Book Review: Good Girls Don’t Get Fat
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Reading, Size Acceptance
Good Girls Don’t Get Fat by Robyn Silverman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is absolutely amazing, and I strongly recommend it to everyone.
Yes, I said everyone. If you are a human being who is reading this post/review, you live in a first-world society and you interact with females. You will benefit from a greater understanding of what modern social standards do to young females and how they shape us for the rest of our lives, how they twist us into disordered thinking that touches absolutely everything we do, from how we think about ourselves to our personal and business relationships, our spirituality, our health — everything. And you will have an opportunity to change how you interact with females, particularly girls, so that you are more of a positive influence rather than yet another person who is pulling her down and holding her back.
I was already familiar with some of the research regarding the media and unrealistic portrayals of women. I knew that every magazine cover is Photoshopped and airbrushed, that “normal” models represent only 1–2% of real women, etc. I didn’t know that 5% of American high school girls have turned to taking anabolic steroids in order to get a more toned, slim look, according to the CDC’s 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, and that one out of every 14 girls in American middle schools have tried steroids for the same purpose. I had heard that the popularity of cosmetic surgery for young people was rising, but I had no idea that it was as prevalent as it is. I can’t remember exactly how high, but it was frightening.
If there is a young lady in your life, stop for a moment and think — are you a positive influence on her? When young women in college were asked about what they recall their parents saying about their bodies as they grew up, 80% of the responses were of negative remarks. What will the girl in your life remember you saying? If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you should talk to her about losing a little weight, don’t. Believe me — the rest of the world has already beaten that into her, and will go on doing so every minute of every day. There’s no way she doesn’t know that her body is unacceptable, whether she’s still carrying a little baby fat, is morbidly obese, or simply has a slightly round face.
One of the things I admire most about Good Girls Don’t Get Fat is that it doesn’t just talk about how bad things are, it gives concrete suggestions for improvement! That’s what we need.
The book is available in any format you can imagine. Pick it up. It’s an easy read, and wonderful.
Tags: children, eating disorders, fat, Parenting, Robyn Silverman
Europeans Continue Coming to Their Senses
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Health, Size Acceptance
About models and the effects of the media on body image in their populations, at least. Following Spain’s move last year that banned ultra-thin models from catwalks, France is acting. The “French parliament’s lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to publicly incite extreme thinness.”
British researchers are also recommending action. “With constant images of stick-thin, size-zero models, tiny-waisted pop princesses and actresses is putting young girls’ health at risk and fueling the rise in eating disorders, according to Professor Janet Treasure of the Eating Disorders Research Unit at Kings College London.”
It’s a relief to know that, somewhere in the world, people are paying attention to this stuff. It’s tiresome to hear the constant folderol about the “obesity epidemic” here in the U.S., with almost no balancing coverage.
Tags: body image, eating disorders, fashion, Health, women
NOLOSE 2008
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Size Acceptance
And another announcement, this one at the request of Stefanie:
The date has been set! Mark your calendars for NOLOSE ’08: September 26th through the 28th (Friday-Sunday). Meet us by the pool at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Northampton, Massachusetts for a weekend packed with fattastic fun, food, friends and other good stuff!
We’re all hard at work, planning to make this year’s conference the best ever! There are a lot of exciting things in the works. The Clarion has charm, a great location and a staff that is already excited to hang out with all of us. As always, choosing a venue was no easy feat. We have a very diverse population and we have lots of factors to take into consideration. All in all, we are pretty psyched about the Clarion, and we are sure most of you will be too.
Keep your eyes open for more detailed information about the conference as it becomes available and, as always, if you have some ideas about what you’d like to see at NOLOSE this year, let us know! Expect to see a call for workshops in the very near future, because that’s how we roll.
For more information about NOLOSE and to keep up with the calendar and new information about the upcoming conference, please visit nolose.org.
NOLOSE is a volunteer- run organization dedicated to ending the oppression of fat people and creating vibrant fat queer culture. NOLOSE started out as the National Organizations for Lesbians of SizE. As the years passed and the organization grew, we changed our mission to include not only a broader community of queer women—dykes, lesbians and bisexual women—but also transgendered people.
NOLOSE and the annual NOLOSE Conference are explicitly trans-inclusive. We want to make it clear that NOLOSE invites all fat queer women, all fat trans and gender-variant folks and our allies to participate.
Tags: Add new tag, Clarion, fat acceptance, food, Massachusetts, NOLOSE, Northampton, Size Acceptance
Weight Discrimination As Prevalent as Racial Discrimination
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Civil Rights, Size Acceptance
I was going to ask, “This is news to whom?” Then I realized that it’s perfectly likely that people who aren’t fat really don’t realize how much size discrimination there is, while it’s impossible for the rest of us to avoid it.
From the International Journal of Obesity, 4 March 2008:
1
Discrimination against overweight people-particularly women-is as common as racial discrimination, according to a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University.
“These results show the need to treat weight discrimination as a legitimate form of prejudice, comparable to other characteristics like race or gender that already receive legal protection,” said Rebecca Puhl, research scientist and lead author.
(…)
The study also revealed that women are twice as likely as men to report weight discrimination and that weight discrimination in the workplace and interpersonal mistreatment due to obesity is common.
(…)
Co-author Tatiana Andreyava of Yale said weight discrimination is more prevalent than discrimination based on sexual orientation, nationality/ethnicity, physical disability, and religious beliefs. “However, despite its high prevalence, it continues to remain socially acceptable,” she said.
I’ll probably be slammed for this, but I honestly thing that weight/size discrimination may be even more prevalent in the U.S. than racial discrimination, because it’s socially acceptable.
1 Reposted in Medical News Today
Tags: bigotry, discrimination, Rebecca Puhl, Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, Tatiana Andreyava, Yale University
The Insanity of BMI
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Health, Size Acceptance
Kate Harding created this very cool slide show to show just how absurd it is to rely on body mass index to determine whether or not people are at a healthy weight.
BTW — I did not “miss” blogging yesterday. February 29 was the only “day of rest” for Blog365, so I took it 🙂 It felt odd, though!
Tags: BMI, Health, Kate Harding, obesity, weight
Who would you want to cuddle with or look like?
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Parenting, Size Acceptance
It’s a no-brainer for me! I’d rather be or hug the gal on the left any day!
Somehow, though, the Make Me a Supermodel judges found the waif on the right more worthy of praise than Jen Hunter, the hot babe on the left who actually won, thanks to input from fans.
The skinny gal, Marianne Berglund, looks like a kid playing dress-up to me. An underfed, sick, awkward kid who hasn’t quite hit puberty. Putting her next to Ms. Hunter is just cruel.
Which one would I rather have my daughter emulate? That’s not hard, either. If I ever see Katie looking like Ms. Berglund, she will be on the way to the hospital in a trice.
Thanks for the link, Alice_Bunnie!
Tags: Jen Hunter, Marianne Berglund
Fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas tops British magazine’s “cool list”
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Music, Size Acceptance
Beth Ditto’s music (the group’s name is Gossip) isn’t quite my thing, but I’m tickled by the fact that she’s totally unapologetic by who she is.
I feel some kinship with her about having a big voice, too. Some of us are just blessed with them. Yes, we can (and some of us have!) learn good technique so we aren’t always loud—but we’ll always have big voices.
Tags: Arkansas, Beth Ditto
Sexy Babes!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Sex, Size Acceptance
The very first person I thought of on viewing skinnyvideo is She’s Precious. But all my luscious friends, and all of you who appreciate them, should watch it!
Ford fattens computer models
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Size Acceptance
According to http://ergoweb.com/Ergoweb, the models, which are used in the design of the passenger area of Ford’s vehicles, are “chunkier” than previous models, to allow for “a bigger belly and wider hips.”
The company recognized it is harder to sit in a car if the steering wheel feels too tight, the seat seems a little too narrow and there is not enough room for the legs.
Thank you, Ford! Dare we hope that other car manufacturers, maybe even (gasp!), airlines might follow suit?
Tags: airlines, car manufacturers, common sense, Design, Ford, manufacturing, travel
Spain bans unhealthily thin models
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Feminism, News, Size Acceptance
In a very unpopular move, Spain has banned appearances by fashion models who’s body mass index is too low.
Italy is considering following suit. The language in the legislation makes it clear that the purpose of the ban is to encourage healthier media images, due to the growing incidence of eating disorders diagnosed every year.
Frankly, I can’t begin to imagine the U.S. government even considering that kind of legislation. We do have a freer press here (on the surface, at least), but that doesn’t explain all the differences.
Tags: BMI, body image, eating disorders, fashion, Feminism, girls, healthier media images, Italy, models, self-esteem, Spain, U.S. government, women