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My name is Haley, a 23 year old designer interested in the relationship between health and aesthetics, feminism, and the way body image has been presented in the media over time.

This blog focuses on using design-oriented work, media, research, writing, and community input to fuel body positive discussion and outreach. My role in creating this blog is to help do my part to redefine the way we view and think about body image, size, fat politics, health, fitness, wellness, and other related topics.

I am also constantly redefining my own perspective, and therefore tend to write a lot about my personal experiences as a cis, fat, white female with anxiety and depression. Many of my followers and contributors are dealing with anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, depression, and other body image disorders or mental illnesses, so please be respectful and remember that health applies differently to everyone. Any and all potentially triggering content will be prefaced with a trigger warning.

RBI supports all races, genders, classes, and sizes. I try my best to make this a safe space for everyone. If I am not doing my job or checking my privilege, I invite you to please inform me.

Some of the artwork you see here has been created by myself, some sourced when applicable. Please be kind enough to source this blog whenever you share it's content.

LINK
10:23 am
February 15, 2012
959 notes

pompadoursandpincurls:

rabbitfeminist:

radicallane:

violetroots:

womenwithspunkandexplosives:unknowablewoman

Alright, [white] Tumblr vegans. Since I’m unable to physically smack y’all upside your nasty dreaded heads, you get this rant instead.

I want to talk about food choices. 

If you’re not totally clueless, you’re probably already aware of the classism and racism inherent in the “EVERY1 CAN BE VEG*N!!1” trope. We’ve been down that road with them before. We’ve explained food deserts, we’ve explained how costly “healthy” food can be to obtain and prepare for working-class folks with families to feed, we’ve explained the importance of certain foods to minority communities and the problems inherent in assuming there is only one right (see:white) way to respect animals. 

I don’t want to talk about that. I’m not particularly well-read in food politics and I’m not a person of color, so I don’t have much of value to add to that discussion anyway. But there is something I know a hell of a lot about as a fat woman—and that’s dieting, disordered eating, and how incredibly complex and downright agonizing everyday food choices can be for women. 

We are bombarded with messages about food before we even get into grade school. And not just messages—rules. Oh, the rules! It would be hilarious how contradictory they all are (low carb! no fat! low fat! high carb! no egg yolks! yes, egg yolks! YOGURT FOR EVERYONE! but that not that one, it has HFCS! READ EVERY LABEL ON EVERYTHING YOU EAT! low-cal! no-cal! sugar-free!) if they weren’t so fucking damaging. Almost nothing is safe. I’ll just talk about mine for a moment. All these things that vegans tout as the solution to our dietary woes—yeah, they’re not special. Tofu and whole grains? Too many carbs. Fruit? Too much sugar. Vegetables? I don’t like most of them, and then I end up feeling ashamed and disgusting for not wanting to eat a food that I simply DO NOT LIKE THE TASTE OF. Absolutely every item in the grocery store has something wrong with it, so then I end up eating nothing, and then I end up binging because I’m ravenous and I’m losing my mind, and the cycle continues. 

If you can’t identify with any of this, be glad. Be ecstatic that food is a neutral subject for you! I wish it was for me! No, not every woman develops disordered eating or a full-blown eating disorder, but I suspect that the estimates are much higher than we realize. According to this study from 2008, it’s 3 out of 4 American women between the ages of 25 and 45. And it’s not an easy thing to get a handle on, since all surveys on disordered eating are self-reported. Additionally, when the culture around you is sick and obsessed with dieting, it’s obviously going to be difficult to recognize that your own food behaviors are not healthy. 

The point is, for millions of us, giving ourselves permission to simply eat what we want tohas never been an option.

Eat what you want?! Are you kidding? You’ll eat everything! You’ll gain weight until you can’t walk! You can’t do that. What does this has to do with self-righteous veganism? EVERYTHING. It has everything to do with it, because any—yes, absolutely any—set of dietary restrictions can wreak havoc in the mind of someone who is already struggling to feed themselves. I’m not even talking about EDs here, though; shoving veganism down the throat of someone in the throes of a life-threatening ED would be downright criminal. I’m talking about your average woman, one who may not necessarily have a fully developed ED, but she has still internalized countless negative messages about food. This is where, to me, veganism completely breaks down, because I just cannot wrap my mind around telling other people what to eat. 

Eating is hard, okay? I can’t stress enough how difficult it is for some people (myself included, obvs) to feed themselves regularly, healthfully and without guilt. So when you add yet another restriction to the mess of food rules people have already taken to heart—in this case, it’s “no animal products”—you are complicating that even further. I personally cannot adhere to a single food rule or else I lose it. Yes, I lose it. I will stay up all night for days on end fantasizing about that forbidden food, I will binge on it, and I will then abuse myself for eating it.

I’m not saying mistreating animals raised for food products is acceptable. I’m saying you’re blaming the wrong people. You’re disrespecting and shaming people who are just trying to survive in a food-obsessed culture rather than going after the corporations themselves that you have grievances with, and in the process, you are actively doing harm. Every time you or one of your buddies tells someone that eating cheese is wrong, you add another layer to the deliciously horrible cake of food guilt that we’re all carrying around. Because for some of us, cheese may be safe. Cheese may be that one thing we can eat without wanting to purge, or maybe it’s the way we get our protein, or WHATEVER. It’s actually none of your fucking business, but I digress.

thank you

Oh my god this

Especially LOVE the last paragraph.

Great read!

also, hehehe “your nasty dreaded heads”. white vegans seriously stop getting dreads it does not make you “more natural” or whatever it just makes you racist

[bold mine]

THANK you.

My mom put me on my first diet when I was still a toddler. I remember wondering why I had different food than all the other kids in preschool and kindergarten. I am not kidding.

You do not want to fuck with me and my food issues.

(via cage-veil-cunt)

Source: saturniinae
Tags: food food politics body politics body image eating disorder ED politics

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959 notes

1. miscellanii liked this
2. superhusbandslove reblogged this from iamateenagefeminist and added:

   *TRIGGER WARNING FOR DISCUSSION ABOUT EATING DISORDER*

3. the--generators liked this
4. smallestde3 liked this
5. enuwey reblogged this from sexxxisbeautiful
6. enuwey liked this
7. frenching101 liked this
8. perdito reblogged this from saturniinae
9. plaidfluff reblogged this from aceeccentric and added:

   I am always practically one major anxiety attack away from a full-blown eating disorder (I spent two weeks recently...

10. releasethehoundscharles reblogged this from saviors-of-jazz-ballet
11. that-misery-chick reblogged this from aceeccentric and added:

    The last paragraph is amazing.

12. saviors-of-jazz-ballet reblogged this from aceeccentric and added:

    This is super important. I’ve seen vegans be real dicks about a lot of things, and I want to punch them all the fucking...

13. wiiseong liked this
14. geeknip reblogged this from squareroot-1
15. squareroot-1 reblogged this from radicallane
16. cuddlyscientist liked this
17. jumpinjehosaphats liked this
18. hannahwillkickyoudownthestairs liked this
19. queen0fcups reblogged this from bigfatfeminist
20. runawayjoincircus liked this
21. johnnarock liked this
22. biodegradablegender reblogged this from sexxxisbeautiful
23. mmrr liked this
24. amoammo reblogged this from acekwright and added:

    This is a really interesting post about respecting people’s actual / perceived food choices.

25. mxbuttfarts liked this
26. rararamyeon liked this
27. angrybanette reblogged this from woollymindedlib and added:

    i feel like we read two different articles because the one i read did nothing of the sort. it rightly pointed out that...

28. woollymindedlib reblogged this from wannabefit4life and added:

    basically. while i’m very sad that op struggles with their eating habits, it’s prejudicial and bilious to somehow turn...

29. believersneverhiatus reblogged this from loveintheshadowsistheonlykind
30. frrrass liked this
31. loveintheshadowsistheonlykind reblogged this from bigfatfeminist and added:

    This all cannot be said enough.

32. runnerwithin reblogged this from wannabefit4life
33. wannabefit4life reblogged this from vegfreak and added:

    You’re right, I just took it the wrong way because people have made comments that my eating habits are just a mask for...

34. vegfreak reblogged this from wannabefit4life and added:

    i think it’s about the whole “everyone can be vegan”-thing. It’s not attacking vegan beliefs but people who shove their...

35. coldarrow reblogged this from fyeahlilbitoeverything
36. pretty-procrastination liked this
37. how-woozy-my-heart reblogged this from tolivebythesea
38. aliveandselving liked this
39. waaht liked this
40. thisisformetolookatporn liked this
41. captainjackandalice reblogged this from fedonhoneydew
42. firssandseas reblogged this from sexxxisbeautiful and added:

    probably shouldn’t try to convince people with eating disorders to become vegan, that’s kind of true. however, there are...

43. strawberryrollerskates reblogged this from saturniinae and added:

    worse than being

44. autumnsweetly liked this
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46. thriceandonce liked this
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