Consuming Thoughts

Understanding eating disorders and body image.
by Pamela Keel

Smarter than she looks

Rhodes scholar finalist, graduate from Stanford University with honors, Harvard Law School student, news anchor, author of 4 books, Executive Director of foundation for veterans . . . this list of accomplishments brings a certain image to mind, and that image is not a 20-something year old woman wearing a tiara and walking down a pageant runway with a bouquet of roses. Read More

Photos on Facebook

Like a lot of people my age, I joined Facebook to reconnect with high school friends in anticipation of my 20th high school reunion. As part of the lead up to the reunion, classmates were asked to post high school pictures to a shared photo album. Read More

Height and Weight of Playboy Centerfolds - Why Bother?

In this month's Wired magazine, Katharine Gammon uses reported height and weight for Playboy centerfolds to examine how their Body Mass Index has changed over recent decades. Read More

Idealizing vs. Identifying: Two Pathways to Public Appeal

The media offers women several kinds of public figures. There are public figures we can idealize and who may represent aspirational goals, and there are public figures with whom we can identify and who reflect experiences of our own lives.

Both figures hold immense appeal, but the appeal is based on different qualities.

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The Biology of Blame, Part II

Will emerging biological explanations of eating disorders help or hurt patients? Read More

Knowing Thyself

"Do I look fat in these jeans?" Read More

Biology and Blame

Identifying the causes of eating disorders may help us understand why some people develop these devastating illnesses, but it won't give us a target for blame. Read More

Pamela Keel

Pamela Keel, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University.

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