Fda Blames Japanese Anime For Thai Teens' Obsession With Body Image

[FarangFarang]

 

Female teens around the world suffer from body image insecurity and eating disorders, but the motives might have some regional differences.

 

So why do Thai girls feel insecure about their bodies and adopt insane methods to lose weight?

 

A top public health official has identified a foreign social evil that’s responsible for robbing Thai teens of their confidence: Japanese anime.

 

Thai teenagers are obsessed with the unrealistic skinny bodies they see in Japanese anime, so they use dangerous diet pills and get addicted to coffee and tea, according to Prapon Angtrakul, deputy secretary general of the Food and Drugs Administration.

 

The FDA seems to think Thai teens look to Sailor Moon and Chobits for role models, despite the abundance of silicon-stuffed actresses and stick-figure fashion models in local media.

 

Rest of the story is here:  http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/02/17/fda-blames-japanese-anime-thai-teens-obsession-body-image

[C Milles Manson]

Perhaps they should worry less about the body image issue and instead confront the fact that much (but not all) anime propagates child pornography, albeit in cartoon form.

Does this make it any less harmful? I would argue not as it makes violent sexual scenes towards children acceptable in the eyes of those who watch it.

In fact, the slightly disturbed and often morally contradictory culture that exists in Japan has led to child pornography only recently being outlawed in Japan (but not in the field of anime and hentai)

Hoorah I hear you shout. At least they have made it illegal. Well yes, sort of. Rather than heavy monetary penalties, possible jail sentences or inclusion on a sex offenders register, what do authorities do if they catch an individual in possession of such repugnant images? Why they give them 12 months to get rid of it before facing any prosecution.

The body image issue may be perpetuated in anime but the copy cat regime of Asian youngsters is a far more recent phenomenon than anime itself. I would say that it is more the fault of the various vacuous pop scenes; from Korea to Japan to Thailand, that have brought these images of 'perfection' into the public sphere, hand in hand with the vacuous teen aimed media that highlights the various facets of these 'looks' straight into the impressionable minds of teenagers.