Fat Chicks Rule

ASDAH Conference Call for Proposals

No Blog Post this week as I am very busy. But please participate in the ASDAH conference which will be in Boston Next Year (And I hope to be there).

 

2015 ASDAH Educational Conference Theme & Call for Proposals

With the 2015 ASDAH Educational Conference set to take place July 17-19 in the heart of downtown Boston at the Boston Park Plaza hotel, the Association for Size Diversity and Health is excited to announce its conference theme:

Difficult Conversations:

Building Relationships in the HAES® Community and Beyond

With an increasing number of challenges facing the HAES community, both internally and externally, it’s time to remove the barriers that hinder the conversations that will strengthen ASDAH’s work, resolve and mission of spreading the Health At Every Size® message. Therefore, the entire conference will be devoted to discussions around the difficult conversations ASDAH and the HAES community needs to have.

ASDAH is seeking proposals for presentations and workshops at the conference. For the first time ever, and to ensure that crucial voices are not silenced, presenters are not required to be ASDAH members.

 

Please visit the ASDAH website (http://bit.ly/asdah-2015) to learn about the different kinds of topics and areas that the ASDAH Conference is hoping to cover, though, remember that presentations are welcome in subjects not on the list. All presentations should include consideration of relevant elements of diversity for wider application in multiple environments – one of the difficult challenges already facing the HAES community. See the website for the different elements submissions should include.

Please email submissions to Dr. Jenny Copeland ([email protected]) for review no later than December 15, 2014. Please contact Dr. Copeland with any questions.

ASDAH looks forward to seeing you at the conference!

Parallel Lives

Shadows on a Tightrope has the distinction of being one of the earliest fat activist/liberation books. It was a collaboration of works by different fat feminists over a decade, of essays, narratives and poems all about standing up to the diet industry and reclaiming fat bodies. Many of the authors had body re-awakenings and learned to love, accept, and cherish their fat bodies while rejecting mainstream objectification. Others are hoping to reach that path, while some were just telling their story about how hard it was to live in a fat body.

"We know what they mean they say "attractive"-- It's not us."

When the book came out in 1983, I was 12. At the same time some of the writers were already on their fat path, already fighting against the Hollywood, medical and diet industry cookie cutter, I was at the beginning of my body hating journey that wouldn't end for 20 years.

I got fat when I was 9. I ate the same junk food as my peers, but when I got fat, the teasing and the "well-meaning" lectures began. Somehow I resisted dieting and body hatred until I was 12. Even though Shadows on the Tightrope was out, it was not part of my world. At 12, I wanted nothing more than to be accepted by my peers. I believed that "dieting worked" because that was no discourse. At 12, you went on a diet, you got thin, the end. There was nothing in the mainstream media, from my doctor or my parents that mentioned anything about the high failure rate, the dangers of weight cycling or the fact that I would completely destroy my self-esteem. I always assumed I was overeating. If someone had just handed me Vivian Mayer's essay on the fat illusion where she points out that fat people are assumed to be overeating when more often they are eating normally, my life might have been different.

Today this book is still relevant especially with the pressure now on children to be thin or else. Some of this has changed since Shadows on the Tightrope.  Many of the writers wrote about dealing with doctors who gave them pills and/or screamed insults at them. Women talked about being fat as a child and having to become bullies so they wouldn’t be picked on. One personal by Lynn Mabel-Lois "We'll Worry About That When You're Thin" taked about how she became addicted to diet pills and first getting access to them when she was 10. We would never think of giving our children amphetamines now, but we are still willing allow growing teens and children to have weight loss surgery. And it would be socially unacceptable for a doctor to scream at a child, yet it’s perfectly okay to scare children into thinking they are dying like the ads in Atlanta.

Reading the stories in the book sometimes made me sad because I saw my story from the 1980’s in the narratives that took place in the fifties and sixties. The only change was doctors went from pills and screaming to diet sheets and lectures.

But things have changed because of what Shadows on a Tightrope started. It influenced countless fat authors who then influenced hundreds more. I didn’t have Shadows on a Tightrope at 12, but when I finally decided to stop hating my body at 30, it had created a loving fat positive environment.

Today we have more than just this book that tells us to resist the message of hatred. We have countless books such as Fat? So! By Marilyn Wann, Taking Up Space by Pattie Thomas, Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon, Hot & Heavy by Virgie Tovar, my own book Fat Chick Rules and so many others I don't have space to name. We have activist groups, blogs, websites, e-groups, and Facebook groups which project the same message: You are perfect just the way you are.

Those blogs today will all be giving thanks on how Shadows on a Tightrope changed everything for the better.

 

 

Related articles

Out of the Shadows

Nothing About Us, Without Us

The Tankini

So it’s getting on summer (Although it doesn’t feel that way in NYC), and blog posts will be shorter and there will be no blog posts on the following dates: 7/29, 8/5, 8/12, 8/26^th. Normally I might take a summer break but fat hatred doesn’t. If I don’t post those days it’s not because I had a combo heart attack, diabetes, MS, plane crash, global warming catastrophe, I’m going to be on vacation, enjoying good food and fun exercise.

Last Sunday was the Big Fat Flea (Formerly the Fat Girl’s Flea). My favorite fat positive annual event. (Love it to be a bi-annual event, hint, hint). This year I paid $25 to get in a half hour early. And for $53 I walked out with: 2 pairs of pants, an awesome torrid dress, a hippie shirt, beads for my niece, sunglasses, a bathing suit, a swimming shirt, and tankini top. (I now have more tops than bottoms.)

Recently I joined an outdoor pool  and despite the weather have been swimming 2-4 times a week. Unlike the once a week I was doing at the pool from hell. This meant a bathing suit upgrade from the 3 regular and one emergency bathing suit (the emergency suit was fraying.)

So off I went to Marshalls which has been going downhill for a while. I don’t blame Marshalls for the fact that two piece bikinis vanish after size 12, or that thin women’s bathing suits look like string and fat women’s a full-on evening gowns but I do blame them for their lack of inventory. Once we get pass the fat ceiling of size 16, selection and quantity becomes horrendous. I understand that not all fat women want to wear tankini, bikini and some even like the skirts but we are 2/3 of the majority, why do we have to get crap. All they had in my size was a few one piece dresses. I found one bathing suit, saw the long line and figured I might do better at Sears next door.

I did. Even though I call Sears the store of the most returns. If Sears didn’t have a better selection of bathing suits, I would tell them to stick to appliances.

Sears had tankinis, one pieces and skirts. But the tankini bottom and tops were sold separately and even with a half-off sale the pieces were $25 double than what the were in Marshalls. I ended up buying $125 worth of bathing suits. I'm not against spending more to get good quality, but I had a feeling that in one or two years I would be replacing them.

I thought about waiting for the flea to get my bathing suit but the one thing the flea doesn't have is quality control. It is all based on donations.

Doesn't mean I'm disappointed. I never am. I always find a great piece (This year being the Torrid dress) At the flea I got a bathing suit, a top and a swim shirt for $15. Two of them were from a sample sale and never worn. I also feel like I'm a person at the flea because I know that the organizers are looking out for us. They want shoppers to go away with that one or more great article of clothing.

 

Stigma doesn't make you thin

Stigma (Dictionary.com) - a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one's reputation.

A few months ago I was in the doctor's office. CNN was playing loudly in the background. Most of it involved Republicans talking about how the health care law was the root of all evil. Then Sanjay Gupta came on and gave a five minute rant about the evils of obesity and how it's destroying all health care everywhere. I got annoyed, wanted to yell and throw stuff at the TV. (I didn't.) Thankfully I was called into see the doctor soon after.

I've never had an abnormal blood pressure reading in my life and I didn't when the nurse took my stats but I've always been on the low side of normal. Today's reading had me at the high side of normal. I had to wonder. Did Sanjay Grupta just raise my blood pressure?

Of course this isn't a study or proof of anything. But this 2012 study and 2010 study from the Rudd Center  does prove there are considerable health consequences to weight based stigma.

RESULTS: Participants responded most favorably to messages involving themes of increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and general messages involving multiple health behaviors. Messages that have been publicly criticized for their stigmatizing content received the most negative ratings and the lowest intentions to comply with message content. Furthermore, messages that were perceived to be most positive and motivating made no mention of the word ‘obesity’ at all, and instead focused on making healthy behavioral changes without reference to body weight.

I have huge issues with the Rudd Center and they are pro-weight loss. Even they recognized that stigmatizing a fat person doesn't help.

This week is Weight Stigma Awareness Week. It's time to point out that no matter what you believe about fat people, stigma doesn't help at all and if anything can make health worse.

"People who are severely obese were more likely than people of recommended weight to face some level of difficulty in doing activities of daily living," Schafer said. "Over 10 years, those odds of disability were nearly five times higher for people who reported some form of weight discrimination, but only twice as high for those who didn't face discrimination."

I created a list of 5 perceptions we need to change to end weight based stigma

1. End the assumption that  fat people are fat because we eat too much and don't exercise. Everyone has a unique body. Not all fat people are fat because they eat too much just like not all thin people are thin because they don't eat enough. There is a lot of proof that genetics play a strong role in your size. 

2. Stop pressuring weight loss in the name of health. There is nothing wrong with encouraging people to cut down on junk food and enjoy healthy movement. There are several studies showing that healthy habits and movement are more important than weight loss. Encouraging weight loss will only make people stop healthy habits when weight loss stops.

3. Stop making fun of fat people, even the ones that fit the stereotype. You'll find many of them are normal kind human beings. All fat people deserve the same rights and privileges has everyone else.

4. If you are fat, start learning ways to love your body and avoid the stigma around you. While it might be hard in the doctor's office or work,  you can ignore the trolls and the weight based health programs.

5. Reducing stigma on fat people won't work if you push weigh loss. What might work is a healthy dose of self-esteem including ending discrimination at the doctor's office, the workplace and even the mall.  A perfect example is this MRI machine meant to accommodate very heavy people. 

Stigma against fat people will end if we make it socially unacceptable. We all need to be proud of our bodies, we need to say no to the diet industry, weight based health and hatred.

Strongest women in the world

Very short post tonight as I just go back from a vacation of limited interweb.

While I was sorry not to see  Holley Mangold or Sarah Robles win any Olympics medals, kudos to them for their attempts. I know Holley hurt her wrist so she lifted 30kg less than her best. I hope to see them at the next summer Olympics in 2016.

That being said, the winner of the Gold medal in Women's heavy weight lifting was this woman Zhou Lulu of China:

All together, she lifted about 734 lbs.

The silver was won by Tatiana Kashirina who was only 2 kilograms short of beating Lulu Zhou. However she did managed to beat two world records.

Both women would be considered obese by American standards. Zhou Lulu would be considered morbidily obese. If she lived in America, she would probably be pushed by pundits, academicians, doctors, and the weight loss industry to lose weight.

Dieting, HAES, Doctors and the Flea

Happy (one day belated) International No Dieting Day! Today (or any day you want) is when we cast off the dieting shackles and learn to eat and move normally. I started my blog in 2005 with the same advice I have now: Diets. Don't. Work. This includes non-diet diets such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. They have a high failure/ low success rate (especially among their spokespersons). Eightly million people in the USA are currently on diets and most will not succeed because they are often fighting against biology. Dieting can cause disordered eating, binge eating, body dysmorphic disorder, low self-esteem, health issues from yo-yo dieting and a hit to your wallet. Most dieting plans are fewer calories than your body needs to function. Instead of fighting against your body, listen to it. Feed it when it's hungry, and put food that it likes in it. 

To me something like HAES (TM) is a good outlook on health for people of all sizes who want to incorporate healthy habits without being dictated by the scale. I have mentioned before when I was dieting everything was black and white. On the diet, everything had to be perfect in what I ate, and how I moved. If was good, my self worth was high.  Off the diet was binging on unhealthy food, no movement and self loathing. Today I try to eat a "diet" of mostly fruits and vegatables and move every day. I don't stop doing one healthy habit because I didn't do the other.

This is something doctors in the UK might want to take notice of. Apparently a survey of some UK doctors found that 54% of them don't think smokers or fatties deserve treatment for non-emergency care. (Good thing it was a small sample.) 

Bedfordshire PCT, for example, decided to withhold hip and knee surgery from obese patients until they had slimmed down by 10% or had a body mass index of under 35. Similarly, North Essex PCT obliged obese people to lose 5% of their bodyweight and keep the pounds shed for at least six months before receiving treatment.

So imagine you are fat and while walking, you trip on something and hurt your knee. You aren't dead or have a life threatening condition. You can still walk but boy does your knee hurt. You go to the doctor who tells you he won't fix your knee unless you lose 25 pounds. Where does that leave you? Even if you believed in the myth that fatness is 100% to do with eating too much and not exercising, how are you supposed to exercise on a bum knee? What might  happen is you end up lying around and eating more. What the doctor needs to do is FIX YOUR FUCKING KNEE.

This is has very little to do with Healthcare and more to do with nickle and diming to save money. We are moving into a scary place where are casting those who are sick or preseived to be sick to just let them die. And in the case of fat people these aren't actually health judgements but moral ones. 

Ragen Chastain on her blog sums it up pretty well.

I will say it again: My life is not worth less than a thin person’s life. My health is not less important than a thin person’s health.  I do not need to do anything to “deserve” the same healthcare that people with a lower BMI receive.

And to go completely off topic, to escape fat hatred for one day, if you are in the New York Metro area, get yourself to the Big Fat Flea. I took about 10 bags over to their storage unit yesterday, so I expect a lot of awesome clothes. 

 

 

Cake, Clothes, and Consumption

When I wrote my essay for the Fat Studies Reader one of my source materials spoke about the book Jermina Jby Jane Green. In the book the main character is fat and to impress a man she never met she drops 80 pounds through crash dieting then buys a whole new wardrobe.  The essay spoke about the issue of consumption. Fat people are often the examples of consumption gone wild. We obviously steal food from hungry babies while driving our gas guzzling automobiles.  However the essay points out the Jermina consumes much more after she becomes thin. When Jerminia is fat, she consumes less clothes, when she is thin, she buys a new wardrobe. She consumes way more materialistic things than she did when she was fat. (And btw, I am not saying thin people consume more or less than fat people. It's Clothing and fashion industry consumption, and they happen to make mostly thin people's clothes.)

Fat people, being shunned by the mainstream fashion industry, consume less clothes. I barely buy new clothes, instead chose to get most of my selection at Big Fat Flea (formerly the Fat Girl's Flea Market) (May 13 btw, you better be there) and keeping my old clothes in good repair. 

*

Oh look it's me and the fabulous Lesley Kinzel of fatshionistas  who also wrote a fabulous book based on her blog: Two whole cakes. Leslie is a self described "clothes horse" but she laments in her book what many other fat people can share with her, unable to find clothes in her size. Another book I happened to be reading at the same time Greenwashed talks about the immense amount of clothes waste (clothes only have  ten wear lifes span. I have a skirt from high school still in my closet.) 

Getting back to Leslie's book. It's a short but intense read of vignettes and most fat people could share stories almost to the same as hers.  If you are unfamiliar with where the term Two Whole Cakes comes from. On Fatshionistas, there was a troll who on another board said that all fat people eat Two whole cakes a day (at my worst binging (i.e. not eating normally), I only managed to get most of one and I got really sick afterwards). One particular story I shared with Leslie was about going to Jenny Craig (in my case Nutrisystem) eating the gross food, losing weight in the beginning than tapering off. For me and for Leslie, both the tapering off and the hungry were the reasons we "gave" up (or our bodies did.) In Leslie's case she walked away, in mine Nutrisystem went "out of business". I got a whole refund of $89.  

So recommend this Earth day that you buy Leslie's book (available as an ebook) and fat people tell the fashion industry to stick it, you are consuming less of their crappy badly made clothes. 

 *(Note: purple shirt, Fat girl's flea market,  Pink Jacket, Re/Dress)

No fat vegans? And another traumatic day at the shopping mall.

Physicians for "responsible medicine" have unveiled an ad campaignwhose only purpose seems to insult fat people, blonds, and vegans. The campaign is for eating less or no meat but you wouldn't know it from the ad they use. One man has to sit next to a rude fattie who carelessly forgets to say excuse me and deliberately barrels through to his window seat. (Quite possibly because what we didn't see was the thin man deliberately not moving his legs so the larger man can get through.) The thin man on the other aisle adverts disaster when a fattie with a ticket for that seat is turned away because this thin man is the king of the plane with the power move those horrible fatties to the back of the plane (Did PFRM forget plane seats are assigned?) He could do this because TA-DAH he has spent a whole 10 bucks to humiliate a fat person and be able to sit next to a hot blond thin vegan.  (Personally I would like to sit next to the original guy who looks like he's cool and laid back).  The ad ends with the slender woman yakking on about the evils of meat.

What any of this has to do with the fact that airlines like to crush as many people together as possible per flight to compensate for crappy business pratcices is beyond me. For some reason this "option" has been pushed on American Airlines. I mean does American have an all you can eat meat buffet? If they offer bacon, I may very well drop my boycott of them.

Anyway, this seems to be the intended message:

Fat people are fat because they eat meat and are too stupid to realize that meat makes you fat. I'm sure all the fat vegans and vegetarians out there might have something else to say about that.

Vegans are all thin, slender and blond and will talk your ear off. Absolutely no vegans are non-white. They especially aren't Asian or Indian.

The ad is confusing about what they are trying to push and it seems to go out of its way to stigmatized fat people.

Write them a new asshole:[email protected]. 

Speaking of stigmatized: Unfortunately this economy has claimed a fat positive causality, namely the wonderful store Re/Dress. The physical store closed in November, but the owner still has chic clothes available online.

For me this is bad because I have a body that fits no cookie cutter. For the most part I have to try on everything.  I was in need for a dress shirt and my only option (which I thought at the time was a good one) was the Avenue. I don't have any problem admitting I've gained some middle age weight and that I'm creeping closer to size 22 (although some 20's still fit). I went to the Avenue, grabbed two blouses both 2x and 3x. I was surprised to find the 3x was tight. All the 2x and 3x clothes in my closet fit, so while I got pissed off that the Avenue was making sizes too small, I was at least used to that (another store Rainbow did the same thing).  Surely they had a 4x, 24 I could wear?

No, not a one. I couldn't find a single fucking dress shirt in 4x or 24. I walked out of a store with a frilly tank top to wear under a jacket, annoyed at how even  a plus size store was "sizing" me out.

What am I getting to?

Ah yeah. The fat girl's flea market, now known as the Big Fat Flea. Why the name change because guess what big handsome men? They'll be carrying men's clothes this year.

I'm fairly certain that at the flea I will find a nice dress shirt, whether it be 2x, 3x, or 4x. 

So Sunday May 13th, if you live in the Tri-state area, come to the flea. If you don't, this might be a good time to visit New York City. I won't say it's a fabulous place, but on May 13 at the Big Fat Flea it will be. 

The good, the bad and the obnoxious.

The good.

The billboard project and We Stand! has been creating not a flurry of action, but a feel good environment among fat activists. A post on Big Fat Blog talks about how the Billboard project has helped with dealing with growing up being bullied. I for one love to look at these beautiful positve imges as much as possible. Here's anther one to enjoy:

And starting tonight, you can vote for your favorite billboard. 

The Bad

Wired Magazine has an entire article devoted to selling strategies of Weight Watchers, which is changing their diet plan, again. The article starts by humiliating a current WW poster child with the same old stereotypes.

Things aren’t so bad that he would get the Kevin Smith treatment from Southwest Airlines, but it’s easy to imagine him breaking into a sweat carrying a pint of Ben & Jerry’s up a flight of stairs. He’ll soon be diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. His doctor suggests a statin.

Now the After, more than a decade later: close-cropped blond hair, 34-inch waist, and 15 percent body fat on his 6′ 3″ frame. In a form-fitting suit, the 45-year-old father of two cuts the figure of a Marine sergeant 20 years his junior. This is a picture of a man in control.

The author of the article manages to use every single fat stereotype there is. The fat man eats too much, exercises too little, and will have a 100% chance of being metabolically unfit and out of control.  The thin man has no health issues and is completely in control. Here fat people are villianized. If only those fatties would learn some fucking control, they would be thin. The author mentioned several factors for weight gain but leaves out the genetic component. 

The irony here is between this man and me. He put on 75 pounds since he was young. I put on 75 pounds as well but from yo-yo dieting. 

And who is he now, this humailted poster child? He is the current CEO of Weight Watchers, David Kirchhoff. He has to keep his weight off, restraining his eating because it would look bad if he were to gain the weight back, wouldn't it?

Weight Watchers changes its program based on what's popular. The low carb craze had led to a low gylcemic craze, and a hatred of bread. I'm gluten intolerant. My stomach doesn't like it. But you going to find people give up gluten in hopes of losing weight (Gluten free products aren't always low calorie). 

As part of her job, Miller-Kovach and her team constantly follow the latest trends in nutritional science. A few years before the meeting, for example, they had explored a concept called the glycemic index, or GI, which establishes a hierarchy of carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose. 

Weight watchers follows trends for one reason: they want your money. They don't care if you are healthy.  They are a not a lifestyle change, they are a diet, they encourage restricted eating.

The obnoxious.

My husband has traveled more than I have and I've been waiting to visit more places around the world. He mentioned we might want to wait for retirement, but I told him I wanted to go now before the airline industry implodes.

Case in point...

Apparently the UK court of Appeals have decided that fat people can't sue if they are humilated on a flight and because of this decision, airlines in the country are pushing for a "Obese tax" to pretty much force fat people to buy a second seat. This ruling goes beyond fatness, it means that if anyone is humilated on a flight, they have no recource to the law.

"The ruling confirms that disabled passengers have no right to dignity once the wheels leave the runway,” said Mr Barnett. “It also means that airlines are immune if they choose to embarrass overweight passengers by demanding a fat tax.”

The implosion begins. 

A movie we all need to see

I saw the premiere of America the Beautiful 2, the Thin Commandments. If it is playing in a theater near you, go see it. If it isn't, email your local theater asking to show it and spread the word. 

In his previous movie, director Daryl Roberts investigated American's obsession with beauty, and the industry that obsession supports. (That movie is available as a DVD or online purchase through Amazon etc., and Netflix has it as an instant play feature).

This film, Roberts' second, is about American's obsession with thinness and dieting. Over the course of 85 minutes Roberts shows his personal experience concerning food, eating disorders, HAES, weight related issues, politics of dieting, and his own habits. 

The movie starts with Roberts getting a doctors appointment (the first in 10 years) where he is diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, and was at risk for diabetes. After refusing medication due to his lack of health insurance and learning that possible side effects include erectile dysfunction, Daryl searches for weight loss solutions. The obvious first stop involves looking into a gimmicky diet, then raw foods. Then in a montage of shots, he tries Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, and the Cookie Diet. All of which cause him to lose weight and gain it back. Then instead of dieting, he starts exercising regularly.

He touches on issues of weight bias, including his sister, unable to get IVF unless she loses weight, a good friend obsessed with what she eats and how much she exercises, a woman who swings back and forth between anorexia and bulimia, Plus size model Anansa Sims (daughter of model Beverly Johnson), and dancer and blogger Ragen Chastain who explained that her doctor wanted her to "walk more" after which she had to explained she danced about 20 hours a week. Sims' journey is particularly harrowing: a big girl who desperately wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, she lost weight consistently at the orders of her coaches. No matter how much she lost, it was never good enough for the modeling world. Her answer:  she regained all the weight and found success as a plus size model.

When Roberts returns to his doctor after taking up biking (he was at our screening and said he is still riding) he hadn't lost much weight but he had no trace of his diagonsed illnesses and had perfect blood pressure. Ragen Chastain who she claimed is at the top of the obese scale is also metabolically healthy.

While this doesn't prove anything because it is only two people who happened to be both healthy and moving regularly. I don't know what Ragen eats but Daryl still eats junk food although he supplements with more vegetables, but here are two people where exercise, not dieting, made them healthier. Shouldn't be looking more to encourage movement rather than losing weight? Shouldn't we stop labeling people by their size?

And here is a not so great picture of me with the director.