This is a response to “Funny Bones: Eating Disorders in Comedy.”
Awash online are posts promoting self love and yourself how but how? Harmful claims about weight and eating disorders are portrayed in film and everyday media. How is it possible to love yourself when there are conflicting messages everywhere.
Harmful messages about food are inevitably linked to messages of self-love in popular media. Often in shows, girls are portrayed as less worthy because of how they look or how much they weigh. This connection is usually laughed at and portrayed as normal. Or it is often glossed over with self-love jokes that always come back with talk about weight or food.
To do better, the media first needs to stop hiding self-deprecation in jokes to appeal to an audience that doesn’t find those jokes funny. To preach self-love, characters should also be portrayed as loving themselves and not just living in a world of fake confidence that could be knocked down at any moment by someone who gives them a so-called reality. check.
The media needs to do better because young girls who end up hating themselves or parts of themselves after watching TV where they don’t feel anything about themselves will be good enough. Self-love and self-confidence directly related to opposite sex attraction is also a story that should stop being portrayed in the media.
