Stumbling towards ecstasy

Because of our delightfully stringent comments policy, most of the rants about fatties eating everything in a twelve-block radius never make it onto the site. Those “arguments” just aren’t worth thinking about. But we do see some genuine confusion from otherwise reasonable people who can’t see how non-restricted eating could possibly be compatible with health, [...]

Try this on for size

At a recent meeting I sat behind a woman who I thought might be my former dance TA. They had the same hair and were both extremely thin, the kind of thin that I’ve seen many people confidently ascribe to an eating disorder right before they come smack up against our “no assumptions about others’ [...]

In Which I Ramble About Attraction

So, you might have seen this douchehound responding to my gayest look the other day:
Goddamn Kate. You are an unbelievably unattractive woman!!
signed,
every straight man with a set of eyes. (except for your closeted boyfriend, of course)
The funny thing is, Sweet Machine approved it because she only skimmed, and thought he was calling me an [...]

Friday Stuff: Please Help us out with the 101 Crap

Dearest Shapelings,
Because I am a Lazy Fat Person, I am asking for your help.
Since A) I’m still trying to put together an FAQ for this site (which has been temporarily back-burnered, but it’s coming), B) I’m going to be writing a book soon, and C) there’s a definite need for a Fat Acceptance 101 blog [...]

Intuitive Eating Case Study: My Last Three Meals

Last week, a reporter who was trying to get her head around the concept of Health at Every Size asked me, “So… what do you eat?”
Food, mostly. Tree bark and car parts are much harder for the human body to digest. Next question?
Smartassitude aside, I actually get questions like this a lot from readers — [...]

FAQ You All

All righty. I don’t know what Fillyjonk and Sweet Machine’s plans are, but posting from me will probably be light over the next few days, on accounta I’ve finally sat my fat ass down and begun beavering (heh) away at a long overdue Shapely Prose FAQ.
I will be rolling it out in three parts: Welcome [...]

No A for effort

Shapeling cggirl shared a story in the comments to the self-esteem thread that I imagine will sound familiar to many of us.
when i was like 20, i was talking to my mother (who is a wonderful person and who i don’t blame for the culture into which she was born, which caused her to [...]

If your pants are above a size 14, you’d better hope they’re flame retardant

I just read this comment by Arwen on my last post, and it got me thinking:
The last time I went to a WW meeting I’d started gaining after two months on the plateau (or perhaps was simply heavier – I go up and down about 5 pounds every day.) As I was weighed the woman [...]

What Women Want

One of the most frequent criticisms I see lobbed at anti-dieting proponents — after, of course, “fat is unhealthy and there’s only one right way to eat and I know because I am an expert” — is “how dare you question my right to eat the way I want.” On the face of it, [...]

Stairs: the great equalizer

So, as I apparently feel compelled to mention each time I post, I’m in grad school right now, studying and teaching literature. I’m in the thick of end-of-term paper-writing and paper-grading, so I’ve been getting a lot of visits from students in my office, which is shared with several other grad students. This office is [...]