{"id":2677,"date":"2026-08-11T02:49:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/?p=2677"},"modified":"2026-08-11T02:49:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:49:47","slug":"what-people-with-eating-disorders-hear-in-the-ariana-grande-discourse-mother-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/?p=2677","title":{"rendered":"What People With Eating Disorders Hear in the Ariana Grande Discourse \u2013 Mother Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Mother Jones illustration; Jamie McCarthy\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Get your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily<\/em>.<\/a><\/div>\n

On July 31,<\/span> in the final days of the North American leg of her tour, Ariana Grande released the music video for \u201cPetal,\u201d her newest single from an album of the same name. The video instantly reignited the years-long discourse over Grande\u2019s body into something of a new low, <\/strong>with many presenting the video as irrefutable evidence that the singer is suffering from an eating disorder.<\/p>\n

Reactions to those opinions, by turns emotional and censorious, have been intense. They revealed <\/strong>questions about a public unable to cope collectively with a woman\u2019s body. Are such comments inherently sexist? Do well-meaning instructions warning us to refrain from speculation ever have exceptions? What does it mean to express \u201cconcern\u201d for someone in the public eye whom we don\u2019t personally know? How does the frenzied discourse land for people with eating disorders? <\/p>\n

I reached out to Dr. Rebecca Boswell<\/a>, a director at Penn Medicine Princeton\u2019s Center for Eating Disorders, to explain the complications of navigating these fraught conversations, and what patients with eating disorders often hear when a celebrity\u2019s weight makes headlines.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been intense debate about the politics of talking about people\u2019s bodies. On one hand, such commentary is often sexist; we aren\u2019t privy to larger dynamics that may be going on with someone. But do we have a responsibility to acknowledge that some appearances may not be healthy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many things can be true at the same time, and there\u2019s truth in all sides of this debate. The media has a long history of idealizing and visually showcasing thin bodies in a way that can be extremely harmful to young, vulnerable people and to folks with eating disorder histories or active eating disorders. We know that media coverage and celebrity coverage can play a role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, and that it\u2019s a major risk factor for the development of body image concerns.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery time there\u2019s a media story about someone losing weight or being on a GLP-1, therapists hear about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

That context makes it important to have responsible reporting around other people\u2019s bodies, especially because so much of this discourse centers around women and women\u2019s bodies. It\u2019s a bit of a Goldilocks phenomenon: What\u2019s too hot? What\u2019s too cold? What\u2019s too big? What\u2019s too small? That can leave folks feeling like there\u2019s no right way to exist in a body. That being said, when there are really concerning things happening or something seems noticeably different, there are helpful and unhelpful ways to express concern.<\/p>\n

What do you think when you read all the online diagnosing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t look at someone and assume things about their health or their mental status. That really is reserved for physicians and people who know someone well and can see changes in behavior or health status. Because someone can lose a lot of weight and have cancer, right? Or someone can be very malnourished in a larger body. There is no one-to-one correlation between thinness and health, and it\u2019s doctors who can make good evaluations with physical exams to discern if someone is experiencing malnutrition or eating-related problems. So can family members.<\/p>\n

When it comes to public messaging around concern, again, multiple things can be true. It can be true that it\u2019s powerful when the public expresses concern about someone in the public eye, and that may help them and their teams to evaluate whether there\u2019s a risk or a problem. But it can also be the case that expressing concern garners a lot of clicks, chatter, and a lot of revenue. It also tends to highlight surveillance around women\u2019s bodies in a way that can still be really difficult for folks who have experienced that surveillance themselves, either from family members or from the world in general.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s never a positive effect\u2026They\u2019ll say, \u2018Can\u2019t we just live and like not be evaluated based on our bodies?’\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

How does that discourse typically affect someone with eating difficulties? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Every time there\u2019s a media story about someone losing weight or being on a GLP-1, therapists hear about it. What we hear can range from \u201cI\u2019m so mad that I have to work on my recovery, and this person\u2019s being glamorized for changing their body in such a profound way,\u201d to \u201cThis makes it so much harder for me to stay committed to treatment.\u201d There\u2019s also \u201cIt\u2019s so unfair that her people get to live in this like weight loss world, and I\u2019m trying to live outside of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I also hear a lot of sadness around the way that people\u2019s bodies are judged and evaluated, not just in the context of media and culture. It can remind people of their private personal experiences of being judged or bullied or excluded because of the way that they look, and be really retraumatizing.<\/p>\n

What about negative reactions to extreme weight loss? Can public concerns when someone famous looks so visibly [too?] thin ever help people with eating disorders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s never a positive effect. What I hear is, \u201cThis is a really difficult thing to visually have to see, even when people are talking about how negative this is.\u201d I often hear people saying that the conversations remind them of when they were really sick. They\u2019ll say, \u201cCan\u2019t we just live and like not be evaluated based on our bodies?\u201d They will also often bring up how they would have preferred people telling them that they were concerned about their weight.<\/p>\n

I hear from people that it is hard when you\u2019re very ill with an eating disorder to accept the possibility of needing care, and that expressions of concern from loved ones make a big difference\u2014while public or group scrutiny is challenging.<\/p>\n

What exactly happens to the body when an eating disorder is identified?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Different eating disorder symptoms affect the body differently. Intake restriction and prolonged malnutrition have profound effects on every body system. It affects bone density in a way that is often not reversible. It affects GI system function. It affects your kidneys, your liver, and causes cardiac stress. It can even shrink the size of your brain. <\/p>\n

The way that the body adapts during malnutrition is incredibly survival-oriented. It slows everything down and shuts everything off to keep the machine running as long as possible. That is an enormous stressor on the body and requires really significant nutritional rehabilitation to repair tissue damage where it\u2019s repairable, and bring your body back to a healthful state. The [real harm with malnutrition] is the speed and the amount of weight loss that really is most strongly correlated with those physical effects, regardless of the body size you started in.<\/p>\n

GLP-1\u2019s are everywhere. We have corners of the internet that outright promote anorexia. Is the discourse around body image worse than ever?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do think that with the rise of GLP-1s, there\u2019s been an increased focus on thinness in the media and the internet in a way that surveils and glamorizes thin bodies. I think that has a negative effect, not just on people with eating disorders, but on children and youth who are vulnerable to developing [eating difficulties].<\/p>\n

You talked about the role of responsible reporting when writing about a public figure\u2019s appearance. What does that look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is where the nuance comes in. There have been studies that show, for example, articles that express concern in a kind and thoughtful way, but featuring really sensational pictures, can worsen people\u2019s body image. There\u2019s responsibility around the visualising of the story. There are kind ways to talk about concern that don\u2019t involve [judgements] of like, \u201cThis person looks so bad or good\u201d or \u201cGo eat a burger.\u201d Those kinds of comments are not useful.<\/p>\n

Personally, I think there\u2019s a lot of good, feminist intentions advising us against commenting on a woman\u2019s body. But I also think that guidance can ignore the way that most of us, especially young people, discover images, which is on social media.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between observing and surveilling, between observing and judging. It is possible to observe variation in a non-judgemental way; that is a mindful, neutral practice. But once judgment comes in, that starts to bring up questions around what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong, and that\u2019s where I think the harm comes in, especially part of the narrative around women\u2019s bodies. It\u2019s very uncommon to hear neutral observations around women\u2019s bodies without judgement or shame. That ultimately detracts from women\u2019s achievements, internal talents, and their leadership.<\/p>\n

One middle ground I\u2019ve seen being tossed around is that anyone concerned about a celebrity\u2019s weight should reserve this concern for private conversations. What advice do you have for navigating these conversations, especially when talking to our kids?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Private conversations are incredibly powerful when it comes to suspected eating disorders and malnutrition because they come from a place of known love, concern, and respect. Many people who are experiencing problems with nutrition and eating may have limited insight into the severity of their problem. So loving support matters. Typically, I recommend that people focus on behavior and not appearance, because appearance can be really difficult for people to feel like that\u2019s the focus of their loved one\u2019s concern. So instead of saying, \u201cYou look very thin,\u201d say, \u201cI\u2019ve noticed that you\u2019ve been skipping meals. I\u2019m worried about your health. I care about you. Is there anything I can do to help you?\u201d<\/p>\n

[When it comes to talking about a celebrity,] start by emphasizing that bodies come in all shapes and sizes. That people can be healthy with any body shape and size. Sometimes people can look visibly sick, and we don\u2019t know why. That\u2019s why health is private. We don\u2019t always get to know what\u2019s going on with people, even when they\u2019re public figures. I might also ask, \u201cHow does this image make you feel about your body?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Mother Jones illustration; Jamie McCarthy\/Getty Get your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. On July 31, in the final days of the North American leg of her tour, Ariana Grande released the music video for \u201cPetal,\u201d her newest single from an album […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-usa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}