Redefining Body Image

28 Common Racist Attitudes & Behaviors ;

justwordsandatune:

I thought this was very well-written and informative.

I’m always saying “I’m sorry for what white people have done to you/continue to do to you” but I don’t always follow that with a solution to the problem at hand.

Time to change that.

Omg, I want to print this out and throw them everywhere, especially at school, so many people do these things and don’t understand that racism is at lot more subversive than someone just spewing racial slurs

VERY good article for people to read. It’s a little lengthy, but don’t let that throw you off!

t 4 months ago

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t 4 months ago

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Look. I don’t want people to die. I don’t want the next generation of kids to have lower life-expectancies than their parents. I want people to be healthy! But first of all, though weight loss can certainly improve some people’s health, “fat” does not universally equal “unhealthy.” Health itself is a much more effective and specific goal. And campaigns like this—which target fat people instead of the system that makes them fat—do nothing but hurt that supposed cause. An anti-fat-people campaign is still an ANTI-PEOPLE CAMPAIGN. And I’m pretty sure that treating people (fat people are people!) like animals, cartoonish ice cream addicts, and disease vectors is decidedly bad for people’s health. The times in my life when I’ve been healthiest align directly with the times I’ve been happiest. This is not a loose correlation.

Here’s a thought, America: If you really want people to be healthier (I’m not entirely convinced that you do, but that’s another article altogether), why don’t we treat the concept of getting healthy the way that getting healthy actually works? There is nothing that anyone is going to do or say that’s going to make fat people skinny tomorrow. Sorry. There is no magic commercial that’s going to shame people into becoming thin overnight—just like there’s no housewife who discovered one weird trick to burning off belly fat. It’s just not going to happen. The real problem is much bigger, much harder to solve, and much less fun for people who get off on hating fat people.

The truth is that we live in a country where the system of food production is colossally fucked. There is a systematic campaign to trick people into eating garbage because garbage is cheap to produce. There are whole communities who either can’t afford or physically can’t access fresh, healthy ingredients. The “obesity epidemic” is not a “fat kids love Cheetos epidemic.” No fat people are up in arms when you criticize Kellogg’s for claiming that Frosted Flakes are “part of a nutritious breakfast.” No fat people get defensive when you make fun of that LUDICROUS Nutella commercial where the mom says she feeds her kids candy-spread for breakfast because it’s “wholesome nuts with a hint of cocoa” or whatever. Because those things? They are what’s known as ACTUAL PROBLEMS.

And you know what? Even if we managed to fix our insane food production and distribution system, there will still be fat people and that will be just fine. There have always been fat people. There are fat people like me, who hardly ever eat any processed foods. There are fat people with glandular issues. There are disabled fat people who would love to exercise but can’t. There are healthy fat people. And sure, there are fat people who—fuck it—just really really like Cheetos. Guess what? Those people are allowed to exist too! There are a million different kinds of fat people in the world because FAT PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE. And kids are people. And if your solution to this “problem” is telling already vulnerable fat kids that they’re an epidemic that’s ruining the world, then fuck you. Try harder.

”

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“It’s Hard Enough to Be a Fat Kid Without the Government Telling You You’re an Epidemic” by Lindy West

This article and those fucking hateful ads make me want to launch a pro-fat pro-health pro-people campaign. PRO EVERYTHING. BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT WRONG.

Seriously. Give me the funds, the time, and a badass creative team and I will change some fucking minds. I want to so terribly. Maybe one day. Until then, I’ll keep putting my little graphics out into the world. Small-scale is better than none.

t 7 months ago

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t 7 months ago

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First, discussing thin privilege is absolutely not thin shaming. Thin shaming occurs when people say things like “She needs to eat a sandwich”, or “real women have curves.” I think that is precisely as bad as fat shaming and it’s something that I speak out against on a regular basis and I have taken my share of criticism from some facets of the Size Acceptance community for doing so (I even got ejected from a Size Acceptance Facebook Group and told that I should just start a thin acceptance group if that’s how I felt) and have never, and will never, back down from my position.

Discussing thin privilege is being honest about the realities of modern society and culture, which include the fact that even if a thin person feels that they “might as well be 400 pounds,” and I would never argue with their description of their experience, their cultural experience will be very different than that of a person who actually is 400-pounds. To be clear, thin privilege is not something that thin people ask for, it is conferred. Having thin privilege does not mean that women who are thin are not hurt by a cultural stereotype of beauty that is unattainable, or that they don’t have a right to feel or express their feelings about that – they are and they do. The concept of thin privilege is about acknowledging that fat people deal with that, and also deal with institutionalized oppression like:

• Seats in restaurants, planes, movie theaters etc. are often not made to accommodate us and if we point that out we are often subjected to shame and/or additional costs

• We can find a limited supply of clothes in a limited number of styles and a limited number of stores. Often a fat person can be at a large shopping mall and be unable to find a single piece of clothing in their size, let alone find something that fits their personal taste and style

• Courts use our body size as part of determining if we are fit parents.

• We can find articles in the media daily suggesting that we are to blame for everything from global warming to healthcare costs. These are typically completely without evidence, even contrary to the evidence that exist,s and yet they are reported as fact and repeated to us by family, friends, coworkers, doctors and others

• The government has organized public and private interests to wage a war against us because of our size. They are encouraging people to stereotype us based on how we look, assume that we are a drain on society and support our eradication, by force if necessary, to make things “cheaper”.

• When we speak up and say that we aren’t the walking stereotypes they claim we are, we are told that thin people are more competent witnesses to our experiences than we are, and that we have no right to speak up for ourselves.

• People moo at us at the gym, throw things at us from cars, refuse to hire us, fire us without cause, confront us about what they assume our choices are in public places, etc.

• It can be impossible for us to get good medical care because doctors don’t listen to or believe us. I’ve personally been prescribed weight loss for a broken toe, separated shoulder, strep throat and anemia. There are entire forums online dedicated to fat people’s stories of mistreatment by the people who are supposed to be entrusted with our health.

• We are told that the cure for all of this societal stigma, oppression and bullying is to become thin.

• Studies suggest that even if we manage to beat the odds and become thin, we will continue to be subjected to discrimination that women who have always been thin will not.

If you have thin privilege I am fully aware that you didn’t ask for it, and that it doesn’t protect you from a society that is poison when it comes to self-esteem and body image. In the end I am a very outcome-based individual and so, though I definitely appreciate it when people acknowledge their thin privilege, thereby acknowledging the institutional oppression that fat people face (as I try to be aware of and acknowledge my own in other realms), it’s much more important to me that we change the culture that hurts us all, than that thin people agree that they benefit from thin privilege. Oppression of any of us hurts all of us so I’d rather fight oppression than fight about thin privilege.

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- What’s this thin privilege thing? by Ragen Chastain

t 8 months ago

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t 8 months ago

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FOR F*#$'S SAKE, FAT PEOPLE NEED TO GO TO THE DOCTOR TOO ;

As some of you may have noticed, I’m really rather fat. I mention it only because it’s relevant — it has a significant impact on my life; people treat me differently because I am fat.

Or, in some cases, refuse to treat me. Which is what happened recently to Ida Davidson, who was turned away from her new primary care physician. The stated reason? Ida Davidson weighs too much for the doctor’s office to accommodate her.

In fact, Dr. Helen Carter of Shrewsbury, MA (if you were curious and wanted a name to add to the list of Doctors To Avoid) claims that her office has seen three consecutive injuries from trying to provide care for people weighing over 250 pounds.

That’s injuries to patients, by the way. Fat people who go to her office tend to get hurt.

t 8 months ago

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t 8 months ago

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There is more to eating than calories, even biochemically – there are vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, antioxidants, electrolytes, fluids, dietary fibre, all the raw materials for repairing and remodeling every single cell in your body. More than that, there is culture, family history, occasion, artistry, skill, growth, feelings of joy or resentment, pleasure or distaste. There are emotional associations and memories, and there is the basic affirmation of life – “I need to eat to survive, and I am worth the effort to survive.” Every act of eating reaffirms your right to exist.

There is more to movement than calories, even biochemically – there is bone strengthening, muscle building, aerobic fitness, neural growth, balancing of hormones and lipid transporters, and every single involuntary movement and chemical reaction carried on below your conscious awareness, working around the clock to stave off entropy. More than that, there is fun, adventure, challenge, mastery, strength, place associations, social bonding, the experience of being an alive thing on a round, blue speck in the galaxy. There is a basic affirmation that you exist in a world you were designed to navigate.

Even if you are disabled, even if you have some impairment, your body is still exploring – from the bat of an eyelash to a trip to the bathroom. You are negotiating, discovering, navigating a physical existence.

You were made for this world. You belong in it, and it belongs to you.

Eating and moving: your right to exist, and a world in which to exist. They are not rivals. They do not annihilate each other. They collaborate to make a whole person, body and soul.

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- Food and exercise are not matter and anti-matter, by Michelle (The Fat Nutritionist)

t 9 months ago

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t 9 months ago

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…we’re all still being told — however indirectly — that we must continue to worry about becoming or being fat, but now we’re also being told not to worry about it, or rather, that we should add to our worries the worry over the worrying. But here’s a radical idea.

Just stop.

I KNOW, this sounds like a bananas notion. Who would have considered a lot of the stress we feel around the size and shape of our bodies could be expunged just by our simply deciding not to freak out about it anymore? But even science says that if only we can stop worrying about being fat so much, we will all probably feel better, and for some of us, possibly even wind up gaining less weight in the long run (not to mention avoid all the other health problems too much stress can lead to, regardless of your weight).

We could replace the fat worry with something else, something constructive, like, say, hmm, feeling good and subjectively healthy and strong in our bodies regardless of what they currently looks like. We could even spend some of that reclaimed worry-energy on positive reinforcement of the things we like about our bodies, and on being kinder, both to ourselves and to each other, and on not using “fat” as a negative or a pejorative, but as a neutral descriptor.

I am aware that saying “Just stop,” and actually stopping are two very distinct processes, especially considering that, for many people — and women in particular — this concern over body size is something we learned to incorporate into our self-assessment very early in life, and is a practice we have grown comfortable with, to the extent that in some cases we may not want to give it up.

So instead of suggesting we all stop, right now, forever, I’m going to suggest we stop for one day. Call it a social experiment. Set your alarm for it. I want to know if you can spend one day refusing to worry about being fat, or getting fat, or any other perceived imperfection of your body. When the worry appears, react as a fat-neutral zen monk might: Acknowledge its presence, and let it drift away as a cloud. Don’t focus on it.

”

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Stop worrying about being fat for just one day - by Lesley at xoJane

I found this article extremely interesting and informative and helpful in many ways, however I would like to address one thing - sometimes, we are simply not capable of “just stopping”. Especially those who live with a mental illness or disability that makes it hard or nearly impossible to “just stop” worrying. As much as some of us would like to, as much as we know it would be best for us, as much as we can think rationally about it - we don’t always have that kind of control. It is a privilege to have that kind of automatic control.

t 9 months ago

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t 9 months ago

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This xoJane article showcases thin- (and other privileges) firsthand ;

thisisthinprivilege:

This xoJane article by Daisy sparked a firestorm this EST early-afternoon, with fat-feeling Daisy bemoaning her inability to feel skinnyandhot when hot-tubbing in Tahoe and spinning at the gym, thereby justifying why she’s “not okay with being fat” (and the rest of us need to be okay that she’s not okay with being fat).

It might have been yet another skinny-obsessed article in the annals of the hundreds that get published every day, except:

xoJane is a so-called feminist publication

Daisy drops giant hints that this isn’t just about her self-perception, but about being fat.

For instance:

Now I have to do something about it. You can’t tell the world you think you’re fat and then not lose weight. Or at least I can’t.

Then why use the generalized “you”? Why not make this entirely about yourself instead of trying to drag the rest of us into it? Or would that be entirely too narcissistic? This article is all about navel-gazing. Might as well go all the way. And no, I’m not particularly interested in gazing at your navel, fat or thin.

What bothers me lately, however, is that there doesn’t seem to be much room here for those of us who aren’t happy with the way we look and feel. I mean, it can’t just be me, right?

Um…go to pretty much any women’s magazine, e- or print. Are you really that threatened when one of the hundreds of publications dares to ‘overrepresent’ a body-image-positive viewpoint?

And, sorry, but there’s nothing worse than going to a class at the gym and realizing you’re the biggest girl there.

and

…I am not writing this to get compliments or reassurance (or insults). I’m writing it because it’s how I feel and because I think it’s OK to want to improve one’s body. I’m writing it because I think xoJane underrepresents that point of view in an admittedly noble attempt to make us all feel equal and beautiful.

What I read in this: fat bodies are worse bodies (hence her ‘improvement’ by losing weight), and it’s ‘noble’ to ‘make us all feel equal and beautiful’ cuz, yanno, we aren’t actually equal and beautiful, but it’s nice to be charitable to the worser-offs.

Read it and the comments to see just how hard privilege fights back when it’s threatened. Privileged people can’t bear another viewpoint. They can’t bear having their preconceptions challenged. They can’t bear having choices that align with maintaining their privilege challenged by being put in a socially conscious context.

(it’s also incredibly class-privileged, but that’s fairly obvious)

t 11 months ago

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t 11 months ago

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Like it or not, fat people are at war. I’m not hyperbolizing or dramatizing. If you don’t believe me, Google “War on obesity”. Tonight HBO premiered its new documentary series “The Weight of a Nation”. On the premiere page it says “Obesity in America has reached a catastrophic level. Almost every aspect of our lives is threatened. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back.”

I spend a lot of my time politely asking people to please stop oppressing me. I don’t apologize for that, nor do I begrudge it – it’s proven to be a very effective way to create change and I think that people deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt and the support they need to shift their thinking, and it’s a reasonably pleasant form of activism. I will continue to do it.

But I also have to acknowledge that there is a war being waged against me because of how I look, by people who have been given every opportunity to know better. In concert with HBO’s documentary, I received a Tweet letting me know that Kaiser Permanente is launching the “most aggressive anti-obesity campaign in history.”

They know that there are healthy fat people and unhealthy thin people. They know that not a shred of research shows that any method of weight loss works in the long term. They know that research shows us that we could vastly increase health by providing access to healthy foods, safe movement options, and affordable/free evidence based health care. Nobody is obligated to be healthy or thin; however, I wonder how many people would make different choices if they knew they just need 30 minutes of moderate movement 5 days a week? If they knew that people who choose simple healthy habits have very similar health outcomes regardless of weight. What would people choose if they knew they could abandon the goal of weight loss completely and they could still pursue health. America could be a successful role model for giving people access to health, but instead they are choosing to be a failed role model for thinness - waging war on people based on their appearance for tremendous profit and actively blaming the casualties of the war for the war’s massive failures.

Let’s be clear - they are pathologizing a body size. It doesn’t matter if they say that we need to seek solutions environmentally instead of at the individual level, or if they say that we should have “compassion” for fat people – they are still telling people that is is not ok to exist in fat bodies and that they should see fat bodies as a threat to America. There are tons of thin people who eat unhealthy foods and are sedentary (which is completely their right), but as far as the government is concerned, as long as you are thin you’re part of the “solution,” feel free to do whatever you want. They want people to look at me (and you, if you’re fat) and think “She is part of a catastrophe. She is threatening almost every aspect of our lives. The first step toward ending the damage is learning how to fight back against her.”

I say that if they want a war, I will damn well give them one.

”

- They Want A War, Let’s Give Them One - By Ragen Chastain

t 1 year ago

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t 1 year ago

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Lets imagine for a moment, a nation in which all fat, obese, super obese, sort-of-overweight people, and generally dissatisfied folks, agreed that obesity is the problem plaguing our nation and deserves to be eradicated. What exactly would that look like?

• Would there be an economic cut-off point for those who were affected by the anti-obesity measures?: Imagine someone like Rush Limbaugh, being told by the government or his employer that he is required to eat 1,200 calories per day and exercise a minimum of 30 minutes each day until he reaches his ideal weight. Or perhaps imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger (since technically he is obese). Do you think people would have faith in a governor of a state who is not even allowed to choose whether he gets to have a snack or not?

• Would there be racial considerations?: Would the government provide exactly the same anti-obesity measures to African-Americans? Mexican-Americans? African-Americans? Would the poor receive the same health care as the rich? Obviously anti-obesity is ONLY relative to health, so clearly we would have to have government provided health care. Would senators receive the same Anti-Obesity health care as welfare recipients?

• Would we allow genetic manipulation?: If we could guarantee genetically that a child would never be fat, would we take those steps in-utero? Would we abort a child who had the potential to become fat? Would we accept austerity measures and sterilize anyone who has not conquered their obesity by a certain reproductive age? Would sterilization be equal among men and women?

(…) Have we really stopped to ask ourselves, exactly what the “Obesity Epidemic” people want? Some may say “personal responsibility!!” because fat is clearly a personal choice. But have we stopped to ask ourselves exactly what that “personal responsibility” entails? Who is going to enforce this personal responsibility? Our employers? Senators? The President? Who? Who exactly will be subject to the enforcement of personal responsibility? And if we’re talking about responsibility without enforcement, then we should be asking ourselves what cost this propaganda has. If there is no measure to back up this hysteria, then these articles are just inflammatory. They encourage hatred and violence towards a specific group of people. Why is that okay?

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- The Perils of Propaganda by Carolyn Fox

t 1 year ago

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t 1 year ago

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On the Weight of the Nation website, the CDC calls its new hatefest “an unprecedented public health campaign.” Really? Let me list on my pudgy fingers a few of the more obvious public health campaigns attempting to herd us around this same mulberry bush:

• 1956: President Eisenhower establishes the President’s Council on Youth Fitness in response to fears that Americans are getting “soft.” The program celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2006, when people were still “soft.”

• 1994: The National Institutes of Health establishes WIN, the Weight-control Information Network. Because being fat is caused by lack of information.

• 1994: U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop launches “Shape Up America!” Eighteen years later, his campaign’s budget is in great shape.

• 2003: The CDC launches a $125 million anti-“obesity” ad campaign called “Verb, it’s what you do.” Because fat children, who are too stupid to understand nutrition labels, must surely obey the rules of grammar.

• 2010: Michelle Obama says, “Let’s Move!” That’s code for “solving the problem of obesity within a generation.” Creepy! Also, given the track record of previous campaigns, she’s smart to set a deadline long after anyone will hold her accountable.

This list doesn’t include the plentiful state and local efforts to eradicate fat people. Clearly, for at least the past 60 years, fat people have not been welcome in America. Officially. The weight blame goes either to fat people personally, to the environment, or both. Either way, two-thirds of us (and at least a fifth of our children) aren’t welcome here. Though unwelcome, we’re sure useful as easy targets.

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- Weight of the Nation Serves Up More Fat-Shaming, By Marilyn Wann

t 1 year ago

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t 1 year ago

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You don’t have to be Freud or even Freudian to understand that looking at our earliest associations with food, love, and self-soothing MAY provide us with valuable information about our current relationship with food and our bodies. Our mothers are frequently the first reflection we have about the importance and meaning of food and our bodies. Powerful role models, we choose to either emulate them or rebel, consciously or unconsciously. How we integrate the messages we received from our moms impacts our behaviors and self-image long after we have left the nest.
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Mother May I? - by Dr. Deah

Very interesting read…

t 1 year ago

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t 1 year ago

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Almost two years ago now, I developed a severe GI condition practically overnight (don’t worry it was all complex, you’re not going to wake up with it tomorrow or anything). Within a few short months I lost 30 lbs — it was one of the scariest experiences of my life. Until people started telling me how amazing I looked; I was pale, waxy, and clearly ill, but I was a size 4! Priorities! Seeing my otherwise intelligent and reasonable friends lose all rationality when it came to waist size – “You’re so lucky!” “I’m so sick” “I wish I was that sick” – It was like drowning while everyone on shore yelled out, “your hair looks pretty when it’s wet!
”

- Can We Please Stop with the Fat Shaming Already? by Julia Gazdag

t 1 year ago

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t 1 year ago

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The Big Business moneytrail behind fat shaming and anti-obesity ;

fatgirlsguide:

This is a very good article. An excerpt:

But weight loss products and schemes have an added bonus. When faced with the obvious indications that the products and services DO NOT WORK, the consumer blames him or her self. Yep the consumer, not the product, is blamed.

This is why weight loss schemes are a capitalism wet dream. Theshame and stigma sells. Allergan just succeeded in expanding its market 173.33% because the fear of fat is so pervasive and the blame of fat people for their fatness is just as pervasive.

The money shows us that weight loss is big business and that when money is involved, media and government tread lightly in attacking or restricting that big business.

Allergan uses the stigma, shame and fear of being fat and/or relies upon the unrealistic expectations of “normality” to promote the surgery that uses their device. The money also shows us that stigma pays. The more the message that fat is bad gets out, the more likely people will continue to seek remedy through the surgery.

But the surgery doesn’t solve either the health problems or the stigma and there is no financial incentive to do so. The system profits from the fact that the system doesn’t work and the consumer is blamed for the defects. Again stigma pays.

Finally, the financial, governmental or media support for scientific research that doesn’t fit the stigma or the system is withheld.

Only a savvy consumer who breaks free of the stigmatized understanding of the data can hear what the money is saying. It is time to tell the truth and not just let moneyed interest set the agenda.

t 1 year ago

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t 1 year ago

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EXOTIC DANCERS IN 1890 AND THE PLUMP BODY IDEAL by Lisa Wade

I recently had the pleasure of reading Peter Stearns’Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West. The book chronicles the shift in American history from a plump to a thin ideal. The beauty of Stearns’ book is his resistance to reducing the shift in norms to a simple cause. Instead, he traces the changes to conflicts between capitalism and religion, the backlash against women’s equality, industrialization and the devaluation of maternal roles, fashion trends, the professionalization of medicine, our cultural relationship to food, and more.

Stearns is quite specific in timing the change, however, pointing to the years between 1890 and 1910. In these 20 years, he writes:

…middle-class America began its ongoing battle aginst body fat. Never previously an item of systemic public concern, dieting or guilt about not dieting became an increasing staple of private life, along with a surprisingly strong current of disgust directed against people labeled obese.

I thought of Stearns’ book when I came across a delightful collection of photographs of exotic dancers taken in 1890, the year he pinpoints as the beginning of the shift to thinness. From a contemporary perspective, they would likely be judged as “too fat,” but their plumpness was exactly what made these dancers so desirable at the time.

t 1 year ago

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WHAT WE'RE ABOUT

28 Common Racist Attitudes & Behaviors ;

FOR F*#$'S SAKE, FAT PEOPLE NEED TO GO TO THE DOCTOR TOO ;

This xoJane article showcases thin- (and other privileges) firsthand ;

The Big Business moneytrail behind fat shaming and anti-obesity ;

EXOTIC DANCERS IN 1890 AND THE PLUMP BODY IDEAL by Lisa Wade