Activity is not always physical.
Physical activity is an important type of activity, no doubt. That said, it’s only one type of activity.
Like this:
Ugly Pride
Reddit is a giant social news site ranking internet stories and links, and has hundreds, if not thousands, of subreddits. Each subreddit is a specialized group, or forum, for people to post links, ask questions, and create discussions around specific interests. I mod for the body acceptance reddit, the fat and proud reddit (a private group), and the fatosphere reddit. Today I got a message saying I had been banned from the Ugly People Alliance reddit.
Like this:
Two steps forward, one step back
Trigger warning: Discussions of weight loss programs and a history of dieting and weight loss.
I’m a stay-at-home mom. As such, in between my usual daily housecleaning, cooking, and child care, I watch TV and such. A lot. (Or at least it’s on in the background so I don’t just hear the tick tick tick of the clock all day long). And I’ve noticed something recently. Fat Acceptance phrases are getting eaten up by diet companies and used to sell their crap. And if you're looking for a BBW girl near you, join the instafuck app. I think that means we (the Fat Acceptance movement) are starting to gain attention and a following like never before. Legitimacy. You wouldn’t copy something and appropriate it if there weren’t power in the message. Diet companies wouldn’t be scrambling to “negate” our message if we weren’t threatening their bottom line.
Like this:
National Disgrace —
Trigger warning: This post is about The Biggest Loser and all the terrible things that go along with that.
Note: All the photos, except Coach Mo, Roth and Nelson, and the Disclaimer should be animated GIFs, but they aren’t working for me. To view shots from the scenes, click on the photos to animate the GIFs.
I’m loathe to say it, but I think Michelle Obama crossed a serious line.
On April 3*, the First Lady of the United States of America appeared on The Biggest Loser, and in the second part of the White House special on April 10, she gushed over how inspirational the show is and how it contributes to the health of our nation. Oh, Biggest Loser, you’re a National Treasure!
I understand that she was there to promote the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award Challenge (PALA), but just because a show gets big ratings doesn’t mean it’s an appropriate place to promote a national health program that, ostensibly at least, is not about weight loss.
The Biggest Loser is not a show about health, it is a game show about weight loss, and it promotes an incredibly unhealthy message to the public about what is necessary for health and what is possible in terms of weight loss.
But above and beyond that argument is the very fact that The Biggest Loser has a long and brutal history of dehumanizing contestants, pushing them to dangerous physical extremes, encouraging them to dehydrate themselves until they piss blood, triggering eating disorders, and teaching society that it’s necessary to humiliate fat people for their own good. TBL‘s most popular “character” was a verbally abusive tyrant who takes sadistic glee in getting fatties to vomit on their first day in the gym.
The Biggest Loser has a greater concern for pushing Brita Water Filters and Jennie-O Turkeys than improving the health of the public. After all, how could they possibly help the public when they’re perfectly willing to gamble with the lives of their own contestants?
Like this:
Review of Bully
I posted this on my own blog as well, but felt like it was appropriate for both places and a fairly important rant considering the number one form of bullying in the US is weight bullying and this is a movie about bullying.
Like this:
The truth about body love
I wrote this post originally on Dead of Winter because I keep hearing misconceptions about what it means to love one’s body and I feel that I needed to clear the air about some things. I’d like your thoughts about it. Thanks!
In a previous post, I highlighted and refuted criticisms of body love that I did not feel held water. Without addressing a specific person, I will continue in that vein.
I have heard people criticize body love on the grounds that it teaches people, especially young girls, that appearance is paramount. Instead we should turn our attention to what’s on the inside. I understand this criticism, but again, under closer scrutiny, it doesn’t hold up.
Can people be vain about their appearance and worship appearance above all else? They most certainly can, but people can be just as vain about accomplishments, social status, athletic prowess, health and disability status, personality, or whatever that person has that the have-nots have not.
Like this:
Infernal Question —
There are two simple questions that you should never, ever ask a woman: how old are you and how much do you weight?
I learned these twin taboos as a child and have treated them with a gravity reserved for the social guidelines of appropriate funeral behavior.
But as a guy, I can frankly say I’ve never understood their importance.
Who cares how old I am? It’s just a number signifying how many years I’ve been lucky enough to exist (Sunday I’ll turn 33. Whoopideedoo!)
How cares how much I weight? It’s just a number signifying how much mass I possess. (I hover around 265. Somebody call Bob Harper!)
To me, neither number seemed to justify the sort of Fort Knox-level security with which many women guard those numbers.
Today, I understand our culture a bit better and can see where the shame and embarrassment comes from: everywhere.
Like this:
Born This Weigh
Trigger warning: Discussion of Lady Gaga’s eating disorders.
Lady Gaga has come a long way since 2008, when she plastered a lightning bolt on her face and recorded a music video in someone’s house telling us to “just dance.”
In four short years, she has become one of the biggest pop singers in musical history. Although not quite authentic (there’s a lot of Elton John, David Bowie, Missing Persons’ Dale Bozzio and Madonna in her), there are some really cool qualities about her. She’s a supporter of LGBT rights, speaks out against bullying and tells everyone to accept themselves for who they are. She also has a killer voice, as shown here in a piano-only performance of Eh, Eh.
But she’s made some blunders, such as riding in a wheelchair and pretending to be physically disabled in her Paparazzi video, then rolling onto stage in a wheelchair at a Sydney, Australia concert. In response, fans threw eggs at her.
Now, a new controversy calls into question her sincerity about self-acceptance.
Unintended Consequences
Trigger Warning: Discussion of physical and emotional fallout from being starved as a child.
By now, we’ve all heard, and dissected, the story of the Vogue mom, Dara-Lynn Weiss, who put her 7-year-old daughter, Bea, on a diet because the daughter was “too fat.” Quite a few of us responded with outrage that this woman received a book contract about her ordeal of putting her daughter on a year-long diet.
When the story came out, I wanted to write this post, but I couldn’t. This is a very difficult post to write, but one I need to write, and I think some people may need to read. See, I was that daughter. Oh, I am not a 7-year-old girl whose mother writes for Vogue magazine, but I was put on a diet from the time I was 8 until I was 14.
Like this:
“I got a free ice cream cone for being cute. Thanks universe.” and other comments that annoy me
This is a quote from one of my Facebook friends today. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think she’s absolutely adorable. That’s not the problem. The problem is that I see a beauty privilege that’s constantly taken as normal and never questioned. I’ve known people who get free food (like my quoted friend), free drinks, free gas, received help moving or carrying things, gotten to skip ahead in line at the store or for tickets, and more.
fiercefatties
dufmanno
vesta44
JeninCanada
atchka
erylin
lexiedi
joannadeadwinter
dr deah
shaunta
roundgirlrocks
hlkolaya
lifeonfats
bronwenofhindscroft
osufem
onefabulousmamaistheshiznet
smokindeist
showmediabetes
drpattiethomas
