Hunger Games

In a recent issue of fashion magazine Marie Claire,  Katie Drummond wrote "The Hunger Diaries" - calling six top health and fitness bloggers out for crazed, obsessive eating and excercising habits that are exposing their readers to more harm than good.

Sure, hindsight is always 20/20, but the article and the immediate angered response begs the question, "What were they thinking?" These six bloggers are obviously powerful and respected women - one look at their online following can tell you that. And they're probably followed by young, health-conscious women. Who does Marie Claire target?

A glance at Marie's Claire's Facebook page quickly reveals that this article completely missed the mark. The magazine is called out on publishing the article in a magazine whose cover shows a bone-thin Katie Holmes, with the words "Hair, Skin, Weight, Sex, Mood, all your problems solved!" in large print.

Are eating and exercise disorders a problem among young American women? Yes. Is it possible that these bloggers have a disorder as well? Sure.  Should obsessive diet and excercise behaviors be addressed? Absolutely.

Marie Claire might have felt threatened by fitness bloggers stealing their readership, as some social media posts suggest. Or writer Katie Drummond may have truly been trying to bring a public health issue to light. If the latter is the case, a better approach would have been to reach out to these bloggers and address young female readers on a unified front, highlighting different negative behaviors, warning signs, or tips on how to approach a friend who has a problem. Instead, Marie Claire - who is part of an industry that hires stick thin models, and is therefore especially vulnerable to an attack - made six enemies, with an army of haters that followed.

We're women - we diet, and when we diet, we get hungry. And when we get hungry, we bitch. Marie Claire didn't have to be the public forum for a bitchfest - next time, perhaps they'll try a strategy aimed at making friends instead of foes.

 

--Kate

@millerkm