Teeshirtsrock.com has the above item in stock for just under $25. Now, my questions for you (some rhetorical, some not) are:
1) Who would buy this shirt?
2) Whom would you buy it for?/Who would wear it?
3) Why don't they have its Miss Bulimic counterpart?
4) Any shirts on other mental or physical illnesses? (Miss Schizophrenia? Miss Female Orgasmic Disorder? Miss Diabetes? Miss Cancer?
Just checking. . .
17 comments:
I think the shirt itself is cute. (The picture, not necessarily the caption). It looks like "Beaker" from the muppets.
Yeah, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that shirt. I might buy it for someone as a joke, but that's it.
I noticed the shirt was made by the company David & Goliath. They have had a history of making obnoxious shirts. Such as the infamous anti-boy shirts, like "Boys are Smelly" for example.
So it's not surprising that they'd find the next bullying target to capitalize upon.
No I would not buy that shirt for myself or anyone else. There's so much shame associated with anorexia and bulimia that few people want to broadcast their habits. Yet people who use those habits want to show a thin body which those habits hopefully achieve.
However I DO wear shirts that broadcast that I have celiac disease, a genetic disease caused by autoimmune antibody reactions to eating gluten (found in wheat, barley, rye and most oats). Many people with celiac are also very thin, not only because their damaged intestinal villa don't absorb nutrients or because they have chronic diarrhea, but also because eating causes physical pain. Whenever I eat gluten I feel like bits of broken glass are slowly moving through my intestines. I also get extreme bloating and gas, which makes me 'FEEL' fat, because my stomach gets sooo big when I react to gluten (or a few other food allergies).
I proudly wear celiac disease awareness shirts. I designed 2 different logos for the last 2 celiac disease awareness walks in my area. The only effective 'treatment' for CD is abstaining from all forms of gluten (found in wheat, barley, rye and most oats).
I readily discuss celiac disease with anyone who has been diagnosed with 'irritable bowel syndrome'. That's not a 'disease, but a set of symptoms which can be caused by celiac, bacterial infections, yeast overgrowth, other food allergies or even parasites. Many doctors just label their patients' symptoms 'IBS' and give them nothing else.
Celiac causes more than painful symptoms. Untreated (continuing to consume gluten) can lead to other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS, type 1 Diabetes and ultimately cancer of the small intestine or non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Gluten intolerance or celiac disease is NOT just an excuse to restrict starches. It's a life threatening disease.
No, I probably would not where that shirt. It's ok for a joke and all but, I am not sure who would really where it. Maybe skinny girls in California, where it is hip to be anorexic.
Sue - I disagree. While it is shameful to be bulimic, I think anorexia is overly valorized and envied. Like Samantha said, it's hip to be anorexic.
And this is why we won't see a Miss Bulimic shirt.
I doubt the majority of these shirts would be purchased by women who are in the throes of anorexia. Most anorectics want to hide their disease, not proclaim it loudly to the world via a clinging, form-fitting tshirt.
So you're left to wonder why a girl who doesn't have anorexia would want to wear such a shirt. I think these shirts degrade the illness and turn it into something to be glorified, not pitied as it should be.
Rachel:
While many women want to have anorexic looking bodies, I don't think many would brag about obsessing about every bite of food or avoiding social situations which involve food just to stay thin. I also still hear the 'thin people can eat anything' myth. So maybe women want to look anorexic, while they eat anything, anytime and as much as they want. However that may involve 'compensating' by exercise, fasting and purging, which earns them the 'bulimic' label.
I'm speechless.
And no, I would never buy a shirt like that - not for anyone at anytime.
I have seen at least two photos of two different people wearing an "I beat anorexia" shirt, ironically juxtaposed with the wearer's ample body.
I guess this is a bit of a different thing, though.
I saw a guy, a really big big big guy wearing an "I Beat Anorexia" tshirt once. That was disturbing. Tshirthell.com has a wide assortment of terrible shirts.
i am not anorexic but i am very underweight and people have confronted me about being so thin so maybe this would add some humor into it i guess. i still wouldnt wear it though, this is not just like "i beat cancer" type thing. Its a deep rooted physchological problem that is sensative and shouldnt be poked fun at. I mean, what if nicole richie was caught wearing this? or mary kat olsen?
I saw a shirt online that had a cartoon of a goth-type woman called Sue E. Cyde. ha. so funny.
It would be more likely to be worn by someone overweight - as an ironic joke, rather than someone who is thin and might have an eating disorder.
-Jojo
I guess I will be the oddball. I would have no problem wearing that shirt in the least. I am not ashamed that I am currently working on recovery from anorexia. I am able to talk about it with just about anyone and actually like to educate people. And really, when you are in the depths of this horrid disorder, one that is truly illogical, after all, why not wear this shirt? For me, the one thing I have never lost, even as sick as I was, was the ability to laugh at just how illogical this disease is.
And whoever mentioned California as the place to be "hip" to have an ED, that is not true.
Sue, I have CD, too. I did not ask for anorexia or CD and I refuse to be ashamed for having either. If I had a celiac awareness shirt, I'd wear it just like I'd wear this shirt, too.
That is just so wrong!
Btw..I asked a this question on my blog just curious how any of you would respond.
If u were craving something and justhad to have it..Would you go out of the way to get it?
I think it's really funny in the context of those books-- if you're familiar with the "Little Miss" and "Mr.So-and-So" books (LOVED them when I was a kid) everyone is a circle, a square, or a healthy rectangle; there are even a few triangles.
I'd happily wear it, though I can see how on a skinny girl it might [dangerously] come across as a "anorexic and proud" message.
That's a very sick shirt. Since I have an eating disorder, if i ever saw some girl wearing that I would talk to her (i'll try not to scream)... an eating disorder is not something to joke about.
That is so wrong - I love it.
Johnny Sunshine,
www.nakedshirts.co.nz
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