Spinning out of control

Since my last post, I have been getting more in depth into the novel and life of Portia de Rossi. When first starting to read the novel, I was trying to understand the mind of Portia and her mindset around obtaining that perfect model image. She would go days without eating, her mother was helping her and supporting her in her dieting habits, and Portia was succeeding in life. All fo these things seem positive… well in the mind of Portia it did anyways. However, to an outside person only the last thing would seem positive… her succeeding in life. Her going days without eating, and the fact that her mother was supporting her in her dieting habits would ring alarm to any person who is not bound by an eating disorder.

To somebody who is living with an eating disorder, these behaviours may seem ordinary and “normal”. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are psychological disorders that take over a person’s body both mentally and physically. The mental effects can sometimes be worse than the physical effects in the fact that there are constantly voices in the person’s head calling them fat or disgusting, and that they are not worthy of anything or anyone. After all, success only comes to the pretty skinny women right? These voices are always there, in the morning, at night, and throughout the day… everyday.

I think the first surprising thing I learned so far in the novel is that Portia’s mother was helping her with her dieting and encouraging her to eat as little as three-hundred calories in three days, instead of two-thousand a day. This started at the tender age of twelve years old. Although I believe that Portia would have done anything in her power (and maybe even out of her power) to achieve that perfect model image, I am still disgusted by the encouragement her mother gave her so freely. This fact made me wonder if eating disorders may be highly influenced by parental influences. I say this because it was stated that when prepping for the runway show at age twelve, where Portia only ate three-hundred calories in three days, that her mother was the one who gave her dieting tricks such as keeping everything bland and keeping out anything and everything that gives flavour to food. Her mother willingly gave her dieting ideas from back in the day when her mother used to need to lose weight quick. This is what raised the question in my head “can eating disorders be highly influenced by parental influences?”