Perhaps you could explain the humor in the Nov. 22 editorial page cartoon “Good News for Adolescent Girls–Bulimic Barbie” to the millions of individuals and families whose lives have been destroyed or severely compromised by eating disorders. I am in total disbelief that the Tribune editorial board would condone publication of such an insensitive display of ignorance. Would cartoons that ridicule cancer, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, etc,. be equally hysterical?
Although medicine and society have begun to view alcoholism as an illness, eating disorders are still regarded as a blame-the-victim disease, unworthy of empathy and deserving of ridicule. Dolls, models, fashion magazines and other media do not cause eating disorders. They have existed for centuries, and not only in this country.
From my perspective, a woman debilitated by 25 years of severe anorexia and numerous secondary physiological complications, there is nothing funny about a life-threatening illness that can cause physiological damage including gastrointestinal problems, dehydration, tooth/gum erosion, ruptured stomach, premature osteoporosis, weakened immunity, atrophy of muscles, and of course, death.
The Tribune’s inexcusably bad judgment simply prolongs the time until eating disorders are understood as an illness, instead of being met with blame, disgust and a total absence of empathy. Therefore, when another victim dies, which generally prompts the publication of another serious article about this vicious disease, or when another editorial runs about the Tribune’s “high standards,” I will regard it as hypocritical, insincere and fictitious.
