It explains that if you place a frog
in a pot of boiling water,

- Don't get nervous,
we aren't going to do it! -

he'll immediately jump out
to try to save himself.

But if you place a frog
in a warm pot of water,

he stays put.

As you gradually turn up the heat,

he acclimates to the temperature
in the pot and falls asleep.

And then it's too late.

I hope PETA doesn't call me.
We have not boiled a frog!

The image is gruesome, I know.

But the message is clear.

We are the frog, society is the frog.

We have been boiled
by the clothing industry,

by the media,
by the entertainment industry.

We have been bombarded
by negative messages

about body image and body self-confidence

every day, for years and years and years,

and it continues to happen.

75% of TV female sitcom
characters are underweight.

A sports magazine recently was recognised

for placing the first "plus-sized"
model on its cover.

Guess what size she is?

Did anybody see that in the news?

Size 12.

Plus sized.

So when did we start accepting
size 12 as plus-size?

I think it was around the same time
we started accepting size 0 or 000

as actual sizes of real human beings.

Can you pinpoint when it happened?

So all of this information is important.

What does it tell us?

It's time for a change.

It's time for a movement
towards self-acceptance.

It's time for a movement
that will disempower eating disorders;

remember we said the most common factor
to the development of eating disorders

is body dissatisfaction.

So let's go back.

What can we do to lead this movement?

What can we do to change the boiling pot?

Can we change the clothing industry?

Can we change the media?

Can we change the entertainment industry?

Well, Viktor Frankl said,
and I paraphrase,

if you can no longer change
your situation, you must change yourself.

That's something we can do.
We can change ourselves.

We can change ourselves,

we can change the future
by changing ourselves.

I think we can do that.

We can teach our children to jump out
of the pot of boiling water

before it's too late.

And we can serve as role models
for self-acceptance.

We have a responsibility as educators,

as community members,
as parents, as human beings.

We have a responsibility to start
a movement towards self-acceptance

that can lead us to disempower
eating disorders.

So how? They are just words
until we put them into action.

How do we lead the movement?

How do we change?

How do we move forward?

Here's how:

Serve as a role model for self-acceptance.

Accept yourself!

There's no reason not to.

Stop negative body talk, the talk
we talked about in the beginning.

No more negative talk
about yourself or anyone else.

Appreciate the beauty
of different physicalities

- we should do that everyday -

stop buying into the industries
that promote self-judgment.

Challenge the pot of judgment
by not judging ourselves.

We can do this.

Every body is the perfect body.

Make sure you read that one.

Every body is the perfect body.

We begin to picture our own body
as the perfect body, we start today, now.

We teach our children to picture
their own body as the perfect body.

We lead by example and engage
in healthy behaviors.

So I think we can do this.

Are you with me?

We can change our future.

We can lead the way
towards self-acceptance.

I believe that we can do this.

We can teach our future generations
to jump out of the existing pot

before it's too late.

We can disempower eating disorders.

I hope you will join me in this movement.

Thank you.

(Applause)