This post at Maria's last diet has a lot of validity I think. And it's not new--this promotion by the media that "thin is where it's at--thin is in".
We've been watching The Mary Tyler Moore show on Hulu. I watched it back in the day but I'd never noticed how painfully thin MTM was...granted she was a diabetic, but she looked anorexic. And her friend/neighbor in the sitcom--Rhoda Morganstern--who is supposed to be the fat one--is not fat in the least. She is a perfect size. But her character is always bemoaning her weight and lamenting "Mary--how do you eat that and stay so thin?". Rhoda's "weight problem" was a recurring theme. But Rhoda wasn't fat!!!
Well...duh. Mary's not like the rest of us. I find it hard to believe she was that thin due to her diabetes. I've read she was a smoker, which depresses the appetite. (Many women smoke because it helps them stay thin.)
I wouldn't be surprised to find she had an eating disorder. She looks like she has an eating disorder. She is so thin--too thin in fact--that she looks like a concentration camp survivor to me. And yet, she was the standard "Rhoda" was measured by, and the rest of the viewing audience, myself included, likely measured themselves by "Mary". Sad, I think. I have to wonder if, in in order to draw attention away from her thinness, they planted the seed that Rhoda was fat.
I could kick myself now for comparing myself to those images that were neither real nor desirable. If you care to take a gander, check out The Mary Tyler Moore Show , Season 1, the first few episodes.