I didn't really have an opinion of Fearne Cotton before I saw her on this, and still don't really because I don't listen to her Radio 1 show. But I found her treatment of the subject very insensitive, portraying her to be a bit of an airhead.
From the start of the documentary when she was looking at the online anorexia sites, the approach was all wrong. She was very 'shock horror' about the whole thing, but either she's insincere or genuinely didn't know much about the illness.
What on earth was to be gained from wide eyed 'oohs' and 'ahs' about how young the people visiting these sites were, or what some of the side effects of anorexia are?
At one point she read some of these effects out, which included body hair and pooing pus. She looked disgusted and freaked out, and kept saying "I just can't believe it" and other pointless, neither-here-nor-there statements.
No, the effects of anorexia aren't pleasant, but surely it would have been more useful and effective to try and understand why anyone could feel so low they felt the need to starve themselves, rather than just dwelling on how foreign the concept was to Fearne.
I admit, I didn't watch the whole thing. Maybe the 'psychology bit' came later. But I saw a good half hour of Fearne in various 'oh-my-god-I'd-never-do-that-how-come-everyone-doesn't-wolf-down-their-food-like-me?' stages of polemic. The result? A fairly gratuitous piece of television that offered little insight into the disorder.
I'm no doctor or psychologist, but I know that anorexia is connected to deep-seated emotional issues of control and self-loathing. Sufferers don't need to be told that 'it's weird' or that Fearne (hardly curvaceous herself; ironically the show was a springboard for anorexics posting her image on the very websites she sought to condemn) just can't understand anyone who doesn't love their food.
I'm very happy for Fearne - her life is clearly so peachy that she finds it difficult to identify with anyone who is suffering from the mental anguish that causes and and is a result of anorexia. But watching her raised eyebrows and constant head shaking did not shed any new light on the subject.
Finally - it annoyed me that she was up in arms about the fact the young girls she spoke to from a school think about their body shapes. Yes, the issues that lead to anorexia can start as young as 10, but at the same time, let's not freak out every time a schoolgirl says she thinks she is fat.
When you are a little girl, your body starts changing from the age of about 9. It is gradually cranking up to starting puberty and periods, and there are some pretty drastic alterations that have to take place.
I remember being aghast at lumps and bumps appearing that weren't sexy or womanly at the time - just lumpy and bumpy. I remember going through a stage thinking I was fat, but it was just getting to grips with my changing body. I got over it, and realised I was not fat, just changing.
A lot of girls thankfully also reach the same conclusion, through being guided by their mums/sisters/friends, or just growing up. Fearne went completely OTT about the fact that some of the girls said they were concerned about their body image (she pretty much talked them into saying this!)
Every girl has an evaluative, sometimes critical relationship with her body, but it does not necessarily mean we have to start crying 'anorexia' or 'bulimia' in every single case. We are wrapping today's kids in cotton wool.
It's a shame, because Fearne could have shown herself in a positive light, trying to empathise with the anorexia sufferers rather than making it the 'I don't starve myself, therefore why would anyone else?' show.
At one point she read out in a horrified-verging-on-mocking tone that someone on the website was urging fellow sufferers to do 90 sit-ups after eating a cucumber. Yes, this is alien to anyone without anorexia. But wringing hands and screwing up noses was surely a wholly unhelpful approach to take.
Fearne goes running for miles several times a week. So are we to conclude that she has a body problem? Surely she's skinny enough without doing that? The whole thing just didn't come together and I didn't really see what the crux of the matter was - to offer valuable insight into the dangers of online support groups for anorexics? Or to show Fearne as a golden girl who would never dream of entertaining such a silly eating fad?
A golden investigative journalism opportunity missed.
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