Good news: people are waking up to the fact that eating disorders actually happen to males.

Bad news: news coverage is the same old drivel.

"Now men fall prey to anorexia as they seek a body like Beckham"

These stories seem to go in one of two directions.

1) How horrible! Now even men are worried about their appearance! The fashion industry has gone too far.

(As if an industry that makes women paranoid is bad, but tolerable. Men? What is this world coming to?)

2) Tsk, tsk. Those silly boys. Falling prey to the same illusions that women have.

(Congratulations! You, too, were stupid enough to buy a plane ticket to the Land of Obsession!)

Have rates of eating disorders in males been rising? We don't know. Have diagnoses increased because awareness has increased? Almost certainly. But that doesn't mean an actual increase in the number of cases. People can (and do) suffer in silence.

Are increasing emphases on "eating healthy" and looking "ripped" influencing things? Almost certainly. But it's not a cause. A trigger, maybe. But a cause? No.

The cultural experience of an eating disorder in a male is going to be different than in a female. How he understands his illness, how others understand his illness- these things are bound to be different.

But the biological core? Pretty much the same.

Did anyone else think that picture (I'm assuming it was of Beckham himself, but I wouldn't know) was vaguely lewd? Almost pornographic? There are plenty of other pictures of this guy. If your article is about how these images are harming people, why are you using an image that is harming people?

You don't want to gain weight during the holidays, right? Not you! You will escape the gluttony that is the 5 weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years'.

Wait! You can do more! Not only can you keep from gainingweight, you can actually lose! That's right. You know that holiday party you've been dreading next weekend? The one you bought that sexy little black dress for that now doesn't fit because you had that extra slice of turkey on Thanksgiving and gained 20 pounds?

That dress.

You can wear it again. With these seven easy ways to lose ten pounds in ten minutes, you can impress your friends, rekindle your husband's waning desire, and make the slutty office secretary jealous.

1. Amputate a limb! No longer is it no pain, no gain. It's also no pain, no loss! Call your doctor today and soon you will be able to lose up to 30 pounds with a few simple cuts.
2. Before you step on the scale in the morning, pick up two 5-pound hand weights. With weights in hand, step on the scale. Note the number. Then, set the weights down and step back on the scale. The number should be ten pounds lower. Good for you!
3. No hand weights? No problem! Buy a cheap, old-model bathroom scale. For this method to work, it can't be digital. Turn the dial on the scale so that it's set at 10 pounds below zero. Now step on the scale as usual. Ta-da! You weigh less!
4. Buy a more expensive version of your little black dress. All women know that more expensive clothing means smaller sizes. You might not lose weight, but you'll be able to wear that size 4 you've always wanted.
5. When you check your height, wear stilts. A guaranteed way to lower your BMI, without any fad diets or exercise.
6. Encourage your friends to gain weight. You'll look thinner next to them.
7. Use leeches. Blood has weight. If you let the leeches remove enough blood, your weight will go down. They've been used as a homeopathic remedy for ages, so it's guaranteed to be safe and improve your health.

See? Anyone can lose weight and improve their body image- in no time flat!!!

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I'm realizing that this is about as scientific and helpful as a lot of the other articles out there. I hope you, uh, enjoy it.

I found this articles funny until I realized that these people were being serious. Dead serious. Most of the people I know (who don't diet) don't really gain weight during the holidays. Why? It's just food. Seriously.

It's.

Just.

Food.

I'm not there yet. And over-indulging isn't one of my strong points. Even just typing the word "indulge" sends chills down my spine.

But there's also a huge difference between "enjoyment" and "gluttony". If a woman enjoys what she eats, she is somehow being a glutton. There aren't any "Hungry Woman" microwave dinners. There are Healthy Choice, Weight Watchers "Right Ones", and Lean Cuisine. Part of the reason I feel odd eating in front of other women (my male classmate notwithstanding because he has a hollow leg somewhere) is that I eat so much more than they do. I get that I have a pretty fast metabolism, that I'm pretty active. Yet I have a hard time, even after all of this, to eat more than someone else.

Women who eat a lot are pigs.

This is what our culture tells us. These weight loss articles really aren't geared towards men. They're not. Men don't have "vanity sizing." Not that they don't have their own food, weight, and body image issues.

And a shout out to Rachel at The F Word for inspiring this post.