Being a person of colour in a society of white oppression is statistically associated with poverty, poorer access to and discrimination within healthcare, and a host of other factors that contribute to less favourable health statistics for slender as well as fat people.

That “1.00″ number, artificially slapped on the 23.5-25 BMI group, is also artifically equalised across the races. Mortality risk of “1.00″ for a woman of colour is likely a higher number in absolute terms than the “1.00″ for white women.

I believe the mortality difference in the USA for black/white people (both sexes), is around 30%, but I don’t have a cite for that to hand and welcome contradiction. For women and cardiovascular disease, the difference is around 70%. For pregnancy related complications, Black women are 2-3 times more likely to die. For indigenous people in Australia, it’s even worse; Aboriginal women have a life expectancy of only 63 years. (Of course, our government blames “lifestyle factors”.)

Off topic-ish. Sorry.

I think this is also where, in an effort to possibly clarify individual experience, we’ve actually lost a little of the broader context just because we aren’t working from the same knowledge base. When I read Meowser’s comment, I stumbled a little (ooooooh, stumbling block!) over the phrasing because it made me think this whole Death Plunge thing was a specifically white experience.

That said, I really DO believe Meowser’s comment was framed to reference her own experience rather than make assumptions about the experiences of others. Maybe this is a point where we all need a little education – do women of color, white men, and men of color also have a Death Plunge on the BMI charts that could create the same sort of feelings? Because I totally get what Meowser is saying – being close to having an acceptable body – whether that is aesthetically or according to arbitrary charts – is a really tempting thing.

Only Meowser can tell us if my interpretation is correct, but if it is, I am really struggling to see the carelessness here.

Just because they DIDN’T SEE something doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.

Long day.

What I read you focusing on is the last part of the sentence, where she talks about where she resides.

What I was focusing on was the beginning of the sentence, where she seems to speak about the Death Plunge being for white women. It reads (to me) as though the barbs for being within the Death Plunge area are going to be leveled at white women only, and I know I don’t need to tell you that that’s not the case.

However, if you don’t see it, then you don’t see it.

But I think I remember yourself telling some other reader, “privileged” in another way, that just because they saw something didn’t mean it didn’t — and doesn’t — happen.

I’m just respectfully requesting a little care with the language, so that others who are reading casually don’t get alienated either. It’s certainly not just me.

I know you read The Rotund, and I’m just a commenter (at least here), but she has a post up about potential movement allies being excluded for not being “fat enough” to join the debate. The analogy is not precisely exact, but I can certainly see it.

It’s really just about care with the language, that’s all.

The second half of that sentence was about how the statistic she referenced applied specifically to her, a white woman. Furthermore, I daresay she specified “white” precisely because the same statistic does not necessarily apply to anyone who’s not a 100% Caucasian woman. But she happens to be one and she was talking entirely about herself in that paragraph, so frankly, I’m not buying the need for a lecture here.

Meowzer. Kate. I could have sworn we already had this discussion.

With all due and appropriate respect, please stop cutting women who are not ALL Caucasian or ALL Ashkenazi descent (because, as you remember, I said I was multiracial, but I did NOT say what the “blend” was) out of the dialogue.

Remember what people said about BStu in support of isolating one’s position/movement/work from potential allies?

EVERY woman has an eating disorder in American society.

This so describes the shift I’m in the middle of, it took my breath away. I knew about fat acceptance, but thought I couldn’t do it, and still bought into the “but if I only had some self discipline!” crap. (Nevermind the fact that if I didn’t have any self-discipline, I’d be drunk in a trailer like my background dictates, not having the rather nice, if fat, life I’m having. But I digress.) Then I saw Joy Nash’s “A Fat Rant,” then I started digging around a bit and found you and the folks you point to, and then my mind got blown.

The idea that maybe I actually can’t be thin, but can be healthy, and that’s OKAY is so revolutionary. When I’m in tune with it, I feel like you feel when you’ve gotten over the flu and are thanking Goddess for your usual state of health…except I’ve had the flu for 35 years. It’s still so new that I fall out of tune with it, though, and the demons beat me up and tell me that I’m too fat to live. (I’m not really in danger – please don’t trace me down and call 911 on me – but it’s not *that* much of an overstatement.)

Anyway. Thank you so much for getting this information out there, and thank you for reminding me that it’s okay for un-indoctrination to take a while. I hope the good you’ve done me, and must be doing others, comes back to you tenfold.

Where I punish myself the most is when I gain weight. It’s one thing to be size 18 and accept it and love it and find it beautiful. It’s another thing entirely to realize the 18s ain’t fitting anymore and it’s time for 20.