Michael Levine, Ph.D., FAED

1
Changing/Challenging the World One American Idol
at a Time What Each of Us Can Do Every Day to
Prevent Eating Disorders
Michael Levine, Ph.D., FAED Department of
Psychology, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
43022-9623 Eating Disorders Awareness Week,
Denison University, February 25, 2009 --
Levine_at_kenyon.edu
POWERPOINTS AVAILABLE FREE at http//psychology.k
enyon.edu/levine/
2
Dr. Michael Levine

• 1. Professor of Psychology, Kenyon College BMI
  30.77418 obese
• 2. Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology wife has
  Ph.D. in Medieval history, teaches in Religious
  Studies and WGS and watches Dancing with the
  Stars and shops at Victorias Secret
• 3. Age 59 Really likes Pat Benatar
• 4. No body images issues at all
• Note Rare photo--Michael Levine
• as assistant professor (1979)

3
Role Model

• Grew up in Southern California in 1950s
• American Idol was
• superstar
• Mickey Mantle

• Alcoholic
• Philanderer
• Non-family man

4
Of Roles, Models, and Idols

• What or who constitutes a Model?
• American Idol atry (www.m-w.com)
• 1 the worship of a physical object as a god
• 2 immoderate attachment or devotion to
  something

5
Rationale forPrevention

• Prevalence, severity vs. person-power shortage
• Evidence - sociocultural basis
• Gender and development
• Historical aspects (Silverstein Perlick, 1995)
• Other social changes in the
• USA (e.g., womens athletics)
• Multifaceted health promotion Obesity as
  Godzilla . . . .

BMI 756
6
Rationale for Prevention Knowledge, and Research
If you want to truly understand something, try
to change it

• - Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
• (no date/source, as quoted in)
• APA Policy and Planning Board.
• (2007). Who cares about APA
• Policy and does it have an impact?
• American Psychologist, 62, 491-503.

7
Some Things are Like PreventionHard to
Understand How it Could Happen,But It Needs to
be Done
Bring it!
8
Preventing What? And What Does Nervosa Mean,
Anyway?

• Prevention will failand may well be harmfulif
  it concentrates solely on the definition of
  clinical syndromes, the portrayal of fascinating
  cases, and the dangers of disordered eating.
• The issue is the cost to individuals and
  society of set of issues, each of which (1)
  relates to negative body image and disordered
  eating and (2) could be seen spectrum or
  continuum
• negative body image internalization
  of impossible ideals
• self-objectification drive for
  thinness/leanness
• fear of fat unhealthy weight
  management
• shaky self-esteem chaotic
  (including binge-) eating
• compensatory extremes of
  activity/exercise
• extremes (perfectionism)

9
Levines Recommended Principles of Truly Primary
Prevention

• The issue for prevention is us and our
  cultures, not them and their eating disorders
  or their obesity. Thus we must think
  contextually and in terms of how each member of
  the community can contribute

10
Do You Think Barbie Still Dreams of Ken?
Barbie Ken (1950s)
Michael Levine as undergraduate in The Iliad
(1968)
Spawn
11
Prevention and treatment are not just a female
issue they are a community issue that involves
boys and men in various ways.
Head Optional Whatever. . .

• Blue Oyster Cult Syndrome (BOCS) Im Burning
  for You.

12
The Adonis Ideal

• Mesomorphic ideal
• Men are defined by size, power, and strength
• Lean muscular attractive
• muscularity manly success
• muscularity health

All Muscle except for Fat in Head
13
American Idols

• Tales of Glory Spirit Warrior Action Figures

14
Sometimes it is Hard to Love the One Body
Youre With
15
Pervasive Messages--Multiple Sources

• Health professionals
• Parents
• Educators
• Mass media
• Books
• Peers
• Citizens

16
Sometimes Its Hard . . . .Taking on the Hydra

• Weightist prejudice
• Object-ification
• Identity as a Double Bind
• Insecurity trap gt
• Perfection
• Abandonment

Note cool picture of Hydra
17
The Real F-Word

• You look great,
• youve put on fat!

18
Us Weekly The Hyprocritic OathEasily
Extracted Messages

• WEIGHTISM
• Prejudice
• Vilification of fat
• fat people,
• especially females
• Glorification of slenderness

19
Fat People Spoil the Environment

• Fat people lack self-control
• Fat people are neurotic and overeat for
  psychological reasons
• Weight and shape are highly malleable

• Fat and weight make you sick thin is healthier
• Fat people cannot be physically fit
• Fat people need to diet, and fatter people need
  to diet a lot (more)

20
Beauty Standards1940s 1950s
21
Beauty Standards 1950s - 1960s
22
Beauty Standards1970s 1980s
23
Beauty Standards 1990s
24
Beauty Standards 2003
25
But. . . But. . . But What?
26
Summer 2004 Still the Objectof My Gaze (and
Your Own?)
27
No, Really You are Still the Objectof My Gaze
(and Your Own?) 2005

• Bad Ad Contest Winner for 2005, New Mexico
  Media Literacy Project
• www.mnmlp.org
• Submitted by Max Africk. Isidore Newman
  School, New Orleans LATeacher Ann Sayas

Open Season Advertisement for __________?
Everybody wants a piece of Dentyne Gum
28
Youll Always Be the Object of My Attention
29
Easily Extracted Messages VIII But. . . But
When Tempted To Overindulge (1930)
We do not say smoking Luckies reduces flesh. We
do say that when tempted to overindulge, reach
for a Lucky instead.
30
Mothers Little Helpers andGosh-Darn the
Pusher
Amphetamines
31
I know weve come a long way were changing
day-to-day
Woman 112 lbs Body wt 111 lbs Pantsuit 1 lb
BMI at 58 is 16.9
32
Return to Gender Address Well Known
33
A Recent Media-Based Ericksonian Pscyhosocial
Stage Identity Diffused and Refused and Suffused
Head Optional
34
Identity Diffused and Refused and Suffused
(continued ad nauseum)
Any culture that treats its women as children
and its children as women is going to have major
problems with images, bodies, and body images
(Smolak Levine, 1990s)
35
Raging Against Cultures Machines will be
Challenging because it inevitably means
confronting and challenging pervasive ecological
messages Gender, Class, Race, and Power

• Womens bodies belong to men
• A woman of substance and power
• is a frightening, ugly thing
• Success is narrowly defined and it
• means being up to date and stylish
• Diversity in physical appearance and
• in culture is undesirable
• Women must negotiate dramatic changes in
  cultures--and do it in a quiet, pleasing way

36
Everyday Acts of Rebellion and Machine-Focused
Raging (MFR) Take OvariesCulture change
requires a critical/analytic perspective,
attention to social justice, and activism--and
thus it requires dialogue, collaboration, and
courage.

• This cause is not altogether and exclusively
  womens cause. It is the cause of human
  brotherhood as well as human sisterhood, and both
  must rise and fall together. Woman cannot be
  elevated without elevating man, and man cannot be
  depressed without depressing woman also.
• - Frederick Douglas
• 1848

37
Its Time to Stand Up and Take onSpace The
Final Frontier

• Work to surround yourself with, and connect
  yourself and your loved ones to, women of
  substance women who take up space in the world
  and have something to say about it

38
Principle Prevention and Education requires a
critical/analytic perspective, attention to
social justice, and activism--and thus it
requires dialogue, collaboration, and courage.
Mae Jemison, M.D. First African American Astronaut

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• 1815-1902
• Reformer 1848.

39
Which one of the these women is a Model?
Nobel Prize for Literature, 1993
Xena, Warrior Princess Doll/Action Figure
Spain - 2007
Ms. Chloe Anthony Wofford
40
Role Model (www.m-w.com)

• A person whose behavior in a particular role is
  imitated by others

41
The Personal Basic or Model Questions

• Do you have at least one role model?
• List 3 characteristics that make that person a
  role model for you?
• Do you own or have access to a picture or image
  of that person?
• Do you have that picture or image prominently
  featured in your dorm room?
• Have you ever talked with a close friend or lover
  about that role model -- who is it? Why he she is
  a role model for you? What that person means in
  your life?

42
Principle The 5 Cs of Preventionafter Sigall
Pabst, 2000

• - Consciousness-raising
• - Competence
• - Connection
• - Change
• - Choices

43
Multifaceted Health PromotionNegative body
image, disordered eating, and obesity On
shared ground HAES Philosophy (Robison, 2003)

• Self and diversity acceptance, supported
  supported by people who care about you as a whole
  person
• Enjoying physical activity and a more active
  lifestyle in accord-ance with needs and rights
• Making more peaceful, social, and celebratory
  relationships with nutritious, nourishing food
• Living better through critical consciousness and
  everyday acts of rebellion

44
What are We Waiting For?Its Time, No?

• At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At
  seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition
  has been growing steadily ever since.
• Salvador Dali

Soft Watch at the Moment of First Explosion, 1954
45
Challenge and Hope of Prevention
Piran, 1999

• Austin et al., 2005

Goldberg, Elliot, and colleagues
Neumark-Sztainer et al. (2000)
46
But What, Like, Really, Can Anybody Do?Being
the Change A Parallel Process

• Kenyon
• 2001-2002 ?
• Andy Mills Becky
• Osborn Erica
• Neitz (01)
• (with support from
• Levine, Smolak, Murnen)

47
Hope is Everywhere and so is determination and
skill

• A great model an ongoing narrative of
  courage, resistance, and change is the Red
  Wing, MN GO GIRLSTM program work guided by Sarah
  Stinson

48
A Small Group of Citizens -- NEDA andEating
Disorders Awareness Week

• First EDAW Mt. Vernon/Knox County Fall 1983
• First National EDAW 1987
• 20th Anniversary

Feb. 14, 2007
49
Love Or at Least Accept and Care For the Body
Youre With

• Body dissatisfaction is neither feminine nor
  normal
• in the sense of being natural and unchangeable
• Body dissatisfaction is not motivational
• Body dissatisfaction is typically not harmless
• Body dissatisfaction often feeds on prejudice,
  trauma, and objectification

50
Body Image Remember and Practice The Bill of
Rights I have and will exercise the right to

• Nourish my body and spirit
• Appreciate my body, which will never be perfect
• Feel good in and about my body
• Remind myself There are hundreds of very
  admirable people whose body shapes vary
  tremendously

• Remind myself, constantly if necessary, of the
  following 10 or more good things about my body
• Be fit and energetic, no matter what I look like
• To dance, swim, sunbathe, and be active no matter
  what I look like
• To wear clothes that are comfortable and express
  my selfmy styleno matter what I look like

51
Body Image Be a Real Super Model

• Reject weight-ism as an untenable form
• of prejudice
• Modify your body image, not your
• weight and shape
• a. Practice refusing self-criticism,
• not restricting
• b. Draining the mirror scale
• c. Drunk on the street test
• Make contact with people, not war
• on your body, your mind, your spirit.
• Refuse to play the BDG
• Hills Daily Diet of Praise Affirming
• skill, strength, care, presence

52
THE PERSONAL Body Image Be a Real Super Model

• Study culture, cultures,
• history, gender, resistance,
• transformation--for both
• boys and girls
• Talk to others, making
• the private into the public
• Promote safety, respect,
• and substance

53
THE PERSONAL Goal Models in Historyand
Narratives of Resistance (after Sigall Pabst)

• The young are looking for living models whom they
  can imitate and who are capable of rousing their
  enthusiasm and drawing them to a deeper kind of
  life.
• More than anything else, the young need sure
  guides to go with them on the paths of liberation
  that God maps out for them.
• -- Archbishop Bakole wa
• Ilunga (1920-2000)
• retrieved 2-22-09 from
• http//www.livinglifefully.com/rolemodels.htm

54
ITS TIME TO STAND UP IF -- YOU REALLY BELIEVE
THAT

• The type of person
• you are your
• character,
• your substance,
• your spirit and guts
• are more important
• than your weight or pants size.

Madame Curie
55
ITS TIME TO STAND UP IF -- YOU REALLY BELIEVE
THAT

• Every person
• is entitled to
• respect and dignity
• no matter what their
• size and shape,
• their apparent fitness,
• the color of their skin,
• or their gender

56
ITS TIME TO STAND UP IF -- YOU REALLY BELIEVE
THAT

• Individual differences -- diversity -- in height
  and weight and body shape are a very bad thing,
  and that all girls should be tall and thin, while
  all boys should be tall and muscular People
  should be more like the manikins in the store

Model for Rosa Cha Spring 2007 Fashion
Week 9-14-06
57
ITS TIME TO STAND UP IF YOU REALLY BELIEVE
THAT

• People -- and especially
• girls -- should treat their bodies as objects,
  things, and commodities to be sculpted, starved,
  leered at, jeered at, sneered at, and painted
  into shape -- that peoples bodies are in many
  ways no different than cars. . . .

Body by Fisher (Body/Motor Corporation) 1920s
58
ITS TIME TO STAND UP IF -- YOU REALLY BELIEVE
THAT

• You can tell how good a person is -- how
  talented, caring, friendly, trustworthy, funny,
  spirited, spiritual -- by watching what they eat
  and seeing how muscular they are and/or how much
  they weigh

59
ITS TIME TO STAND UP IF -- YOU REALLY BELIEVE
THAT

• People should work together with their family,
  their friends, their colleagues, their church,
  and other groups who refuse to keep silent and to
  sit still when they see injustice and lack of
  necessary resources in the world That it is
  important to take a stand for what is right and
  decent. . . .

60
Planning the Day for Prevention

• It is hard to know when to respond to the
  seductiveness of the world and when to respond to
  its challenge. If the world were merely
  seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely
  challenging, that would be no problem. But I
  arise in the morning torn between the desire to
  improve the world and a desire to enjoy the
  world. This makes it hard to plan the day. . . .
• 
  - E. B. White

61
Hope is the Thing with Feathers . . . .

• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful
  committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
  its the only thing that ever has.
• -- Margaret Mead

Pillars of Fulfillment Tribute to Dr. Lori
Irving by Women Who Weld Washington State
University, Vancouver, WA
62
And the Wisdom to Know the Difference