Jaymin Patel English 099-02 Prof. Sheehan April 17, 2014
Mim Udovitch vs. Ken Jackson
It seems like every young girl dreams of becoming a model these days. Every young girl has the desire to get thinner than other girls in order to look like models on T.V, magazines and so on. The New York Times publishes articles for the majority of the audience to read, which is mostly adults. Mim Udovitch’s article, “A Secret Society of the Starving” talks about two major eating disorders that are anorexia and bulimia within many girls. Udovitch reports stories about three girls that are going through these disorders or have gone through them. The three girls Udovitch includes are Claire, Chaos, and Futurebird. Ken Jackson’s interpretation of Chaos and Futurebird inform their experiences of them being bulimic or anorexic which helps relate to other girls with the same problems, but no cure or treatment is given. Jackson wonders why the The New York Times published an article like this because they are suppose to publish articles of people that want help or offer help to others. Most of the adults reading The New York Times are either parents, but not all are parents of children with eating disorders. This means that not everyone is interested in reading or even caring about the topic about eating disorders. A reader will only read articles that seem interesting or which pertain to them. In order for these girls to get better, they need to realize that they are sick, but instead in this article they argue that they are not sick or ill. Girls with eating disorders find it hard to face the truth about them, such as realizing that they are sick or ill. Udovitch reports Chaos’s perspective of being sick or not, “‘I think my body's just not wanting to do it right now,’ she says. ‘You have the toothbrush trick, and usually I can just hit my stomach in the right spot, or my fingernails will gag me in the right spot’” (3). Chaos has no hope of admitting that she is sick, but she gags. She doesn’t realize that she is ill along with some other girls with similar issues. Chaos doesn’t understand the truth of
