Fat Fancy, one of the most incredible fat clothing shops in the WORLD is up for a grant so they can finally open their own permanent store. Please go here, watch their video, and vote for them as inspiring, useful and funny! The videos with the most votes will be given seed money to get their businesses going.

We only have today and tomorrow before the end of the grant contest so help me get the word out! Please repost on your personal blogs and send to all of your fat friendly internet savvy friends. It's a simple way to DO SOMETHING about the lack of good fat fashion available today. Help empower your fat brothers and sisters in Portland, Oregon to look good and feel good about their bodies!

Also, the video is pretty awesome all by itself, so be sure to give it a look-see.

Update: Well, they didn't win this time, but your votes got Fat Fancy to 9th place out of 50 finalists! That's pretty impressive, no?

Look at this poor woman. Doesn't it look like maybe she needs a big ol' fat hug? I concur.

The thing I like about MeMe Roth is that she is such an easy target. She wears her hatred and her bigotry on her sleeve, has no good advice to give, and 99% of the time comes across to even fat-phobic reporters as bat sh*t crazypants. Aside from the fact that she is all about the fat hatred, there are two things I don't like about MeMe:

1. She gets a lot of attention from the media for her anti-fat blather
2. I am starting to really feel sorry for her

I mean, how could you not? She's so delusional! She insists she's not anorexic, in fact says she's "never been on a diet", but then in the next breath talks about how she doesn't eat breakfast, forces herself to work out before eating during the day, and finally admits that, the day of the interview, which occurred at 3:30 PM, she hadn't eaten at all! Sounds like disordered eating to me.

The article says her (fat) family finds her crusade to be hurtful, so I can imagine that family get-togethers are probably strained and uncomfortable for everyone involved. On second thought, I really feel sorry for her kids. MeMe comes across as so cold and controlled that I can't imagine she's all that warm of a mom. Not to mention what hell it must be to grow up in a house where no one eats. I hope I'm wrong about that, but I bet I'm not.

She just seems so intensely unhappy, so rigid, so devoid of joy that I can't help but feel empathy about the lifetime of hurtful experiences she must have gone through to get to this place. That woman does NOT like herself. Not even a little bit. Sure, I absolutely hate everything she stands for and most of the time I really wish she would just stuff a sock in it, but the sad little fat girl inside me recognizes that the sad little fat girl inside her really just needs some love. I hope one day she finally gets it.

Thanks Jenny!

Reposting from Shapely Prose:

Friend of the blog Heidi, who wrote one of our most memorable guest posts about a year and a half ago, could use some support from the SP community right now.

On Friday, her father committed suicide. (Her heartbreaking and potentially triggering first post about it is here.) He was the primary breadwinner for the family — Heidi and her mom both have chronic health problems that limit their ability to work. Now, with no insurance and no savings, they’re dealing with burial costs and will likely have to move in the near future. They don’t know how they’re going to manage, and they’re obviously both terribly traumatized right now.

I know money’s tight for everyone, but if you can spare anything, she’s accepting donations via PayPal here. There’s also a mailing address at that link if you’d like to send a card. (As she says, “Mail that isn’t bills would make me so super happy.”) Huge thanks to anyone who can help out. And huge love and sympathy to Heidi and her mom from all of us at SP.

And from all of us at BFB as well. Please help if you can.

Okay wait...so you're telling me that people who are fat in middle age and then lose weight have a higher risk for health problems when they're old? And it doesn't occur to you that the weight loss itself could be causing the health problems? Aren't you, like, a scientist? Cause and effect? Ring any bells?

Thanks Jean!

Hey BFBers, this is sort of an interim post, but there is some crazy-good HAES stuff going on lately.

First, if you haven't already joined Linda Bacon's HAES community, you should totally do it! And sign the pledge! For those of you who don't know, Linda will be speaking at the NAAFA conference in Washington D.C. this year.

Second, this article by Lucy Aphamor in The Guardian rocks my socks! Thanks to Beanietude for bringing it up in the forums. Lucy says:

The hardest leap for practitioner and client alike can be the idea that all bodies are worthy of respect; that it is permissible and important to appreciate and care for the body you live in, whatever size you are; that bodies should not be disliked or despised for their lack of conformity to a particular size or shape.

This is a "HAES 101" that kicks ass and takes names. It's nothing most of you haven't heard before, but that's okay. If it's too 101 for you, post it on Facebook/Twitter/whatever or keep it in your file to send to someone if you get a chance to educate someone on HAES. I do wish that general HAES articles would do a little more to address class and race issues because they are, let's be honest, very central to the way that fatness/nutrition gets discussed and anti-fat arguments get deployed.

Also, Charlotte Cooper gives us the news that HAES UK was launched this weekend! (Lucy Aphramor also links to it in her Guardian article.) Did anyone go to the event? If so, please report!

Finally, how should we react to all this HAES stuff becomming more mainstream? Are you seeing this reflected in your every day lives?

When I first read this article I had an odd sense of déjà vu. Then I realized why: it's not a new story! Not only that, but every time this subject has come up, the same people seem to be behind it. Ian Roberts wrote the original diatribe in 2007, he and Dr. Phil Edwards wrote a letter to the Lancet in 2008 with the same message, and now they've published a study along these same lines. The thing is, all of their research is based on the same faulty assumptions: that fat people consume more energy by eating and driving more. Even this new "study" draws conclusions based on these assumptions. For instance:

Since it can be assumed that energy expenditure is approximately balanced by energy intake, it follows that total food energy consumption increases as BMI increases.

So, we're going to assume that each step up the BMI ladder means more food consumption? There have been studies to refute this, but even if you disregard them and assume that I, with a BMI of 60+ eat THREE TIMES THE VOLUME OF FOOD as a person with a BMI of 20, what about the one in four people in the UK who are on a constant diet? What about the 45 million Americans who go on diets each year? Some of those folks must be fat, yes? So right there you can see it's ridiculous to assume that every fat person eats more than someone with a lower BMI. If it were true, the diet industry would crumble.

To estimate the GHG emissions due to car travel by each population, we assumed that all individuals with BMI < 30 kg/m2 use an average small car (e.g. Ford Fiesta) and that individuals with BMI 30 kg/m2 use a car with more internal space (e.g. Ford Galaxy). The Ford Fiesta weighs 1530 kg and produces 147 gCO2 per km, whereas the Ford Galaxy weighs 2415 kg and produces 197 gCO2 per km.

So for the purposes of this study, we're just going to *assume* that all of the skinny folks drive tiny cars and all of the fat folks drive bigger cars. What about all of the skinny SUV drivers? What about the fat folks who drive hybrids or smaller, more fuel-efficient cars? What about all of the poorer fat people who don't even have their own car and instead take public transportation?

The increase in energy expenditure with increasing body weight should prevent further weight gain in a negative feedback loop but with rising BMI people are likely to move less, particularly those who are substantially overweight

Of course this part ignores the active fat people and imagines that all skinny people are active. It also incorrectly assumes (again) that the amount of walking a person does correlates somehow with their BMI. Furthermore, when I was digging for info I came across this article that states that driving might be better for the planet than walking anyway.

So Dr. Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts, here's some advice: no matter how many times you interpret and reinterpret these data, you're still starting off with a bunch of flawed, unproven assumptions that, despite the moderate media interest, add up to nothing more than fat-bashing, sizeist nonsense. Your "research" is focusing attention on fat people instead of the actual changes that need to be made to stop global warming. Do the planet a favor and kindly knock it off.

Thanks to DC and Marilyn for the tip

So I was asked to give a comment yesterday on United Airlines' new policy to charge fat people double to fly on their planes. When the article came out the thing that struck me the most was how my response, which I had thought of as calm and rational, was being portrayed as "anger" and that I was "hitting out" against United. My first thought was "But wait...I'm not angry!" The more I thought about it though, the more I realized maybe I should be.

What United is doing here (and what the rest of the airlines have already done) is basically scapegoating fat people for the fact that there's no room in their tiny airplane seats. Air travel for most people is not a very comfortable or cheap way to go and if they can get us all focused on the specter of a fat person's fat encroaching on the armrest then we won't even think about how seventeen inches isn't really enough personal space for us to be comfortable sitting next to any stranger, even a thin one. Not to mention that by making the seats so small, the airlines are guaranteeing that a higher percentage of their passengers will not be able to fit into them and will then have to pay for two seats. It's like the BMI effect when a bajillion people became overweight overnight. These terrible fat people wouldn't be such a problem if the seats were at least made to fit average-sized adults.

An aside:
So okay, maybe it's not realistic to expect airlines to rip out all of the tiny seats and put in a bunch of average-sized seats. But would it be too much to ask them to put in a couple of rows of larger seats for larger folks? Sure, maybe they could even charge a little more for them, but there should be coach fare seats that fat people can fit into, no? Not everyone can afford two seats or first class seats. By putting in a row or two of plus sized seats, they can not only ensure that fat people are accomodated comfortably, they could also make sure no thin people ever have to put up with sitting next to them (egads!).
End aside.

Anyway, back to the scapegoating. Is it really logical and/or possible that fat people on planes are that much of a problem for United? According to their own press release, they got 700 complaints last year about fat people encroaching on thin peoples' space. 700...that sounds like quite a few complaints until you look at the other number in the article: 3000 flights a day. A DAY. Even if we take a seriously conservative estimate and say there are only 50 people on each flight, that means that 150,000 folks fly United every day. That's 54,750,000 people a year. So 700 of those people, or 0.00001% of the people who flew last year, had a complaint about fat people. I wonder how many people complained about delays or ticket prices. I wonder how many had something to say about lack of leg room or the terrible airline food. I'm willing to bet that any one of these things scored more than 700 complaints from United's customers, but to change them would cost the company money. Announcing a fat people policy, on the other hand, gets them free publicity, goodwill from the fat-hating public, and some extra fares paid by fat folks who now have no choice.

Another aside:
And United, don't give me that crap about how your industry is struggling and these evil fat people are putting such a strain on your resources by taking up two seats and not paying extra for them. First of all, didn't you just get a giant government bailout? What exactly did you do with that money? I know you didn't improve your planes because they're just as uncomfortable as they have always been. I know you didn't lower ticket prices because it still costs an arm and a leg to fly anywhere. I know you didn't use it to continue to pay your valuable employees because you're still laying people off. So what the hell? Isn't it time to examine why you keep running out of cash instead of blaming and double-charging your passengers?
End aside.

So yes, I'm a little angry. I'm tired of the airline industry and the fashion industry and the media telling me that the problem is me and my body and that I should just change and everything will be okay. My body is not the problem! Your complete denial that there is any body type other than model-thin is the problem. Your focus on doing things more and more cheaply so you can make more money is the problem. I am not an anomaly. I am not "other". I am a valid member of the human race and I don't deserve to be excluded or asked to pay more for the same goods and services as thin people. I and the millions like me deserve to be considered when you're building a new airplane or designing a new clothing line for the masses. We are the masses! Stop acting like we don't or shouldn't exist. We're here, baby. One way or another, you're going to have to deal with us.

That is all.

According to this article, studying ten people for three days is enough to generalize about the behavior and activity level of an entire segment of the fat population.

While I appreciate that the researchers doing the study seem to have reached the same conclusion that every HAES proponent has known for years, it annoys me that Reuters is choosing to frame the results as "big fat fatties are totally lying when they say they have healthy habits!" instead of "habits are better indicators of health than weight or size". Arg.

They should call the article "Ten very obese adults almost completely sedentary." That's some news there.

Hey folks! withoutscene gave me a heads up to this article over at Sociological Images regarding fat camp. I had some experiences with fat camp when I was younger so I figured I'd post a comment:

I went to fat camp for three years in my mid-teens. I enjoyed being there a whole lot more than I enjoyed being in the outside world but there was definitely a hierarchy of fatness and there was plenty of fat shaming and unhealthy food behavior perpetuated. The camp I went to inexplicably also allowed girls with restricting eating disorders to attend, only they had to come up to the kitchen and eat extra snacks before bed to keep their calorie count up. I can imagine being in an environment where everyone is pushing eating less and exercising more could be a serious triggering thing for an anorexic or bulimic person.

My camp was pretty much the same as the previous commenter described, low calorie meals and exercise all day long. I definitely lost weight by the end of the summer and was happy about it because my parents were happy, but once I got back to reality the weight came right back on and it was back to the dysfunctional power struggle between my parents and my fat. They ended up sending me back two more summers but finally we just couldn’t afford it anymore. It’s not a cheap way to spend a summer, which is another sociological consideration because most of the kids there had pretty rich parents.

So. I can’t speak for every kid who has had a fat camp experience, but I knew I was there because my parents thought there was something wrong with me that needed to be fixed. It was not just a fun time. To an extent it felt like camp was my atonement for not fitting the mold. The fact that I enjoyed interacting with other kids like me at camp didn’t really ever make up for that.

As I was writing I became curious about the rest of the fat community out there. Did you go to fat camp? Were your experiences similar to mine or totally different? Do you think your experiences shaped you in a positive or negative way? If you never went to fat camp, did you ever want to? Other thoughts?

I went to Kingsmont, by the way. Anyone else?

According to this article in The Vancouver Sun, at least one more doctor out there is finally starting to get that fat is not a definitive indicator of ill health.

After reading the article I Googled Dr. Arya Sharma and found his "Obesity Notes" blog. There were some interesting articles, and while I'm not convinced Dr. Sharma's views are entirely in line with my own (and those professed within the fat rights movement), he does tend to say some things that make me want to stand up and cheer. Notably:

Women are clearly far more susceptible to this “healthy-weights” messaging and at any given time are likely to show more dissatisfaction, concern and preoccupation with their weight than men. While most of this weight obsession may well be fueled by the unachievable “ideal” of body weight promoted by the fashion and cosmetics industry, it is not unusual to hear “better health” as a justification for openly engaging in unhealthy weight-loss behaviours.

and

Here is my message to all health professionals and policy makers concerned with obesity: let us define obesity in terms of its actual impact on health - let us not recommend weight loss to those, who have nothing to gain.

At this point, I'm cautiously optimistic that we may have another health professional ally in Dr. Sharma. What are your thoughts?

I want to talk to you about something for a minute, and that something is activism. No don't close the window. This is going to be good.

Over the years I have talked to many people who were deeply involved in the fat rights movement and enacting all sorts of change and when I mentioned activism to them they drew back in horror and insisted "well I'm no activist!" And I kind of understand that, because for a long time when I heard the word 'activism' I would think of hordes of folks marching on Washington, burning bras, shouting and holding signs, and that is not me. Not that I don't love a good march as much as the next person, because I do, and I certainly have a few bras I wouldn't mind burning, but most days I'm just not a shouting, sign-waving kind of a lady.

The thing is, you can be a fat rights activist without ever picking up a sign or shouting an epithet or taking one step towards the capitol. In a way, fat activism starts much closer to home. Imagine, if you will, a cluster of shouting sign-waving anti-fat activists in your head. They think horrible things about you, they judge every move you make, they insist that you don't deserve the same rights and privileges as thin people. Someone needs to shut them up, you know? And you're the only one around. So you paint your own mental signs that say "correlation is not causation" and "fat is beautiful" and "fat rights now" and every day you stand across from the haters and shout your own messages of fat love. You just became an activist, my friend.

Sure, it's in your own head, so it seems like you're not making that much of a difference, but this is just where it starts. Next thing you know, you find yourself talking to someone at a party who launches into diet talk around the canapé table and suddenly you're no longer just nodding and going along. New things start to come out of your mouth, like "Oh I don't diet anymore. Diets don't work and life is just too short to put yourself through that kind of deprivation and guilt over and over." And maybe you come up against a ton of opposition, but maybe there is also a quiet, self-hating dieter in the corner who heard your words and is now beginning to think "Is that true? Am I putting myself through this hell for nothing?" That's activism.

Maybe now you're thinking, "but Carrie, that's just one person. I want to make more of a difference than that." I hear you. So maybe you come to this site. Maybe you read about a project like Dare to Show Your Face or The BMI Project or The Fat Experience Project and you think "Well, I'm fat, and I guess my experience counts. Maybe I'll participate in this project." Maybe your contribution is viewed by folks of all sizes with various opinions on fat and some of them start to get the message that fat people are people just like everyone else. Activism!

Here are other things you may already be doing that fall under the activist umbrella:
1. Staying informed on fat rights issues via this site and others on the fatosphere
2. Refusing to let society tell you what fat people should or shouldn't be doing, wearing, eating, thinking, etc
3. Speaking up when someone tells fat jokes
4. Emailing government officials to express your interest in fat positive laws
5. Joining an organization like NAAFA, ISAA, or The Fat Rights Coalition
6. Sending a donation or volunteering time for any of these or other fat positive groups
7. Raising your children to love their bodies and the variations in bodies of others
8. Having a frank conversation with your doctor about Health at Every Size
9. Throwing out your scale and refusing to diet ever again
10. 'Coming out' as a fat activist to your friends and family and talking about fat issues with them as frankly and openly as you would anything else.

So you see? You may already be an activist. But what if you're not? What if all of this talk of activism makes you seize up and want to run for the hills? First, take a deep breath. Nobody is going to make you do anything you don't want to do. Then, maybe start really small. In your head, sit down with a piece of posterboard and a marker and make yourself a sign. Maybe you're not ready for something as radical as "fat is beautiful" or "fat doesn't equal unhealthy". Fine. How about a sign that says "I'm a person, just like any other person"? There's no denying that, is there? Now take your sign and stand up in front of the haters. That's all. Just give them a little opposition. They might even quiet down a tiny bit. When you're ready, maybe shout a little something. How about "I deserve rights"? Because you do. I bet at some point, some of your mental haters will give up, put down their signs, and go home because they finally get it. And that, my friend, is activism.

Inspired by this post at The Pursuit of Harpyness

For those of you who have been looking for an opportunity to advance the fat rights cause, now is your chance! NAAFA members in Nevada have been working to get a bill drafted and voted on that would "help to eliminate discrimination based on physical appearance which is defined to include weight and height" Please read the letter below and take a moment to email the committee members listed, even if you're not a NAAFA member. Our voices can make a difference but only if we say something!

For forty years, NAAFA members have been writing letters to legislators working to improve the lives of people of size. Since those humble beginnings we have seen one state (Michigan) and a handful of cities change their anti-discrimination laws to include height and weight or physical appearance.

The most recent was just last year when Binghamton, NY changed their laws to protect people of size. They modeled their anti-discrimination laws after the laws in San Francisco. This is a proud day for those of you involved in that work in San Francisco. We never know the far-reaching effect our work will have!

It is to this end that members of NAAFA in Nevada have been working to see that their laws are changed as well. A bill has been drafted and is now awaiting review by the Commerce and Labor Committee before it can be passed along and voted into law. AB 166 modernizes Nevada's anti-discrimination laws and would help to eliminate discrimination based on physical appearance which is defined to include weight and height. The latest word from my assemblyman is that the committee chairman does not want to give this bill a hearing.

We're asking NAAFA members to step up to the plate and start writing letters again. Whether you are a Nevada resident or a visitor to Nevada, we need your help to insure that this bill will be passed into law. For residents, it would affect hiring processes, employment, housing and public accommodations. Why would you as a non-resident have any impact at all in this situation? The economy of the state of Nevada is heavily reliant on tourism. We need visitors in order to survive. As a visitor to Nevada, this change would affect "public accommodation."

What "public accommodation" includes for you as a visitor to Nevada is hotel stays, restaurants, theaters, clubs, etc. This law is about how you are treated while you are here. This change to our laws would mean that you could not be discriminated against because of your weight, height or a physical characteristic beyond your control. This is why this change is important to you and why we need your help!

Please write to the following committee members and tell them that it is VERY important that this bill become law:

mconklin@asm.state.nv.us, katkinson@asm.state.nv.us, banderson@asm.state.nv.us, marberry@asm.state.nv.us, bbuckley@asm.state.nv.us, whorne@asm.state.nv.us, mkirkpatrick@asm.state.nv.us, mmanendo@asm.state.nv.us, kmcclain@asm.state.nv.us, joceguera@asm.state.nv.us, cchristensen@asm.state.nv.us, hgansert@asm.state.nv.us,
egoedhart@asm.state.nv.us, jsettelmeyer@asm.state.nv.us

PLEASE take a few moments of your time and write today. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate, simply tell them in your own words that you support the passage of AB 166. We REALLY need you to act on this. Change only comes in society when we make it happen! Speak out today and take a stand for your rights. It's for your future and for the future of those you love. We need all of you to write in support of AB 166. People come in all sizes and it's time to support one another!

Thanks everybody!

Zombies? No, obesity doctors. You read that right. Though they want in our brains, rather than eating them up. But part of me thinks they’d eat our brains if it’d “cure our obesity”—after all, it’s for our health!

On Tuesday Nightline covered a story about a woman, Carol, who agreed to be the second person in the U.S. to undergo “the most radical treatment ever devised for obesity,” a treatment called Deep Brain Stimulation. Basically, surgeons drill into her brain and carefully poke around, sending electric currents into her brain until they identify the part that controls her hunger, feeling of satiation, etc. And then they implant “two brain pacemakers” into her chest that will send those same electric currents to her brain. TWO!!! The currents are supposed to keep her, it seems, feeling full enough—meaning they are sending volts into her brain to simulate a feeling “just below [the] threshold of nausea.” According to one surgeon, this will “readjust her weight thermostat so that she can metabolize better and potentially eat less, if that’s what it takes.” Eventually they will have to dial it up a notch to keep her feeling full.

I respect this woman’s right to do this, but I do not respect the doctors/researchers’ endeavor to perform it, nor am I very satisfied with Nightline’s coverage. Martin Bashir doesn’t ask the tough questions, evaluate the risks of this radical procedure or the assumptions it’s based on, or even present more than a flittering critical thought throughout this report. It’s not that Bashir seems all that gung-ho about it, but in the end it is just another booga-booga-OMGtehFats puff piece, rather than an investigative report.

I tend to be long-winded, so I decided to at least organize my long-windedness and post a list of my objections...off the top of my head.

1. The contention that “obesity is the most painful problem in the world.” Now, I took that out of context. The actual quote is, “For Carol Poe, obesity is the most painful problem in the world.” If she said this and she feels it’s her biggest problem, I feel really bad for her and what she must go through...not that she’d be the only one who thinks being fat is The_Worst_Thing_Evar ™. We all know that people would rather die than be obeeeeese (or “overweight” or even a little fat); fatness is many people’s greatest fear. But this segment only reinforces the idea that it’s the worst thing that could happen to a person and that we should all be very, very afraid of the fats. The same news show would likely do a story on how young girls are so afraid of fat and not see the connection between girls’ fear of fat and their own reporting.

2. The doctors’ treatment of “obesity” as though fatness is a disease like Parkinson’s. Fatness is not a disease, people. Yet doctors think that since Deep Brain Stimulation worked on Parkinson’s (not sure how accurate that is) they can and should save the world from fat people—and fat people from themselves—using DBS.

3. That’s right, we can’t control ourselves, so they’ve gotta go into our brains and do it themselves. See how much work we make them do? If this procedure “works” (whatever that means), there may be a time when any “obese” person who doesn’t subject themselves to DBS and “brain pacemakers” will be seen as both socially and personally irresponsible. If so, at the same time we will still be lamented for our inability to control ourselves of our insatiable need for instant gratification. A judgment all based on weight.

4. The “Fat Carol” to “Ideal Carol” digital transformation. Really? Like fat people don’t see enough of this on weight loss commercials. The fact that “before” and “after” pictures have become a staple in our culture is evidence that we have some real problems. When we set up any kind of “ideal” body shape/size, we have a problem.

5. This segment addresses nothing about health. No mention of measures of her health before or after. No mention of health other than the cursory mention of her mental health/anguish regarding her fatness and the implication that she is a compulsive eater paired the idea that her compulsive eating is what’s at the root of her “fat problem.” After all, they wouldn’t need in our brains if we could control ourselves. You wanna bet people still come away form the segment assuming this will improve her health? What happens if this woman actually ends up malnourished? This implant is manipulating signals sent to her brain about what her body needs; it completely suppresses any chance she would have of listening to her bodily cues regarding hunger and nourishment.

6. According to the segment, this woman is 230lbs. I think a simple WTF covers this.

7. Surgeon guy: “For some it may seem radical that electrodes should be put in the brain, that someone should be doing brain surgery for obesity. But I think we’ve gotten through that.” Me: Uh, no we have NOT.

8. This is not scientific, at least not in the sense that we can deduce anything whatsoever. (Though the fact that they know so much about the brain is pretty friggin cool, if scary.) There is no control group. She’s just one woman, and she’s doing things in addition to getting the DBS implants that might affect the outcome. Not to mention the possible placebo effects of something as serious as brain surgery. And on top of all this, we have just seen a snapshot of her experience. We in no way know what the future holds for her or whether eating less would make her thin or even “overweight.” And yet people will assume. And we will continue to suffer from their poor assumptions because when you are addressing OMGtehFatness you don't have to think critically, ask tough questions or give an accurate portrayal of risks and benefits.

Finally, I have been really trying to create “action steps” lately...but on this one I am not seeing a clear path. I did tweet Nightline a piece or two of my mind, not that they paid any attention. Maybe we should suggest that Nightline do a segment on weight discrimination and prejudice in health care and the real health consequences of both, or a segment on HAES. Any suggestions?

More info on this from Sandy Szwarc at Junkfood Science

I wanted to give a shout-out to Dr. Linda Bacon for her new book, Health at Every Size. The book's site includes an endorsements page that reads like a who's who within the fat community.

Linda was kind enough to provide a review copy for BFB (thanks again) - but I'm wondering if any readers have had a chance to read or start to read this book. Everything I've seen has been truly positive.

Dear Big Fat Blog readers,

Hello! My name is Carrie Padian and I am the president of The Fat Rights Coalition. I'm getting all up in Paul's space today to talk to you about something that affects all of us: the future of Big Fat Blog.

I'm sure many of you freaked out as I did when you read that BFB would cease to exist in its current form on April 1st. The site has become a touchstone for many of us, a way to plug in and reconnect with the movement on a regular basis. BFB and its archives represent an incredible amount of work on Paul's part and I think it would be a real setback for the fat rights movement if that information was no longer available.

That's why I'm so pleased to announce that, come April, The Fat Rights Coalition will be taking on the day-to-day operations at BFB! We will be dividing the blogging and admin responsibilities among coalition members (and anyone else who wants to pitch in) and our hope is to provide the same level of quality and balanced coverage of the world of fat that Paul has given us over the years. With that said, I am interested to hear any comments or suggestions you may have as we begin this project. Please write me at carrie at fatrights dot org and tell me what you think. We're going to be looking for some more bloggers to work with the site on a rotating basis, so also email me if you are interested in writing for BFB.

It will be an interesting transition. I'm sure you'll notice some small changes, some you may love and some you may hate. The important thing is that we keep the lines of communication open. No one website can be all things to all people, but if we're getting something really wrong, I want to know about it.

Thanks for being a part of BFB and the fat rights movement. Keep the feedback coming!

Carrie Padian
President, The Fat Rights Coalition
http://www.fatrights.org

Ooof:

The Obama transition team approached Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, about becoming U.S. surgeon general, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN.

Via the LA Times through the Chicago Tribune:

More recently, Gupta -- the son of immigrants from India and Pakistan -- launched a nationwide campaign on CNN titled "Fit Nation" to highlight the dangers of obesity in children.

"We are told that the pitch to him has been that healthcare reform will be a top priority," [CNN's John] King said, "that wellness, fitness, obesity, the issues he has focused on often here at CNN, will be a top priority.

This seems like a really, really bad choice.

To the community:

After much consideration, I've decided to cease writing at Big Fat Blog as of April 1, 2009.

It's been a long and incredible journey. A little 5-page website I put up to support my college lecture on sizism back in 2000 ended up being - for a long while - the largest fat acceptance blog on the web; the site lived on to see a community of nearly 3,000 people sign up to join in the fight for fat acceptance and fat rights. I've always, always been impressed with the level of discourse and incredible intelligence of our members.

2008 was a big year of change for me professionally and personally. As has always been the case, BFB isn't my day job. I was able to devote a lot more time to it in the past than I am now, and rather than allow the quality of the site to decrease any further I'd rather simply stop.

The struggle for fat equality is, in a word, hard. But I've been encouraged by things such as the BFB and Fat Rights Coalition (nee COFRA) Think Tanks, the formation of the Fat Rights Coalition, and the number of blogs that have sprouted up. It's pretty amazing to think that just about 9 years ago it was BFB and a bunch of nothin'; now it's hundreds of great resources, written by smart, sharp folks. I hope people are willing to take that activism offline and make some positive change in the world.

Thank you, everyone, for your support over the past 8 1/2 years.

Paul

Now, some questions:

So what's going to happen from here?

Effective immediately, no new member registrations will be processed. (As there are a fair number of unprocessed registrations, this is essentially retroactive to early December, 2008.)

As I said at the outset, I'll still be publishing articles to the blog until April 1st. The frequency may pick up a bit. After that point the site will remain up until October 1, 2009, at which point it will go dark; this will allow the Forums to continue on - they've generally seen more activity than the blog itself in the past few months.

What about Big Fat Index and Big Fat Facts?

Both sites will also go offline on October 1, 2009.

What about my data?

I will destroy all personal data (databases) and backups that I have the ability to delete after the site shuts down. I will not sell the data at any price.

What about...

Feel free to ask in the comments below, and I'll do my best to answer.

Thanks again, everyone.

If you're in the Chicago area, there's a store that could use your help to stay afloat.

Oak Park's Sew Particular - an alteration shop specializing in plus sizes - and its companion consignment shop It's Sew You are holding a 'Help Me Stay in Business' sale. Shop owner Vivian Colette is behind on rent by several months and could be out of business altogether soon.

Colette, 56, is single, and says the business is her only source of income. If her last-ditch effort fails, she's uncertain of her next step. Working out of home isn't ideal. She started out with an at-home venture and knows that many of her customers who are handicapped would have difficulty climbing stairs to her home.

When my wife needed a dress altered last year, Vivian was nothing but professional, helpful, and welcoming.

Here's a map of the store and the website. Please check it out.

DebraSY pointed me to a great report from the Kansas City Fox affiliate on fat health care. The story is surprisingly good, and it's available in video form - definitely worth a look.

The narrative here comes from Ann Pei, whose sister Joyce was denied proper care due to her size.

Studies have found health professionals spend less time with obese patients and view them as less likable and more emotional. Young doctors claim medical school are addressing the issue.

"They always taught us to confront our own biases, not just about obesity, but all chronic health conditions. Confront your biases. That helps you meet the patients where they are," says Dr. Veronica Anwuri with Saint Luke's Medical Group.

Debra also notes that Laurie Todd, the first person interviewed in the piece, has started a group called Stay the Course KC "dedicated to bringing out fat people who have isolated themselves, and getting them reinvolved in the community and with one another."

This is a really straightforward piece overall and I'm most impressed at the lack of negativity here. It's handled with careful consideration and yet drives the point home nicely. Good stuff.

As you've seen over the past few days, the biggest news in the fat community is that Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that fat people are entitled to two seats for the price of one. Air Canada and WestJet had sought to overturn the "one person, one fare" policy enacted by the Canadian Transportation Agency that we covered back in January.

The agency ordered the companies last January to adopt a policy of “one person, one fare.”

That would mean, for example, that a disabled person who needs additional room for a wheelchair, or an obese person who needs an additional seat, could not be charged extra.

It would also mean that, if a disabled person has to be accompanied by an attendant, the attendant would ride free.

Naturally this has brought thousands of truly brave (cough), anonymous (cough) internet trolls out of the woodwork on myriad newspaper sites, citing how terrible this is and how we're all just fat and need to lose weight, how not-fat people are "subsidizing the lifestyle choice of the obese", and all the usual crap. Glad they're being constructive.

The CBC has a more contextual article on this ruling. A WestJet official wondered how his company would implement this policy in a non-discriminatory fashion. Here's an idea: at the airport, include two actual, real seats from your planes. If a person can not sit with the armrest down, that person needs two seats. Seems simple. Is simple. And go the extra mile by making this a private area, too.

All in all, this is a superb ruling and the Canadian Transportation Agency should be applauded for upholding our rights, enforcing their ruling, and allowing fat people to fly with dignity - something that the loudmouthed "thin" people on the internet are taking for granted. [links via DeeLeigh, CarrieP, and roughly 40 others!]

Hey there - it's been a while, hasn't it?

I wanted to check in and let everyone know that yes, I'm still here and yes, I'm still reading the forums and keeping up with registrations. But I confess that offline life has gotten in the way - and really, taken precedence - for a little while now.

On top of that I've hit a personal fatigue point with blogging and thus, the time away.

If you're itching for more news, though, I will gladly point you over to the forums, as they've been pretty active lately. There are a lot of solid topics and a lot of new faces, too!

Quick thoughts, though:

• Ruby, the new Style TV show, certainly looks like exploitative junk. Has anyone seen it?
• Is it possible for anyone to run a food blog and not have it turn into some sort of diet blog? If so, please link up an example. (I'm looking at you, Serious Eats.)
• Truly positive fat news has been hard to come by as of late.

The new book from Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby (aka The Rotund), Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body, is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com! Woot!

To all BFB readers in the US:

Vote.

This is it. No excuses.

Wellroundedtype2 is calling for a safe space for fat athletes. Here's a quote (within a quote!) from an exchange she had with another blogger, spacedcowgirl:

You pose a great question about a safe space for fat athletes. I don't know of one but that would be a seriously awesome resource. (Imagine being able to discuss issues general to fitness, but also fat-specific stuff like chafing or adjusting yoga positions to accommodate one's body, without having to hear about how you should just lose weight.) Maybe you could do a post asking about this so that the Fatosphere feed readers would see it and hopefully offer suggestions.

I think it's a fantastic idea.

I am finally caught up on registrations.

I'd like to take a moment to apologize to everyone for not remedying the situation sooner; the registrations simply stacked up and my lack of free time meant a huge backlog. But now, there's no backlog - so if you received the welcome email, you're all set!

Thanks for your patience!

As a footnote, out of the pending registrations about 20% were spammers, people thinking this was a dating site (real people, not spambots) and an interesting new segment - alleged doctors looking to "help" members. Riiiight.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended that Acomplia, a dangerous diet drug with serious side effects, be pulled from the market.

Obese or overweight people using Acomplia have twice the risk of mental disorders than those taking a placebo, the London- based European Medicines Agency, which regulates treatments in the 27-nation European Union, said today in a statement.

This is characterized as a "death knell" for the drug in the EU. In the US, it's been shot down three times by the FDA so Sanofi-Aventis, the drug's maker, will try for a fourth time by promoting it as an anti-diabetes drug. Hey, that's great.

Also of note from this Bloomberg piece is that Alli, the heavily-marketed poop-your-pants diet drug, got the nod to be sold over the counter in the EU. Stock up on dark pants, friends.

I'm pleased to spread the word on the Fat Rights Coalition's logo contest. You might remember the Fat Rights Coalition under its previous name of COFRA.) The deadline for the contest is next Friday, so get crackin'!

Here are the details from the FRC's President, Carrie Padian:

We are calling on all graphically inclined members! We are still desperately in need of a fantastic logo for The Fat Rights Coalition, so we are holding a contest*. We can't wait to see what you can come up with! Here's the scoop:

1. Any member of The Fat Rights Coalition (formerly COFRA) who is interested in submitting a logo may do so by emailing it as an attachment to carrie@fatrights.org.
2. Submission deadline is October 31st, 2008 at midnight PST.
3. We will review submissions and post our three favorites by November 7th.
4. All members of The Fat Rights Coalition will have the opportunity to vote on the final logo.
5. Voting will be open for one week afterward and will conclude on November 14th, 2008 at midnight PST.
6. We will post the winner on fatrights.org.

*The winning logo will become property of The Fat Rights Coalition, but we will absolutely give you credit.

For designers out there, this is a prime opportunity to use your skills and talents toward a great cause. The Coalition is ready to move forward towards its goals, and you can help. I strongly encourage everyone to participate!

Nice critique of the use of fat kids on TV shows over at Jossip, focusing on Desperate Housewives' Juanita Solis; she's been the brunt of blatant fat jokes on the show.

"Also, Madison [De La Garza, the actress who portrays Juanita] is never present during scenes featuring the adult characters talking about her weight."

That is entirely off the mark. Seven years old is still a child, and at that age you're old enough to realize that you're being made fun of. But what's the solution, only hire skinny child actors and put them in fat suits, like Ryan Reynolds in Just Friends?

As I said, this was great to see and surprisingly sympathetic to our cause. Unfortunately there aren't any good solutions here, but again, good on Jossip for calling this crap out.

If you watched last night's final US Presidential Debate, you probably noticed that Senator John McCain was the first of the two candidates to call out fat publicly in some fashion. Here's a complete transcript. He said:

The rise of obesity amongst young Americans is one of the most alarming statistics that there is. We should have physical fitness programs and nutrition programs in schools. Every parent should know what's going on there.

Yeah, not so much, McCain. From a Junkfood Science post back in May:

The latest statistics on childhood overweight from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They show that since the childhood growth charts were redesigned nearly a decade ago, there have been no statistically significant change in the percentages of young people at or above the 95th percentile (labeled as “overweight” and some are now calling “obese”).

Redesigning charts'll do that for ya!

McCain also called for "rewarding" people who joined wellness programs and health clubs. Wellness, as regular readers know, is just the new codeword for "not fat." This is a horrible, horrible idea.

To be totally fair, though, "prevention" of fat is covered explicitly in Senator Barack Obama's health care plan:

The nation faces epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases as well as new threats of pandemic flu and bioterrorism.

An increasing number of Americans are suffering and dying needlessly from diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and HIV/AIDS, all of which can be delayed in onset if not prevented entirely.

On fat kids, the Obama-Biden plan says:

Childhood obesity is nearly epidemic, particularly among minority populations, and school systems can play an important role in tackling this issue.

Nearly epidemic is notable here; there's a difference. But it's still wrong. It references this 5-year-old NIH piece, geared towards "preventing" fat versus actually backing it up with facts. (In addition, the NIH is the organization that redefined the BMI ten years ago; disappointing because they do some good work.)

The plan also references a 2006 CDC report on fat. Too bad it, too, was debunked by the CDC itself:

As JFS has posted repeatedly, back in 2004, in the June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the CDC had reported that there had been no significant increases in the numbers of U.S. adults or children considered “overweight” or “obese” from 1999-2000 through 2001-2002.

Sorry, Barack. While I give you points for not calling it an epidemic outright, and not namechecking it in order to scare the crap out of people, the argument is still a house of cards.

(Cross-posted to Open Salon.)

You may have already seen this; even if you have, you should probably read it again.

Amp (who writes at the underrated, excellent Alas, a Blog) has created The Fat Monologue:

This is a comic I did many months ago (or was it over a year ago?), for a gallery show. Because it was designed to be viewed on a wall, it’s kind of hard to look at online — the panels kind of spiral around rather than going in straight, easy-to-scroll through rows.

It's marvelous stuff - easily one of the best fat-related pieces I've seen ever.