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| Beautiful or Brain Disorder? |
According to a study done by a Ph.D. student from Bowling Green State University and an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, we may have to tanning to the list of possible addictions. Tanning is a very popular activity among many age groups. Our culture has made society believe that beautiful and tan are almost one in the same. Tanning salons are all over Ann Arbor and don't seem to be going anywhere soon. In the study, researches found that out of over 500 subjects, about 31% could be classified as having "tanning dependence" due to variations of OCD or body dysmorphic disorder. To put that into perspective, official DEA statements on marijuana claim that 9 to 12 percent of users are dependent on the drug. That means tanning could possibly be 3 times more addicting than weed, yet society has a MUCH more negative opinion on smoking than tanning.
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The creators of the study acknowledge that it has its faults. The subjects may not be an accurate representation of all of society, they may be more prone to stress due to college, etc. But is this a reason to disregard scientific studies entirely? Why does our society look so down on some addictions yet hold others as beautiful? I argue we should start decriminalizing some of the most "destructive behavior" that can be addicting and offer rehabilitation instead. Our government cherry-picks studies that skew some activities as destructive, yet others as normal, such as tanning. It may not surprise you to hear that tanning causes cancer. Our society needs to treat scientific studies equally and actually take them seriously. The moment society accepts that addictions are a disease as scientists have declared, perhaps Snooki will reconsider going to the tanning salon and check herself into rehab.
This post is less about tanning as an addiction and more meant to be thought provoking on how society and our government treats addiction and the medical science behind them.
This post is less about tanning as an addiction and more meant to be thought provoking on how society and our government treats addiction and the medical science behind them.
Resources:
An article on the study
A NBC article on the classification of addictions as a brain disorder
DEA official stance on Marijuana dangers and consequences
I found your post to be very interesting and the study you brought up that shows tanning as an addiction didn't come as a surprise to me, but I think changes need to be made in order to change the perception of tanning. In the past, cigarettes were promoted as being the cool thing to do in the media, but as a result of studies and the surgeon general's warning, there has been a big change in the perception of smoking. I think it will take a similar movement for tanning to lose its popularity.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your underlying point about government classifications and how we deal with addictions. The Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that 66.7% of drug offenders return to prison within three years of their release here in the US. This number is staggering and shows that our treatment of addictions as crimes does not effectively cut down on drug use. We should follow the examples of countries like Portugal where decriminalization of drugs has caused more Portuguese to seek out treatment for their problems, decreasing rates of HIV infections from needles and overall drug use.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-prisoners-rights/treating-addiction-disease-not-crime
I enjoyed reading your blog about the addiction of tanning and how tanning is considered to be a "natural" part of our society today. I would also like to bring up the point that while tanning may be an addiction here in the West, bleaching, or becoming more "white", is a common trend in the East (especially Asia). There are a plethora of bleaching products found in the markets of Asia. I believe that this can also be considered an addiction, and I find it interesting that bleaching has also become a "natural" part of society in the East. Therefore, I believe that certain addictions are conceptualized based on the locale and cultural perceptions.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article because I think society handles certain addictions very poorly. Nowadays, a tan represents looking good and many people have positive reasons for it, but tanning is just as bad as other addictions. There have been more and more articles about the negative outcomes of tanning, but they are overlooked since our society considers it a good look. In general, all addictions are a very problematic issue and they are very hard to control. What makes it even harder is the influence from society.
ReplyDeleteWhether it is physical or psychological, it is not surprising that studies are saying that tanning is seen as an addiction. People should begin to understanding the severity of this problem that could lead to long term effects and offer some sort of aid. I do believe that society has an incredible amount of influence on how beauty is perceived. Asia is an example where surgery is extremely prevalent, as many have the desire to look a certain way due to a recent culture shift. If our views do not change, people could take further steps and eventually make surgery commonplace.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post. I have always though of tanning as an addictive activity but always brushed it off. Its makes me uneasy to think that everything when not regulated, can become addictive, and cause harm to the human body. Take for instance water. If you drink too much water you can actually drown yourself. Your cells will explode from inside you! scary though I know. And just think, that's just from over hydrating yourself. Society has a negative outlook on a numerous things, but we as our own individuals cannot always follow what society thinks. Tanning is just as bad as smoking if not worse. You can get cancer quicker by tanning than by smoking in my opinion. But society just denotes the act of tanning as a beauty ritual, when it really does harm to the skin. *sigh* oh how society is filled with mindless idiots
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! Tanning is an addiction and I am frazzled that it has not been recognized as such by our government. I once read that a teen person who tans once or more before the age of 17 increases their chances of skin cancer by 70%! I also believe that there are many more addictions within our society that everyone chooses to believe. An example of this is food. Food is an addiction to some people and just like alcohol and drug abuse, there should be rehab for obese people. This rehab should encourage healthy life choices that do not include dieting. They should be provided with nutritionists and exercise coaches who can help create a personalized plan that will guide them in living a healthier life.
I have to agree that tanning is most likely becoming an addiction in the US or even that it already is one. I read at the end of your post how this blog was more focused towards how society can claim addictions and negativity in one area and perfectly fine in another. I also have to agree with you, only until recently are they factoring in that obesity is disease (just like addiction is a disease). It isn't like all these people in America just got fat overnight, it took a lot of testing and negative stereotyping to begin the claims that obesity is a disease. I think that our society looks at the aspects that have a negative effect on it's overall image and deems them to be problems from addictions or diseases and then tries to render them as needing fixed. I think that the US is on its way to stopping tanning salons or imposing even higher taxations on users of them (other than the current 10% tax), once more people start getting skin cancer and tanning becomes a negative thing rather than a positive and beautiful look. Only then will society investigate it as an addiction; because lets be honest, its no one's fault in america that something is wrong with them, they must have some sort of addiction that they can't fix. BLAH! Great post, looks like you got a lot of people thinking outside the box!
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