Comments on: Quick Hit: Fat Talk Free Week

By: CED

CED — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:24:27 +0000

Hey Kate,

Thanks for the great entry on Fat Free Talk Week. Having a positive self image is a struggle for so many of us. It always nice to learn about ways that can help boost our self esteem. The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt is also celebrating Fat Free Talk Week and Love Your Body Day. They recently added an entry about LYBD and Fat Free Talk Week to their blog that highlights the importance of great events such as these. To read their entry click here: http://eatingdisorder.org/blog/2008/10/15/one-week-two-important-events-for-body-image/

By: maewyn

maewyn — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:58:36 +0000

Posted the video (and linked to the FoBT post) on my LJ. And I hope it makes a difference; several women on my flist are so strong and together, it breaks my heart when they post about what they’ll finally be able to do or how perfect life will be when they lose those 10 pounds.

By: tinfoil hattie

tinfoil hattie — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:54:21 +0000

1963: The Equal Pay Act gave women the right to receive equal pay as men.

Oooh, thanks! The Equal Pay Act “gave” me the “right” to receive as much money as men! I’m so happy. Wow. I never would have been equal if this “right” hadn’t been “given” to me.

Furthermore, if Speaker of the House is the best we’ve done in 220 years, I’m not impressed. We haven’t “come so far” at all.

And there’s your answer to why we buy into some stupid physical “ideal” that bears no resemblance to reality.

We hate ourselves because we’re taught to do so, from birth. No matter what we do, it’s wrong. Fat is just one of the easiest insults to use.

It’s called “patriarchy.” Having a “fat-talk-free” week is only necessary because we are drowning, suffocating, smothering in patriarchy.

By: LS

LS — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:17:27 +0000

Apologies for the off-topicness, but I want to share a piece of frustration, and this blog is the only place I can think of to do it. Lately I’ve been hearing a lot, in a policy/issue diagnosis context, about “diabesity” and it makes me want to scream. Can we not recognize a link without doing a strict conflation? Arrgh! And I don’t know how to call people on it without sparking a 20 minute (at least) debate. Help?

By: buttercup

buttercup — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:11:57 +0000

@Linda, I wouldn’t call it furor, at least not on my part. Just an eyeroll to the constant reminder that we’re only good for certain things in this world, like bearing children and being fuckable.

By: IrishUp

IrishUp — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:39:54 +0000

As a mom (very happy to be one now, HIGHLY ambivalent for the 37yrs that preceded it!), I was also mildly irritated at the childbearing thing. As the stepmom to a teen recovering from anorexia, it’s not just about having babies/periods.

If you’re sufficiently malnourished to experience dysmenorrhea and/or infertility, you’re probably also:

Too thin to lay in bone properly – osteopenia & osteoperosis, hello!
Too thin to maintain healthy dentition.
Too thin to adequately maintain and repair fatty structures throughout the body like, oh, the BRAIN.

Ok, maybe these are not as pithy as what’s in the video, but my larger point is that it’s usually a sign of larger problems when an organ fails to work the way nature intended it. For the next iteration of the video, maybe the makers can figure out a way to make that very salient point without alienating those of us without reproduction on our agendas.

By: Elusis

Elusis — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:53:44 +0000

Thanks Elizabeth – that’s really helpful! I printed a copy for the bulletin board in our break room, and snipped out the article to hang next to my fuzzy logo on my door.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:52:55 +0000

Elusis, maybe it would work to put up the USA Today blog post about it? It’s short, and it has an illustration (the Fat Talk Free T-shirt, instead of the logo).

http://blogs.usatoday.com/betterlife/2008/10/putting-an-end.html

By: stuffjewishyoungadultslike

stuffjewishyoungadultslike — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:56:53 +0000

“Ok, I am a calorie counter so u guyz prolly hate me but that video almost made me cry, too.”

I’m not going to speak for anyone else, but I doubt anyone hates you. Almost every fat person diets at some point, and as long as you don’t want the rest of us to calorie count, then you’re good with me.

This video made me feel pretty emotional too.

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:17:44 +0000

I’m having a hard time understanding the furor over the mannequin-infertility comment. It’s a valid point, it’s relevant to a lot of women, and in itself is not an implication that all women can or should give birth. Is there any context in which it would okay to make the point? Only amongst women who desire and are able to bear children, I guess, behind closed doors in hushed tones?