Editor:

I read your newspaper between classes, or while waiting for classes to start. I normally think your staff does a wonderful job fitting in a lot of opinions and trying to show both sides to a situation.

However, the cartoon in which an obese man is wearing a shirt that says, “I beat anorexia,” (Feb. 4) was completely uncalled for.

The road to recovery for those suffering from an eating disorder is long, hard and arduous. This cartoon seems to be mocking recovery, which is not what those in recovery need. Also, one of the biggest fears of those in recovery from anorexia, bulimia, or an eating disorder not otherwise specified, is gaining weight. This cartoon depicts a man saying he “beat anorexia” and he is morbidly overweight. If a person in recovery from an eating disorder saw that cartoon, I’m sure it would hinder his or her progress.

I understand that the cartoon was supposed to be funny and was supposed to show that there really aren’t any positive sides to obesity, but I think the way it went about it was totally uncalled for. In fact, I’m sure many people don’t realize that a lot of people who are obese are suffering from binge-eating disorder. Many people see the condition as a “lack of control,” but it is simply the way a person has found to push away his or her feelings and create a numbness inside. Binging, anorexia, bulimia and other disorders are all psychiatric conditions. A person does not develop an eating disorder as a “diet,” but as a way to cope with feelings he or she doesn’t understand.

I think that there could have been a better way to construct a comic on the obesity problem in America. Mocking the recovery from an eating disorder is simply cruel.

Kristin Crick

Freshman, Human Development and

Family Studies