Stick Figure

A diary of my former self
by Lori Gottlieb

Stick Figure is Gottlieb’s diary from when she was 11 years old, and anorexic. She started out sounding like a normal 11-year-old — questioning why women were so weird about eating. On one page of the women’s magazines her mom read was a new diet, and on the next page a recipe for a triple-chocolate layer cake. But, something seemed to snap, and she became the one who was diet-obsessed. Even though she was only 11-years old and 65 pounds, she put herself on a diet, so she could be the thinnest girl at school.

I think I’ve been interested in anorexia because my eating disorder has manifested itself as over-eating. I’ve always secretly wished that I could have gone in the direction of anorexia instead. I know that it’s no more healthy than over-eating, but at least then I would be thin. I know that’s twisted, and reading Stick Figure gave me a good picture into the mind of at least on anorexic. Their life is in no way better than mine, just messed up in a different way. Gottlieb even worried about getting calories from licking stamps or smelling food!