Use of irony undermines discussion of a serious topic
Editor - I wonder if I'm alone in feeling
uncomfortable with Debashis Singh's interview with Caryn
Franklin.1 In the opening paragraph, he describes himself
as nearly drooling over so many "gaggingly gorgeous models." Mr
Singh tells us how he is aware of an ironic contrast between the
serious nature of eating disorders and the "bubble bath
superficiality" backstage at a fashion show. He seems unaware,
however, of any irony in his description of the models when the bulk of
the interview is about the dangers of a fashion industry that
"promotes the emaciated look as the ideal." Don't his overemployed
salivary glands imply a belief in that ideal? Or does Mr Singh simply
want to have his cake and drool over it too? He wants to sound
sensitive to the social pressures on women and seems to agree with
Caryn Franklin's campaign. He knows what it's like girls, it's a
"brutal, body fascist industry" but, hey, would you look at those
babes!
While on the subject of irony, and from the same edition of the
studentBMJ, I couldn't help but wonder if Jake Harino
in his letter commenting on Morris's Soundings column "The art of
healing"2 has not in fact had a bypass of that
particular form of humour. I believe that Morris was actually joking
about arts students and, if anything, the column criticised those
particular medical students who are, well, narrow minded.
Both these examples remind me of something I encounter daily in mental
health work: that medical training seems to promote a culture of
intellectual superiority at the expense of thinking.
Denise Barulis, clinical psychologist, Suite 21, Albion House, Sidney Street, North Shields NE29 0DW
Email: den.barulis@cableinet.co.uk
studentBMJ 2000;08:259-302 August ISSN 0966-6494
- Singh D. A body to die for. studentBMJ 2000;8:207.
- Harino J. Medics should not be narrow minded. studentBMJ 2000;8:208.
