Ten years, baby!
Big Fat Blog and Paul McAleer were a big part of that transformation for me and many others. Paul gave us all a place to discuss the challenges of living in a world that hates fat. His willingness to be visible and criticize our culture's destructive message fostered an environment that invited all of us to debate, think critically, and stop accepting everything we have been told at face value.
Sometimes I still can't believe that I get to comment on this site, much less write content. I want to thank all of you for the insightful discussions here that have expanded my mind and the minds of so many others. You really are an incredible community of people and you make me so proud to be a part of Big Fat Blog. Here's to another ten years of fighting discrimination, loving our bodies, and saying what needs to be said.
Much love,
Carrie
PS: Come join our Facebook page!
A Little Relief--Savannah Dooley on Camp Shane
The lovely Lesley Kinzel pointed out that maybe the rage shouldn't be focused as much on Huge, that they weren't necessarily connected to Camp Shane or the scholarship.
Turns out I was right about the show not being a promotion for fat camp, and Lesley was right that the Camp Shane thing was not a Huge thing.
Savannah Dooley, co-creator of the show, wrote on Fatshionista:
A key difference seems to be that at the fictional TV camp, fucked up things sometimes happen (people sneaking in food, people being mean to each other, some people being there because of pressure from their parents, someone being asked to leave camp because of an eating disorder) but nothing like that ever happens at Camp Shane. Good to know! And fucked up and complicated things will continue to happen at Camp Victory because those of us working on this show have no desire or motive to portray weight-loss camp experience in a uniformly rosy glow.
Check out that link Savannah's posts. I LAUGHED so hard. Damn y'all, Camp Shane seemed to think that Huge was giving them a bad rap. Poor Camp Shane. Maybe how this whole Camp Shane/Nikki Blonsky thing got started, I don't know. But it amused me greatly.
Now, I still think it was a mistake for Huge PR to promote the scholarship by linking to it and that they should be careful to appear as though they are promoting a fat camp or are in any way connected to it. I am also still really disappointed that Nikki Blonsky would associate herself with a fat camp. I don't think that only bad things happen at fat camp, I just think the good things are despite the weight loss premise. And for her to promote such a camp gives me pause...lots of pause. And, frankly, it does make me mad. So perhaps that’s where my optimism and youth have led me astray; perhaps it makes a lot of sense that Blonsky, like some many other fat celebrities, would end up promoting weight loss.
However, Savannah Dooley’s comment—and her awareness of the Facebook debacle and the hatred that reared its ugly head there, which is what (I think) led her to Lesley and Lesley’s post—restores some of my faith in the show. And many of you would still be weary of this faith. Your skepticism is not unreasonable.
But, in my little optimistic head, this means we carry weight. If the creators are aware of us*, aware of the crazy world they have entered by creating such a show, and if they care enough to come on a fat acceptance blog and try to clear some things up…I think that means something. I could ask for more, but I like what I think is a positive outcome of all this. Now there is no question they are aware and that they are aware of our engagement with the show and support of the lack of weight loss focus. When the creators, producers, writers, actors, and anyone else receives pressure to promote weight loss or play to the weight loss crowd, we might give them extra reason to resist. Given that they seem to have a bit of a predisposition to resist, we might have a goddamned chance here. Now, weight loss companies are powerful, but we are powerful too.**
So, this is me, unjerking my knee…at least a little bit.
*I always thought they were hip and aware—of FA and of body liberation in feminism. I still can’t look at Nikki Blonsky as Wil and not think of Marianne, aka The Rotund.
**Which reminds me I need to step away from pop culture and report on a recent success in this area.
Here it is, the HUGE stab in the back.
From the Huge Facebook account:
I'm not even sure how to react at this point. This is not acceptable. This is a stab in the back, a mocking of the support, attention, and airtime we've given the show. Kind of seems like a twisted joke, if you ask me.
Reactions from fans on their Facebook were initially pretty negative, but now if you go there you'll see the fat haters and "it's for your health" evangalists are coming out of the woodwork.
Then, tweet your thoughts to @ABCFhuge and include the tag #HUGEmistake. Tweet the hell out of them and tell your friends to tweet it too. @NikkiBlonsky isn't a verified account, but seems legit, so tweet her too!
Then, go 'Ask Katherine' why Huge would do such a thing?
And if anyone knows where to write the corporate address, let me know and we'll post it so you can send your angry letters.
Surprise, I don't hate you!
PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET WORLD (and others, just in case):
- If you want to lose weight, I do NOT think you should burn in Hell (if I believed in Hell).
- If you can't look in a mirror without judging yourself harshly--or simply can't look in the mirror, I don't think you should be shamed and put to death. I don't even think you should be shamed. *gasp* Truly, I'm kind of anti-shame.
- If you're on a diet, it's okay. You're not the anti-Christ (again, if I believed).
- If your body is giving you lots of trouble or you are in a lot of pain, believe it or not, I don't think you have to LIKE those things. (Just know that treating your body poorly doesn't make things better.)
- If you identify as transgender and don't identify with the body you've got, even if you feel like your fat prevents you from achieving the sort of gender presentation you'd like, I don't snub my nose at you or spit on your grandmother's grave.
But...if I could make arbitrary, oppressive societal imperatives burn in Hell, I sure would.
Do I want to listen to your diet talk? No way. I don't like that there's an assumption that everyone should be supportive of diets, weight loss goals, and diet talk. But I'm not gonna make a voodoo doll and stab it because you're a dieter. (Do I think BFB is a proper place for diet talk? No.)
If you feel bad about your body--or you just don't feel like celebrating it lately--it's okay, everyone does, some of us more than others. I don't speak for all fat activists--surely--but if you are feeling bad about your body, I'm okay with hearing that as long as you aren't expecting me to reciprocate the same feelings about my body as an exercise in bonding. ("Yeah, my problem is my love handles.")* Though, since I have struggled with my body, I can absolutely empathize. Fat activists, I think, want to reach people who feel bad about their bodies, so they can reveal the big secret that you aren't required to hate your body, even a little bit.
As a fat activist I do want people do love their bodies, but I don't think loving your body is an all or nothing moral quest. And as a fat person, I know a little something about moral imperatives.
*Anyone else think it's weird that love handles is used as a negative notion?
Two Links: Fat & Disability Discrimination US/AU
And the bias probably also had to do with his weight, given his lawyer's comment below:
If I read this article correctly, it seems as though the weight loss surgery--WHICH HE DIED FROM--was not only to resolve sleep apnea. Huneck, who was very emotionally hurt by the suspension, also wanted to change his body so that he, a grown man, would not be bullied, ridiculed, harassed, AND PUNISHED by his colleagues. Who can blame him for not wanting to be treated so poorly? But now he's dead... It's sad to me that these kinds of things undoubtedly take place all the time.
There is also a story out of Australia to report. Feminists With Disabilities for a way forward reports:
Maz Smyth was rolling along one day in her manual wheelchair, as one does, when her front wheel got caught in a pothole and snapped off. Understandably annoyed by this turn of events, she approached the Toowoomba Regional Council to ask them to fix the pothole and pay the costs associated with fixing her chair.
Ms. Smyth kept going to the council and they kept telling her to go away, until they finally told her she could file a report though nothing would ever come of it. "Perhaps it was your weight that caused the wheelchair to break," a council staff member then told her. She was rebuffed until the Mayor saw The Chronicle covering the story and getting a photoshoot outside City Hall. As s.e. smith aptly writes over at FWD:
h/t to sexgenderbody
Fat News Roundup
Then we have this gem, about how, chemically, being fat means that you can't resist cupcakes as well as thin people do. Again, thanks, but your study involving ten whole fat people isn't really enough to convince me that the entire fat population's brains work this way, not to mention that you don't even really know what these results mean. My favorite part of the article is as follows:
Some of the most intriguing imaging studies have peered into the brains of people who have lost significant weight and kept it off through diet and exercise alone—although researchers say they're hard to find. "They are very controlled individuals, and they are very rare. We had to fly some in from Alaska," says Angelo Del Parigi, a neuroimaging scientists who finally located 11 "post-obese" subjects who had dieted down to the lean range.You don't say? People who have lost weight and kept it off aren't just coming out of the woodwork? Can we not maybe draw a conclusion here?
Finally, I'm sure you've seen some of the hullabaloo about the new diet drugs being tested and submitted for FDA approval. It looks like as of this morning the FDA has rejected Qnexa, which is shocking news in and of itself. Could it be that someone over there finally cares about side effects? Did they actually learn something from the whole Fen/Phen tragedy? If so, it's not stopping pharmaceutical manufacturers from trying again. Arena Pharmaceuticals is working on a drug called lorcaserin which, according to MSNBC shows "promise" and "little risk". It also shows little effectiveness, as study participants only lost an average of five percent of their body weight. That's about twenty pounds for a 375 lb gal like me. Given the risk for side effects, especially the ones they don't know about yet, I wouldn't say lorcaserin is a worthwhile bet. Seems to me that maybe we should divert those pharmaceutical resources to working on cancer or AIDS instead of trying to make the population slightly less fat and potentially harming them in the process.
But anyway...Happy Friday!
Exploiting Fat Kids -or- Style Network is Despicable.
But it wasn't some let down about Huge. Instead, it was a link to the site for the new show on the Style Network called Too Fat for Fifteen: Fighting Back, a reality show about teenagers trying to lose weight at a fat camp called Wellspring Academy (a giant, international weight loss school chain, apparently). The video posted in the blog doesn't seem to be working, but I can imagine how it's going to go based on the tagline, "Being fifteen is hard enough. It shouldn't be life and death," which is placed over the shoulder of a faceless fat girl viewed from the back. It's next to a picture put in for flare, good measure, or simplistic illustration, since there's no link or text attached, of fat kids' legs. Naturally, they have centered the darker-skinned kid who is seemingly bustin out his/her crapily made shoes. Y'all didn't know it was a shoe-bustin epidemic, did you? Fear, my friends, the busting of the shoes. Too fat for footwear???? Or maybe it's supposed to illustrate the unbearable, ankle-busting weight of obesity. Anyway, we get the point.
The website resources include a "Teen BMI Calculator," an article entitled "Effects of Childhood Obesity," and another called, "Think YOU are ready to get fit?" The show debuts August 9th.
From a minor Google search, this seems to be based on a New Zealand documentary about a fat girl at a similar Wellspring Academy.
I am pretty sure I remember a few people being confused and thinking Huge was a reality show; and I was relieved to think/say, "No, no, no it's not that"--in the back of my mind thinking, "Who would do that?!?" Style network, my friends, and Wellspring Academy, would exploit kids in such a way...you know, for fun and profit!
Just what we need, a Biggest Loser for kids. My optimism for this week is officially blown.
PS--What are they "fighting back"? Love how they make it sound empowering.
Go see this!
HUGE Misrepresentation
I'm going to start with a quote from Ginia Bellafante's New York Times review of the new ABC show "Huge," starring Nikki Blonsky. First, she describes a "gainer" who writes a blog, and then she says:
...Gainer blogs are an offshoot of a fat-pride movement that has bubbled up in response to what its proponents consider to be a pointless and hysterical national fuss over obesity. In this view fat is a form of social protest, an outcry against the manipulations of a diet-industrial complex. Fringe movements don’t often find an arm in the form of hourlong dramatic television, but “Huge,” beginning Monday on ABC Family, stands in some sympathy with a rebellion mounted against so many hours of “The Biggest Loser.”
I don't know who she thinks represents the "fat-pride" movement. Since she's talking about blogs, maybe she means the fatosphere. There are many fine, fine blogs on the fatosphere. They represent a range of opinions and experiences. But one opinion I've never seen expressed on the fatosphere - on Shapely Prose, on Big Fat Blog, or on any other blog - is that feederism and deliberate weight gain are a good idea or are acceptable in the context of fat acceptance. NEVER.
Fat acceptance is not about trying to change your body. It's about taking joy in the body you already have. Fat acceptance isn't a rebellion against "The Biggest Loser." The movement has been around for forty years, and it's about social justice and about valuing human diversity. Fat acceptance is not about trying to be fat. It's about not hating our already fat bodies, and about fighting anti-fat stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination.
Of course our bodies change when we age, when our lives and our habits change, and for other reasons, and that's fine. It's fine when we get smaller and it's fine when we get bigger. But, we don't try to get smaller or bigger. If there's only one thing that everyone in the fat acceptance movement agrees on, it's social justice. If there are two things, the second is that deliberately trying to lose or gain weight is contrary to size acceptance principles. Gainer blogs are not an offshoot of this movement; in fact, most of us would agree that they're in direct opposition.
I've been involved in the fat acceptance movement since the early nineties. If someone said to me that there is a "pointless and hysterical national fuss over obesity," then I would nod my head in agreement.
However, it's my understanding that most deliberate weight gain takes place within the context of feederism, I am not down with feederism. Feederism is a sexual fetish. Normally, my feeling about sexual fetishes is "live and let live; do it if it works for you." However, feeders apparently get off at least partly on the helplessness of the feedees. Given that many people gain weight easily and find it next to impossible to keep weight off once they've gained it, this can amount to trapping someone in a dependent situation, which is typical of abusive relationships.
But what about the guy that Ms. Bellafante describes in her first paragraph? I looked at his blog, and it appears that the idea of becoming fat turns him on primarily, although his partner is fine with it. He’s gone from 180 to 250 pounds in three years, and it appears that he’s not going to gain much more weight. In addition, he’s staying reasonably fit. He’s hardly helpless, and for him, being strong is an important part of being big. In his case, the weight gain attempt does not appear to be abusive, but it still has nothing to do with fat acceptance, as the blogger himself points out. It's still primarily a sexual kink.
So, Ms. Bellafante, gainer blogs have nothing to do with fat pride. The New York Times has misrepresented our views, and they should print a retraction.
Added...
Brian of Red No. 3 has really nailed this issue here and here.
(please send us other good links on this topic, and we'll add them)
HUGE Mistake
Why? Because I totally had it CONFUSED with that other fat comedy coming out, Mike & Molly, which I won't even bother linking. I had seen a preview for Mike & Molly, and it made roll my eyes so far back in my head that I could see my brain explode. It also made me want to cry, especially since Melissa McCarthy is involved. But I forgot the name, thought that was the show people were talking about (you gotta admit two shows about fat people is rare), and therefore I never actually read anything about Huge.
Then I was reading Lesley's shift in attitude about it over at Fatshionista, along with bits of an interview with Nicci Blonsky, and I was all, "Wait, this can't be the same show. Nicci Blonski? Fat camp? What happened to Melissa McCarthy?"
And that's when I decided I HADN'T seen previews for it and that what my friend said about the mention of fat-acceptance in a preview for HUGE could be, like, not a joke. Then off I went to see what all this was about.
Fat-related shows go in one of
Let's be real, a TV show has never fallen in the 4th category. Not ever. Until now. Nicci Blonsky had me with her bad attitude, her
Go here or here to watch the previews/videos, read the interview with Nicci Blonsky, and then tell me what you think.
PS--"I feel like inside me there's an even fatter person just trying to get out," may be one of my favorite lines ever. It also makes me think someone up in there might have a clue. I'm also interested in the gender/sexual orientation issues they are going to address, but admit I'm a little cynical about how that will turn out.
Help wanted
After a year of running BFB (can you believe it's been that long? Me neither!) I have decided it's time to face up to the fact that I just don't have the time to review applications or get into the forums as often as I'd like, so I'm looking for someone to fill that gap. Please read below and email me at carrie at fatrights dot org if you want to be considered!
Are you a longtime BFB reader and commenter who frequents the forums? Do you feel strongly about allowing conflicting opinions while also keeping this as a safe space? If so, then you might be the perfect person to fill the role of BFB gatekeeper!
Potential Gatekeeper duties:
Regularly review requests for new accounts and allow/deny
Monitor forums and comments for troll-like behavior and eject said trolls
Sounds easy, yes? There's no actual compensation involved, but it is kind of fun to play account god. We get some very interesting account requests...
Thanks!
Carrie
* Just an FYI, this is not me quitting. I'll still be here for the site, I'm just trying to build up the team that does the admin side so everything gets done and there's not too much on any one person's shoulders.
Response to Attack on Fat Mothers
On June 06, 2010, The New York Times published Anemona Hartocollis’ article, “Growing Obesity Increases Perils of Childbearing.” The article received Sunday, front-page coverage in the continuing trend toward anti-fat panic and “obesity epidemic” hysteria in our country. In the typical tradition of this genre, the article featured sensationalistic, pitying, and shaming portrayals to supposedly illustrate the personal, social, and material high “costs” of fatness. Indeed, a byline proclaims: “Obese Mothers a Burden on Hospital Resources.” In what has become the most predictable and problematic aspect of this oeuvre, at least from a scientific perspective, the article also uncritically uses fatness as a proxy for illness and draws clear causal arrows pointing directly from fatness (always transformed into the supposed medical crisis of “obesity”) to a “constellation” of illness and disease, medical complications and accommodations, effects on society and others, and death.
It is never considered that, perhaps, some of the “burden”some accommodations being made for fat people in medical settings (such as sturdier examination tables, development of alternate examination methods, procurement of sophisticated medical technologies, and enhanced sensitivity training for medical professionals) might not only be a matter of social justice in medical care for fat people, but shifts that might ultimately benefit all patients. Instead, Hartocollis’ article centers on the vignette of “Ms. Garcia,” an “obese,” diabetic woman who gave birth, via Caesarean section, to an underweight and premature baby. It does not go unremarked that this was a costly delivery--more than fifteen times the cost of a “normal” delivery. From this vignette, we might come to believe that fat women and their glut of underweight, prematurely-delivered babies are jeopardizing the entire healthcare system. Are we to believe that Garcia’s situation is emblematic, even typical, of most fat women having children today?
Oddly, Hartocollis makes no mention of Ms. Garcia’s relatively advanced maternal age (38 years), her socioeconomic status (whether or not she had access to adequate prenatal care), or the fact that she is “Ms. Garcia” rather than “Ms. Smith.” Apparently, none of that might matter. This rabid focus on fatness obscures complicated intersections between many risk factors associated with health and illness--age, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and access to non-stigmatizing and comprehensive medical care, to name but a few. Further, it never seems to warrant mention that the Garcia case study actually presents a scenario that is statistically less likely among fat mothers than thinner mothers-delivery of an underweight, premature fetus. Indeed, most articles seeking to link fatness with poor fetal outcomes warn about the tendency for fatter mothers to deliver fatter babies.
Some of the medical professionals contributing their perspectives on the issue of fat mothers describe being “anatomically… turned off” by them. They recount instances of becoming “angry” with them, “complain[ing]” about them, being “worried” that tables will collapse under their weight, counseling them to have medically-risky bariatric surgeries before becoming pregnant, and intoning “demand[s] and siren song[s]” that BMI be calculated for all patients since “eyeballing” them is insufficient surveillance for fatness, pitying and feeling “sympathetic” toward them, and being “stuck between Scylla and Charybdis” when it comes to their presumably-annoying and personally-inconveniencing medical care. None of this is scrutinized as ethically problematic, insensitive, unprofessional, misinformed, or even plainly cruel.
Indeed, it does seem that we are met with a Scylla and Charybdis situation when it comes to fatness at this point in our own cultural mythos; but it is fat people who are truly “stuck” in this dilemma. No matter what the outcome, it seems that fatness, per se, will be resolutely assigned as the independent source of each and every social and medical problem. And our society’s (and medical professionals’) problematic, over-simplistic, and stigmatizing portrayal of fatness as the greatest public health plague of our time is subjected to little reasoned public critique. In this social context, it is actual fat people, like Ms. Garcia, who will continue to personally bear the blame and shame imposed upon their socially-unruly bodies, “promising” to go on “a strict, strict, strict diet” to placate the resounding, authoritative, and punitive clucks of social disapproval and disgust. I would suggest that it may not be only "water retention" that leaves fat people, like Ms. Garcia, “too numb… to feel anything.”
--Carla A. Pfeffer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Department of Social Sciences
Purdue University (North Central campus)
Damned if you do...
By now you might have heard of the study where data analysis found that, no matter what your starting BMI, losing a certain amount of weight (in some cases as little as 5%) can increase your risk of mortality. That's a grim result in a culture where we're all told repeatedly that fat can't possibly be healthy and that losing weight is the only way to save ourselves. In her Huffington Post article, Harriet Brown aptly calls this situation "The Obesity Paradox" because really,what's a fat person to do? Either we're killing ourselves by quietly remaining fat or we're killing ourselves by going all good fattie and attempting to lose weight.
I feel like we need more information here than is being given in the study. For one, what methods did these people employ to lose weight? Were they doing it on purpose or did they just discover a previously unnurtured love for vegetables or pilates? Because I've experienced Health At Every Size-related weight loss and I'd really hate to think that some incidental weight loss that happens because of an adoption of healthier habits could be affecting my body as negatively as weight lost doing Jenny Craig or juice fasting.
Maybe the answer is to just ignore ALL of the studies -- the ones that tell us to lose weight and the ones that tell us to never lose weight -- and focus on enjoying whatever life we doomed fatties have left. Isn't that what HAES is about anyway?
Consequences of Bariatric Surgery
Sure, death is an easily predicted outcome of what some people are calling 'the new lobotomy', but it still saddens me to read about it nonetheless.
Happy Birthday!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE!!!!
Thanks for being so strong, incredibly awesome, and for keeping BFB alive. YOU ROCK!
*I totally misspelled it 'happy girthday' the first time. Since I am all about the punny fat jokes, I just thought I'd mention it :)
Call for Participants
Please read and participate if you can!
Hi, my name is Michaela A. Null, and I am a doctoral student in Sociology at
Purdue University. I am doing a study about the embodiment of size-accepting fat
women, with attention to the ways in which gender, race, sexual orientation, and
body size intersect.I am currently looking for individuals who are interested in volunteering to
participate in my study. If you are interested in volunteering to participate in
an interview, I ask that take an electronic informational survey, which will
take approximately 5 minutes. Please go here and complete the
informational survey. After all survey data has been collected, participants
will be selected for interviews, which will be conducted in-person, by phone, or
via internet chat, and will last between an hour and an hour and a half.Participation is voluntary and participants must be at least 18 years old.
This project has been approved by my university’s Institutional Review Board,
which protects human subjects of research. I will provide confidentiality to all
volunteers and participants will be referred to by a pseudonym in all research
documents.If you have any questions regarding this study, you can contact me at
mnull@purdue.edu. For more information on me, you can access my university
profile here.
You can also contact Professor Eugene Jackson, Assistant Professor of Sociology
at Purdue University, at jacksone@purdue.edu.Sincerely,
Michaela A. Null, Doctoral Candidate in Sociology, Purdue University
Stubborn Ass Know-it-Alls and Barriers to Understanding
That's because while obviously they're not going to come to a Fat Studies workshop if they don't have a bit of an open mind for it, some of them are really still going to have some incredible walls built up. I was reminded when having a conversation with a friend today that people I know still think fat people aren't oppressed because body size is changeable, that they shouldn't have to feel guilty (I don't know who said they had to) for being thin. And these are scholars focused on oppression, let's not go into other scholars I know who aren't so focused on social justice issues.
I had a moment of intense irritation and frustration that many people who acknowledge privilege and oppression somehow cannot acknowlege fat oppression. It's a valid moment. It's compounded by my frustration that people get so viscerally and mentally uncomfortable talking about fat outside of a weight loss context--even feminists and otherwise hip-ass know-it-alls who like to push themselves and their thinking--that they just don't know what the fuck to do. They shut down. They are so uncomfortable that they refuse to acknowlege their discomfort---they push it deep down. And that's part of what makes it so damn hard to have these conversations.
Well, okay, I had that moment of irritation. It lingered. And then I thought about all the otherwise hip-ass know-it-alls in the fat acceptance movement (not referencing anyone in particular here) who can easily pour on and on about fat oppression, but still remain so closed to deeply examining other forms of it. It makes them so uncomfortable that they don't know what the fuck to do. They shut down--or they shut down conversation. They are so uncomfortable that they refuse to acknowledge their discomfort and--like some who scoff at the idea of fat oppression--they don't even know why they need to think about race or class or ability or gender or anything else.
This is not anything anyone hasn't said before, it's just something I'm working through in my head at the moment. Something I'm going to have to deal with if I'm going to put on a damn good workshop.
It's people's choice to ignore or downplay certain types of oppression and privilege, but isn't it just a damn shame.
Obesity ills 'are a myth' - Express.co.uk
Promoted from the forums
The Daily Express has reported on an Ohio State University study that disputes the accepted wisdom that the 'obesity epidemic' is responsible for various health conditions and that we should all "curb our obsession with dieting". It uses NHANES III data and claims that there are few health differences between 'normal weight' and 'obese' indivisduals under age 40, and thereafter only in the proportion of medication use (which could demonstrate an increased tendency on the part of physicians to pathologise and hence over-prescribe to those in this group). Says researcher Brant Jarret:
“There is a myth going on. Our findings show being overweight is no different from being what we believe is a healthy weight and this is across a person’s entire lifespan. For college-age adults, this should help them realize that they don’t have to worry so much if they have a BMI of 27 or 28. Some young people with these BMIs feel like, ‘I’m going to have all these problems, I need to try 50 different diets.’ And what is all that stress and dieting doing to your body? Probably more damage than the extra 15lb. Being obese before you are 40 has no correlation to your health either. The risk that people are told about does not exist.”
There's nothing here we don't already know, but it's good to see it on the front page of one of the same national tabloids that up until now has been instrumental in the process of 'frightening' fat people into thinking they are ill. Of course there's the obligatory disclaimer about 'gross obesity' (nice!) still damaging health, and the usual comments claiming anyone daring to even think about questioning the party line is a dangerous heretic bent on undermining the war on fat people (damn right!) as well as a couple of sensible ones, but overall it's a surprisingly balanced article. More please!
The DSM-5: good news
Promoted from the forums
The DSM-5 is the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." It's used by mental health professionals in the U.S. to diagnose mental health problems. It is also used to categorize patients for research purposes. The DSM was originally published in the 1950s; the last major revision (the DSM-4) was in 1994.
You may be aware that obesity, binge eating disorder, and "overeating" were up for inclusion in the new edition. The good news: binge eating disorder made it in and obesity and overeating didn't.
Binge eating disorder is a widely recognized mental health issue. We've talked about it at BFB before. It is characterized by episodes of eating a very large amount of food until over-full without enjoying it, and while feeling out of control. The diagnostic criteria are in the article I linked to, and they sound reasonable to me. Of course, I'm not an expert.
Until now, binge eating disorder has been included in EDNOS: Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified. Now it has its own category. This will make it easier to diagnose and treat and will make insurance coverage more likely for people seeking help. Most people will probably agree that this is a good thing.
In contrast, obesity is defined by BMI, which is basically a weight/height ratio. It is influenced to some extent by behavior, but is 40-80% a result of genetics. Also (and this might be what made the difference) the obesity label doesn't distinguish between muscle and fat. So, while most fat people are classified as obese, so are many bodybuilders and professional athletes. And, of course there's a huge middle range of people who are varying degrees of muscular while also being varying degrees of fat. The idea that all of these people have a mental health problem that can be defined by their BMI is completely absurd. I'm glad that this was ultimately recognized, but I'm also stunned that adding obesity to the DSM-5 was even considered.
I'm not sure how they were defining "overeating," but I suspect that they wanted to use it as a behavior-based proxy for obesity and then discovered that according to the research, the two are either weakly or not at all linked.
Gastric Bypass is no easy solution
So an old friend of mine from high school gained a lot of weight and decided that gastric bypass surgery was the best answer to her weight-related concerns. She's been facebooking about it for months now and this week she finally had her surgery. I've been watching her progress with an uneasy curiosity since she announced she would have the surgery, wanting to tell her just how effed up I think the whole thing is but also recognizing that she is an adult and has to make her own decisions. Anyway, she has a blog where she has been documenting the process and I was just struck by this entry about how restrictive the pre-surgery and post-surgery eating requirements are. If you've ever spent one second of your fat life thinking "maybe I should consider that gastric bypass surgery", this will make you glad you passed it up. Check it out.
While blogging, I'm also having my "dinner". Tonight that is one cup of strained low fat cream of chicken soup. (Strained to get the chunks of chicken out!) My diet is extremely limited right now, which of course is to be expected. People are shocked when I tell them, but my tiny little stomach pocket just isn't up for too much yet! And since my understanding is that if I over do it the results will be quite uncomfortable for me, I'm not pushing it! (-:
The great news is that I am not feeling terribly hungry, and when I do feel slightly hungry, it is typically because it's time to eat something.
Here's the overall eating schedule that Dr. XXXXX requires:
2 weeks prior to surgery -- extreme low carbs -- max 20 carbs a day
day before surgery -- clear fluids only, plus Powerade with Miralax (bariatric colon cleanse)
day of surgery -- absolutely no fluids by mouth, later in the day got ice chips (was on IVs)
1st 2 days after surgery -- clear liquids only (broth, crystal light, sugar free popsicles, SF jello) -- in the hospital, they'd give me crystal light in medicine cups .... Here's one ounce of liquid, take 15 entire minutes to drink it.
Days 3-6 (where I am right now)-- Full Liquids (1% milk, low carb protein shakes, SF low fat yogurt, cream of chicken soup, plus all the things in clear liquids -- including SF jello, and SF popsicles) **now, the surprising thing here is the quantities... I should take a full hour to sip 8 ounces of whatever I eat/drink, yet I am to strive to consume at least 48-64 ounces of liquids over the the course of the day. Half should be clear liquids and half should be the full liquids, being sure to get protein in there.
Days 7-10 (begins Wednesday - woo, hoo!) -- Pureed/Soft Diet --- this is where my new magic bullet will be quite handy. See, my tiny new pouch isn't grown up enough to work as your stomach does.... using its muscles to break up and grind up the food we eat. So, for now, I gotta do that work before I eat something. Now, at this stage, I shall only eat 4-6 Tablespoons of food each "meal" and I should have 5-6 meals a day. I can add mashed potatoes, custard, and pudding, but I must be VERY careful to keep it really low sugar and really low fat. Otherwise, my tiny pouch will rebel and make me regret it. Other things, provided they are well cooked and blenderized, will be vegetables, scrambled eggs, LF cottage cheese, poultry, soups, applesauce, and stage 1 & 2 baby foods (but watch the sugar in those!). I must also be sure to remove all skins, visible fat, connective tissues, rinds, shells, seeds, etc.
Then, Days 11-30 (almost 3 weeks) -- Soft Diet -- Pretty much as above, but adding a few starches like cereal, crackers, and adding soft fruits (have to remove citrus membranes) and low fat cheeses. The instructions say "small distinct pieces of food that is tender and easily chewed. Begin with ground or flaked meats and chopped or mashed foods".
Then, Days 31-45 (two weeks) -- we continue as above, but get to graduate to 6-8 tablespoons per meal, 5 meals per day. Also can add some things like brown rice and whole grain pasta.
Then, Six weeks after surgery -- Healthy, Lifelong Meal Plan -- add a few tablespoons of food per meal, then after another month, a little more. Ultimately, the plan for post bariatric surgery patients, is to eat 3/4 - 1 cup per meal, and eat 4 small meals per day. Dr. XXXXX disagrees with the snacking throughout the day theory. Essentially, we'll need to add more fiber here, but be intentional about high protein, low fat, and lower carbs. We are told to stay away from everything High Sugar. My understanding is that high sugar will result in dumping syndrome, and that I will not like that one bit. (-; A few people have said, "yep, you'll only do that ONCE".
A few other things for post bariatric surgery patients, that are a little odd, are that we can no longer drink from straws or have carbonated beverages. Those put too much air in our pouches, and make us feel full when we aren't. Also don't want those bubbles to increase the size of the pouch, that would be dumb after having surgery, no!?
Another quirk is that we are NOT to drink while eating a meal. Yes, we must drink 48-64 ounces daily, but we must stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal, and not drink fluids again until 30 minutes after a meal. Our little pouches (can you tell I've grown attached to my little pouch already? (-: ) will tell us we've had enough to eat and we would not have. Or, the food will slide right through with the liquids, and we won't get the nutrition we need. Either way, that's bad. SOOOO, no drinking at meals!!!
Oh, and NO MORE NSAIDS. I know, what's that, right? No more aspirin or anti-inflammatory medicines like Aleve, Ibuprofen. EVER. They're bad for our little pouches. They can cause bleeding and ulcers, and bad stuff like that. Oh, except the chewable baby aspirin we take for the first month after surgery to prevent blood clots....
We must also take vitamins for ever and ever amen. Chewable Multivitamins with Iron and chewable Calcium with Vitamin D. And B-12. Can be shots or sublingual... I'll find out a bit more about that when I return to the doctor next Wednesday.
The part that shocked me the most was that it should take you an hour to drink 8 ounces of fluid. An HOUR. Also, four cups of food a day? How is it remotely possible to get the nutrients your body needs on four cups of food a day? And no straws?! That...ahem...sucks.
Anyone have any other thoughts on this? Is there anyone out there who has gone through this and can comment?
I wish I was joking...
"Police officer Mike Biggs knows his way around the Streets—and the donut shop. As a cop, Mike’s not scared of anything—except dating, so he’s joined Overeaters Anonymous® to lose those extra pounds and gain some Much-needed confidence. When he meets Molly at a meeting, the attraction is immediate, and suddenly Mike is excited about the prospect of a new life. But now he must find the willpower to give up his beloved junk food for the apple of his eye."
Oh BARF. Anyone seen any more of this tripe? Comments?
Living while fat
I know, I'm larger than most and I should be used to being excluded or not considered by now, but it felt like such a dirty trick for them to proclaim how accessible parasailing is when they really only mean it's accessible to non-fat people. It's as if they're saying. "not only can you not participate, we're going to pretend folks your size don't even exist."
That rejection of my very existence really pushed my buttons. In fact, if I hadn't booked my plane ticket already I probably would have decided to skip Costa Rica altogether. That's how much I hate being ignored and marginalized. But that's a whole lot of power to hand over to some employee of a Costa Rican parasailing company. Sure, fat travel has always been a challenge and I will probably encounter numerous occasions where I don't exactly fit and feel awkward and slightly uncomfortable, but that's no reason to not go.
Contestants on The Biggest Loser are always going on and on about how they have 'gotten their life back' by losing weight, and I kind of get what they mean. Spending your life safely on your sofa can be a really compelling idea when the alternative means always being uncomfortable or unsure, encountering messages at every turn that your body is wrong or invalid, or worse, dealing with outright discrimination and vitriol because of your size. So yeah, one way to deal with that is to hide in your house and wait for the day that your body looks like everyone else's. Or you could just choose to live now.
Luckily I've never been very good at waiting.
___
What are some of the exciting things you are doing with your life instead of hiding in the house? (Also, anyone know where a 370 pound girl can get her parasail on?) :)
PCA/ACA Fat Studies: Day 1 Recap
The PCA/ACA conference essentially contained within it a Fat Studies mini-conference. Large enough to fill up your days, but small enough so that you could interact with almost everyone in it for Fat Studies. Every session except one was held in the very same room, so at PCA/ACA Fat Studies folks are able to really develop a sense of community at the conference as opposed to if the area sessions were scattered throughout the conferences. If you're doing Fat Studies, you gotta go to a PCA/ACA national conference. Julia McCrossin told me that they are really getting lots of attention and positive feedback from the organization about the Fat Studies awesomeness and success there.
1088 Fat Studies: The Social Menace of Fat Bodies
Session Chair: Hannele Harjunen, University of Jyväskylä
Came in late because not only was I running late, I mistakenly entered a different session where an analysis of Twilight was going on.
“Won’t Someone Think of the Children?: Politicized Frameworks in Research on Fat Children’s Academic Achievement”
Heather Brown, Northern Illinois University
I missed Heather's presentation, but according to her abstract she looked at "correlations between weight and academic achievement" from the 1960's up to the present. Articles addressing the academic achievement of fat children were framed in terms of the obesity epidemic and the assumptions about fatness which tend to be inherent in that discourse. Scholars talked about fat children's bodies as though they "ought to be changed for their own good." The studies she found were primarily quantitative and therefore silenced "the voices of fat children about their own experiences as learners." So, as usual, the problem is the fat children, not the stigma placed upon them. The target is children and weight loss instead of anti-fat culture and structural inequities. *sigh*
Kate Mason, University of California, Berkeley
Really wish I had heard more of Kate's presentation, but I was very happy to see someone studying men's ideas about bodies and weight using interview data. As someone who studies gender and masculinity, I found her analysis fascinating. She found that men talked about their relationships with their bodies in ways that cast them as masculine. Often men constructed their relationships with their bodies against the idea of the "failed, unhappy fat woman" who is preoccupied with body. Interestingly, several of the men she interviewed tried to help their mothers diet. They also contrasted their relationships with their bodies to that of body-builders' bodies. Capitalizing on the idea that body-building men are too body-obsessive (obsessing about the body being a "woman" thing to do), they constructed themselves as having a masculine relationship with their body. This seemed perfect for Connel's theory of masculinity. Overall, men had a fear of being un-masculine and Kate said that discourses about women's bodies benefit men and their sense of masculinity.
“Too Fat to Mother: The Legal Discourse of Removing Fat Children from Their Home”
Tali Schaefer, Columbia University Law School
Holy crap, Tali was so on top of it. And she was clearly passionate and angry. I loved it. She spoke of different cases in which children had been removed from their parents' custody for being fat and ways in which fat parents got constructed as unfit parents. She said one of the main premises for taking these children away is the idea that their current fat (obviously the fault of parents) is a future risk--and so legally they are treating "future risk" as a current emergency. The one case she spoke of was unbelievable (well, you know what I mean). A fat girl in New York who had already been taken away from her mother once was taken away again despite improving HEALTH because she wasn't losing weight...and despite the fact that her mother was making every sacrifice possible to conform to the court's demands. And the kind of demands that courts make in these cases are very costly--in terms of money and time. The case was overturned, but the whole thing was just such a striking example of how fat can blind the smartest people of all sense.
“‘Obesity’ as a ‘Symbolic Illness’: Creation of a Troubled Group”
Hannele Harjunen, University of Jyväskylä
Did you know that in Finland in order to get your PhD you have to publish four articles and write a summary article from your dissertation work? I mean, I think I might die if I thought I had to do that. But Hannele has done it and her work is all about fat. So exciting! For her dissertation, Hanelle focused on normalization, medicalization, stigmatization, and fatness and liminality; she also used an intersectional perspective. She looked at fatness as "a mulitfaceted, gendered, socially constructed phenomenon and experience." This presentation, based on her post-doctoral work, focused on "obesity as metaphor." Hannale drew on Susan Sontag's "Illness as a Metaphor" and "AIDS and its metaphors" and Barry Glassner's "Culture of Fear." She also used Beverly Skegg's work related to fat. Hanelle argued that "obesity" is "used as a metaphor for both individual and macro level concerns." She also said that "body size is increasingly used as a demarcation line between "normality" and "abnormality" and between "us" and "them."
1154 Fat Studies: The Politics of Weight Loss and Ideal Body Types
Session Chair: Lynne Gerber, University of California, Berkeley
“‘Eating Dialog’-A Unique Program for Fat Studies”
Ayelet Kalter, Licensed Dietitian, Eating Dialog Study and Therapy Center
Ayelet is a badass. This woman has her own Fat Studies/HAES training program for dietitians, nurses, doctors, and other medical practitioners. IN ISRAEL! She says a lot of people take the year-long program just to prove to her how it's all bullshit, but they often come out thinking very differently. Ayelet told us about the different methods she uses to get students to question their deep-seated assumptions about fat and health. The object of her program is to "enhance social, political, critical, and economical points of view" about fat and health. Her program utilized 20 lecturers and has existed for two years, with a total of 440 hours. Ayelet wants students to shift from a weight-centered approach to a health-centered approach. She has utilized ACT or Acceptance & Commitment Therapy in the construction of this program in order to help students make the shift--which she feels has to happen on a personal level in application to their own lives before they can apply it to people more broadly. I was very pleased to hear, personally, that her students learn about the sociology of fatness. Yes, keep me in business! Anyway, she said that students who complete the program can "see people as a whole." I have to say the whole presentation, let alone the fact that such a program exists, was quite inspiring and made me very hopeful. Her website is http://www.eatingdialog.com/ and if you don't speak Hebrew translate it through Google Translate to read it. Do you think Kate Harding realized her Illustrated BMI Project was on a website for a Fat Studies/HAES program in Israel?
“Not Losing, My Religion: Fat, Excess and the Project of Weight Loss”
Lynne Gerber
Afterward a bunch of us went across the street to the Under/Over for dinner. We talked of Oprah, Monique, Rosie, Tyler Perry, Kirstie, and so many other fat-related people and things. What else would we talk about? And it's where I first heard the story of the fat fortune cookies. I'll recount that later, perhaps.
Note: All accounts of research presentations and events are from my recollections, which are potentially flawed and/or biased by my academic perspectives and social location.
Note, the second: Quotation marks may indicate either paraphrasing or direct quote, and I tried to use them whenever I felt they may be applicable. In my notes I tried to put quotations around all direct quotes, but note-taking can be a precarious task.
QUIT IT!!!!
When someone says "the gays" or "the Blacks" or "the Mexicans" or "the feminists," in what context are they normally using those phrases? What comes to mind when you think about times when people have referred to entire groups of people in such ways? Might the speaker be opposed to those groups and/or discussing them in a derogatory manner?** Hmn, what then of the oft-repeated phrase "the obese"? Especially if you are trying your darnedest to write a fat-positive piece, don't use "the obese." It's a red flag, a dehumanizing phrase, a sign that despite your points to the contrary, you really don't care for us all that much.
*Hell, I don't even like the phrase "obese people"--despite what the Rudd Center says--but at least we're acknowledged (if only in gesture) as people.
**This is, of course, unless it's in the context of parody or satire...and sometimes, even then.
More on School Lunches
I know many of you have been following the Fed Up With Lunch blog by anonymous teacher Mrs. Q. The original idea of the project was to eat school lunch with the kids every day and document the foods that were offered, but the site has turned into a bit of a phenomenon, and, like the Jamie Oliver business, is making people really start to think about the nature of the food we are providing to our kids. Anyway, Mrs. Q recently posted an entry about obesity that I found interesting. It sounds like she already has some fat acceptance-versed commenters, but I still think it's a good opportunity for us to participate in a discussion about fat kids and fat adults from the perspective of trying to provide better nutrition overall. So have a look and join in, if you're so inclined.
Melissa McEwan on Weight Evangelist Jamie Oliver and his new show
Thanks Melissa, for watching this garbage, so I don't have to.
Melissa plays some fat hate bingo, and I'm pretty sure she gets BINGO! for days:
...here's a quick summary: Headless fatties? Check. Enormous food stock footage? Check. OHNOES Obesity CrisisTM? Check. Being fat is ugly? Check. Fat people are lazy? Check. Fat people are stupid? Check. Fat people are sick? Check. DEATHFAT? Check. Mother-blaming for fat kids? Check. Fat as a moral failure? Check. Religious shaming of fat? Check. Fat people don't have "the tools" to not be fat? Check. Fat people need a skinny savior? Checkity-check-check!I remember when I liked Jamie Oliver, when my mom bought me his book....long before he fat-suited it up. Little did I know he would be a mortal enemy.
Jamie Oliver, sacrificing his life so we might be forgiven our fat sins and given life anew. McEwan hits the nail on the head. He really does think he's skinny Jesus chef delivering us from evil.
A Fatshion Scholarship? Brilliant!!!
From their website:
Deadline for Submission: June 1, 2010
Date of Award: June 15, 2010
How to Enter:
Complete the online application below and submit one pdf file that includes:
* Three (3) drawings of plus-size designs (women’s sizes 16 – 32)
* Proof of current enrollment in an accredited Fashion Design School
* An essay (750 words or less) outlining why your fashion entries are unique/innovative and explaining your interest and motivation for a career in the plus-size fashion industry.
Non-electronic submissions will not be accepted and the file can not be larger than 2MB. All materials must be received no later than June 1st 2010 to qualify for consideration.
If you are selected as the Scholarship winner, you will be required to participate in the 2010 National NAAFA Convention Fashion Show on Friday, August 6, 2010 at the Westin San Francisco Hotel in Millbrae, California where you will be introduced as our Fashion Design Scholarship winner and show One (1) garment from your designs/collection. Information on the 2010 NAAFA Fashion Show will be formally outlined to the winner after the award.
NAAFA will cover travel expenses (up to $400) and will reimburse (up to $200) in expenses associated with creation of the garment. NAAFA reserves the right to determine the allocation of those expenses (airfare, hotel, etc.) The winner is responsible for any and all taxes as a result of this scholarship
Application is online via the website.
Trailer for "The Big C"--A Glimpse of Gabby's Character
What do y'all think?
I kind of rolled my eyes when I realized she is in the "student" role again. On the other hand I've never seen a fat person sit down at a desk quite so gracefully. I'm not sure if it's better that they don't focus on her squishing into a desk or if leaving that out obscures the fact that desks suck for us. Forever a double-edged sword.
Gabby gets to play a very confident character. While Linney's character doesn't seem to be fond of Gabby's character, I'm interested in how that might play out in the series. They kind of hint at a bond developing. Will it reiterate stereotypes or is it going to be more complex than that? It's intriguing enough to keep our eye on, I think.
Finally, I find these "I'm dying and now I'm liberated from social norms and refuse to hold back any longer" stories really intriguing. However, I must admit I had no interest in The Bucket List, which I feel is very different from where The Big C might be going. I'm the kinda gal who loves to break social norms and even live outside of some of them, so a show about that is on my map. However, I hope that this series goes beyond the typical cliches and that it gives creedance to the experiences of those who have had cancer. While turning a bad thing into a good thing is a great story, downplaying the struggle can encourage us to ignore or gloss over the complexity of experience. Struggles, I think, are the most empowering parts of stories.
I'm not fat, I'm <euphemism>
Euphemisms for fat make me crazy...some more than others. Just in the past couple of days I have encountered multiple instances where people chose to refer to themselves as 'fluffy' rather than just plain fat. I think the thing that annoys me the most about it is the undertone of "Tee hee! Aren't I adorably naughty when I dance around the truth?" No. No, you're not. Your use of a euphemism implies that there's something wrong with and shameful about your fatness, and that's a load of crap. Be who you are. Be fat. Own it.
Anyone got any other euphemisms that drive them nuts?
HAES Retreat!!
Every so often I get an email from the contact/tip form about some new weight loss product or service that "really works" and that I should "tell [my] readers about". Usually I just roll my eyes and delete. You can imagine my surprise then, when I received a tip email from the proprietors of the Oakledge Wellness Retreat and it turned out to not be (as I assumed) another weight loss business. It looks really cool, actually. The program is based on the principles of Health at Every Size and stresses actual healthy behaviors rather than focusing on weight as a measure of health. It's not cheap, as you can imagine, but for a week in Massachusetts surrounded by HAES folks working out and eating great food, I bet it's well worth it. Cool!