Unhealthy Food Allergy Stereotypes

Sorry this is late, I had my first ever AP exam this week, which I think went pretty well.  Anyway, this past week was Food Allergy Awareness Week, so I thought I'd cover food allergy stereotypes in the media with this post.

As a teen with  life threatening food allergies, the stereotypes about food allergies in the media deeply bother me, and I am on the receiving end of the negative side effects these stereotypes and portrayals create.

Allergies are complicated. Some people have very mild food allergies, some have life threatening ones where symptoms include projectile vomiting and throat swelling, while most have allergies everywhere in between. Food allergies are autoimmune disorders where your body's white blood cells attack food proteins instead of germs. There are so many things that take years of living with food allergies to understand and everything varies greatly for each individual with allergies. It's very hard on the people who are trying to help you. The stereotypes in the media just make it worse. The media portrays allergies as a weakness, and annoying habit, something funny to laugh at "Oh look, you're swelling up like a balloon and your throats closing because you ate a walnut. How hilarious!". Do I laugh at you for having cancer or alzheimer's? Of course not! Allergies are not a joke. They are not a preference or someone "just being picky." They are a medical condition

Whenever I see allergies portrayed in movies, TV shows or other media, it's always a negative portrayal. I have only once seen an allergy just be part of a character and not have a big deal made out of it (in The Help). Mostly I see food allergies laughed at. In Meet the Robinsons they make fun of a man having an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts.  In Sleepless in Seattle, one of the characters had food allergies, but they're shown as a weakness and a reason to not like the character which is absurd.

A peanut allergy being made fun of in Meet the Robinsons

It's rare to see any mention of allergies at all, and when they are mentioned you can be assured they are cast in a negative light. They are simply not taken seriously. Food allergies are a real challenge, but they're not a weakness in your character or something humourous. Some people don't know anyone with food allergies and so their only exposure to the concept of allergies are these stereotypes. This makes them treat allergies like a joke, which in turn can harm those with allergies. When you have food allergies, you sometimes have to rely on other people and it's incredibly hard for the people to "get it". Stereotypes make it harder still.

It's very annoying when the media shows a reality that doesn't exist, like they do with food allergies. You'd figure someone making that movie or that TV show has an allergy or knows someone with one -- surely they will speak up, and say "hey, this isn't what a food allergies are like." But no, the stereotypes continue.

Many people have food allergies today and they are gradually becoming much more common. As they do, I hope the media will start to portray them realistically and stop treating them like a joke. Allergies are not a laughing matter, and it's high time for the media to stop laughing and treat allergies like the serious medical condition that they are.

If you want to learn more about food allergies check out http://www.foodallergy.org/ They have some great resources.
-- Captain Sarah Jane