makes the problem seem simple enough to solve. You just send a tough guy in to demand that she eat normally and quit barfing, already! But now John Prescott has gone and threatened to wreck that image and reveal something much more complex: that 10 percent of diagnosed bulimics and 20 percent of new cases are men; that a compulsion to throw up your food isn’t just about weight control, and most bulimics are not underweight; that these disorders aren’t restricted to kids who will eventually grow out of it; and that bulimia is not a personal weakness but a dangerous mental illness.

I know that what you’re saying is that all this is true and most people don’t know that/get that. But it comes across to me that you actually think the solution is to yell at someone to stop barfing already, which on its own would be enough to send me on the warpath (if my brain weren’t completely fuzzed with germs). I know the word “seem” is key there, but it’s not necessarily clear if it “seems” that way to you, KH, or to the general public but not you, KH.

In addition, the perception that bulimia, or EDs in general, are about weight control and nothing else is incredibly frustrating to me. I think a lot of people with similar or related experiences to mine might get set off by seeing that goddamn concept yet again and miss the framing.

I am catching up on my SP reading, since I have been working non-stop for a few weeks. Since we were given open thread permission….

AHHHH! I was just offered my first assistant professor position for this fall! (I just have to finish that pesky dissertation). Any Wisconsin Shapelings???

but I think a lot of people aren’t able to simply read something and just process it. Anyone who identifies themselves as feminist and is a brillant writer is going to attract smucks that look for more than what’s there or read an entirely different “tone” than what you intended all so they can get the satisifaction of stomping all over a person because of what they perceive than what’s actually meant – in a lot of ways, the Internet has made people crueler because they can say what they want anonomyously and not be held accountable.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t perceive your tone as harsh or cruel, kate, but simply pointing out the fact that an older man having a disease that’s commonly thought of only being a woman’s ‘weakness’ shows that it’s not what society thinks it is, that it is a mental illness and that it should be spoken about openly, because speaking about it in hushed tones and not having all the facts only makes it worse for those suffering from it (and any mental illness).

I find that when I’m open about my bi-polar disorder (or manic depression) that a lot of people are shocked – a lot of people accuse me of lying which I find funny and annoying.. why would I lie about having a mental illness.. but me being honest about it puts a face to the disease and breaks the stereotype of being mentally ill.

Squee!

The biggest problem with the comment I’m said to have made? Neither our mother nor I recall any such conversation and anyone who knows me knows that I don’t comment on other people’s bodies except in the gentlest way possible (for them, not me) and only when they ask.

Oh, definately. Before I discovered FA, I used the word overweight to run from the word fat. As in: “I’m not fat, I’m just a little overweight.” It didn’t occur to me to be offended by the built in insult in “overweight”, because the idea that there was a maximum weight for optimal attractiveness and social acceptability, and I was over that weight… well that just seemed like a given. But fat…. fat is so loaded. Overweight meant I wasn’t as pretty as a thin girl, but fat would have meant I was ugly. Fat would have meant that my boyfriend and friends were ashamed to be seen with me in public. Fat would have meant a lot of things that overweight just didn’t mean to me. It just doesn’t carry the same connotations. My mom also uses ‘overweight” when she’s talking about her weight in a more or less neutral way (“I’m overweight but I’m in really good shape”) and fat only when she’s bashing herself (“I’m so fat and disgusting”).

One of the most liberating things about FA to me was not running away from the word fat anymore. To admit to myself, yes, I’m fat, and then watch as the world didn’t end… well, it’s been a huge relief.

Oookay, I need more coffee before I post.

It should be “whatever your feminist leanings are”

Another part of your problem is that too many people still. read. one. word. at. a. time. like my six year old types. If you combine poor comprehension with snark you find that people associate the snark with the most obvious subject in the article.

Fortunately, none of these people will likely read “A modest Proposal.”

*whip crack* “Back in yo’ place, woman!”

but of course, since I disagree with their comments, and since they are teh menz, I must be a feminazi-man-eater. Right?

…

*nom nom nom*

Also, im meeting buffpuff in 20 minutes. She’s doing a talk at my university (not on FA, but oh wells)

:D