In what is perhaps the most tangible bit of evidence of male chauvinist repulsiveness, “5 Reasons to Date a Girl With an Eating Disorder” is still making waves a year after its original publishing through shares on social media and features on websites like Buzzfeed and Reddit.
If you’re unfamiliar with the article, it is a real post that ran on the website returnofkings.com last November. Unbelievably enough, the site is still in existence, posting consistently offensive articles, most recently “25 Reasons Your Girlfriend is Overrated.”
The website describes itself as “a blog for heterosexual, masculine men” that “aims to usher the return of the masculine man in a world where masculinity is being increasingly punished and shamed in favor of creating an androgynous and politically-correct society that allows women to assert superiority and control over men.”
How we live in a ?society where articles like this make it past the first draft is beyond the editorial board.
Eating disorders plague up to 24 million people of all ages and sexes throughout the United States, and 86 percent of students on college campuses admitted to engaging in behavior associated with eating disorders before they turned 20, acording to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. Anorexia nervosa is the No. 1 cause of death for females between the ages of 15 and 24.
There is nothing about this that is humorous in any way — that’s obvious.
But what’s worse is the post on Return of Kings isn’t even remotely satirical. The five reasons stated in the blog seem to be the true beliefs of the author and were even defended by the blog’s editor, Daryush Valizadeh. The trend of preying on the vulnerable needs to end.
Writing something that disgusting without taking the time to realize how detrimental it could be to someone who is either suffering from an eating disorder or someone who considering these behaviors is ridiculous and clearly stems from the most extreme form of ?ignorance.
Our culture has morphed things such as domestic violence and eating disorders into farcical topics of entertainment, and that is ?unacceptable.
It’s time to cease using horrible events such as domestic violence and eating disorders as the next punchline or a way to get the most blog shares on Facebook and Twitter.
Satire certainly has its time and place, but no hint of sarcasm should be detectable within such sensitive, destructive subject matter. Not only are pieces such as the above disgusting and offensive, they could be triggers for individuals affected by these conditions: validating harm is simply dangerous.
Next time you open your computer and are inundated by harmful trash shared by the likes of Return of Kings contributors, move your mouse from “Share” to “Report.”
