Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Speech On The Danger Of A Single Story Analysis

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives a wonderful speech on the danger of a Single Story, talking about her own personal experience. She was subjected to years of remarks about her African ethnicity that were down right disrespectful to say the least. Our whole lives we hear stories of a group of people or situations people have gone through, and this causes us to develop as a society a stereotype of these groups. One kind of stereotype society tends to put into one category is the type of people develop an eating disorder. Many people believe that eating disorders only really happen to wealthy, caucasian females who feel pressured by society to live up to a certain appearance. Even though statistically speaking it is where the majority of eating …show more content…
The people I was surrounded by did not help, friends and even family would always remark that certain people would only get eating disorders. This caused me to be convinced I did not have a problem what so ever. Everyone around me believing this single story of who got eating disorders was one of the biggest reasons I never got help or even acknowledged that I had a problem. A problem so big my hair began to fall out, I was always shaking and getting sick.
I remember one day in particular I was sitting with a group of friends and a girl walked by who was known in my school for having Bulimia and Anorexia. She perfectly fit the single story that everyone believed, of what a person who had eating disorders looked and acted like. She was walking out of the bathroom and one of my friends said “How much do you want to bet little miss skinny just puked up her lunch?” Everyone at my table laughed but I just stayed quiet because not too long ago that same day I had done that exact thing with my …show more content…
Someone would make a remark about a person with an eating disorder and I would feel completely guilty because I was doing the same thing. This is what also stopped me from getting help for a very long time as well. I would think no one would believe I had a serious problem and they would tell me people like me do not get eating disorders. That in fact did happen one day, I tried to tell an old friend that I thought I had a problem with food and instead of listening to me she went on to tell me that “only white girls get eating disorders. You’re being dumb.” I felt trapped and hopeless. She put white girls into an awful group that I believe no one, regardless of race or anything should be put into. I also had an eating disorder that was now controlling me instead of I controlling it and I felt like no one would want to listen because “people like me did not get eating