| Big Bigots |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|02:36 am] |
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I wish I could respond to the comments on this article. But I am just too tired to get myself registered w. the Washington Post. I can close my eyes and almost see lynch mobs...kill the fatties! So much for the article's call for a spiritual perspective. |
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| Solo show about body image and size acceptance, coming to NYC December 12-13th! (x-posted all over) |
[Nov. 30th, 2008|11:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
Hi you guys --
I'm a Minneapolis-based actress/writer/solo performer/fat chick who frequently works around the themes of weight, size and self-esteem. My newest play -- "Circumference" -- is a largely-autobiographical comedy about body image, fat prejudice, gastric bypass surgery, physical fitness, and most importantly, whether an "internal self" and "external self" can possibly reunite after years of bitter divorce. :-) In a little over a week, I'll be taking this show to NYC, where it'll be part of the Artists of Tomorrow theatre festival. Since I don't live in the city (I wish!) and definitely don't have a built-in, loyal following (again...I wish!), I'm basically just using every avenue I can to invite people to check out some theatre they might not otherwise get to see. So if you or anyone you know is in NYC, and is someone who'd enjoy this very honest, funny, personal play...read on, and spread the word! :-)
Awkward Moment Productions and Six Figures Theatre* present
CIRCUMFERENCE
in the 2008 Artists of Tomorrow Festival!
(*Six Figures Theatre showcases original theatre productions created by women)
The Ghosts of Gym Teachers Past meet the Fear of Fitness Centers Present and the Obsession with Weight Loss Future in an all-new solo comedy about size, sweat…and exercising your demons. From Minneapolis actor/writer Amy Salloway, creator of the hit touring productions “Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?” and “So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!” comes the show the Calgary Herald calls, “hilarious, honest and unsparing, with a great sense of pace.” Says The Ottawa Citizen, “…an appealing and marvelously funny performer…you can also add brave and original.” And from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “A MUST-SEE: poignant, sensitive and hysterically funny”.
Friday, December 12th at 8:00 pm
Saturday, December 13th at 1:00 pm
West End Theater, located in the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew
263 West 86th St. (Broadway and West End Ave.)
New York, NY 10024
Tickets are $15.00
SmartTix!
Six Figures Website
Me.
Thanks so much, and hope to see you there! |
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| Thank you venuspluto ! |
[Oct. 5th, 2008|06:23 pm] |
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) venuspluto :)
IMHO this is a must-read. It certainly describes my own experiences with weight loss. I can live with feeling starved if I have to but it seems to also make me very weak and otherwise unhealthy...
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| Breaking news...there are obese people w/out heart problems... |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|02:41 pm] |
...and skinny folks with heart problems.
Maybe docs should just check for the problems in everyone, and stop using size as their guide to who has good health and who does not? Just a suggestion...
as for the "but they cost more to our health care system" argument (as if we did have a single payer system but I'll leave that point aside for now), I think chubbier people need to be let off the hook on this one and it should be admitted that the overweight are being persecuted for a simple appearance preference in this particular time and place.
And frankly thin people, particularly thin women, should not have their potential for heart disease so often ignored! Why NOT prevent their heart attacks?!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_he_me/med_healthy_obesity |
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| Why are we fat? |
[Jul. 14th, 2008|10:58 pm] |
The United States, that is:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-theoryintro14-2008jul14,0,5684538.story
I'm glad to see some research into the actual causes of obesity, although I'm still not clear on why the obese are vilified on the basis that they increase our collective health bills whereas people who don't wear seatbelts and who end up in trauma centers are not.
Drug addicts are expensive...and yet "drug addict thin" is IN. AIDS patients are often terribly thin, as are cancer patients...also expensive diseases. Not that I am proposing that any of these folks be subjected to what even "pleasingly plump" people get from society and from their doctors as a matter of routine...I just don't think number of fat cells and how much they are filled says anything about the worth of a human being.
I also wonder if proponents of the "stress theory" (that people gain weight more easily now because our society is more stressful to live in and this raises cortisol levels) might not be wise to consider that the stress of belonging to a hated group might just be helping the overweight to get heavier.
I was chastised for being fat at 105 pounds, so now that I've had prednisone (cortisone-type stuff, speaking of cortisol...) treatment for lupus for many years and now really could crush my former self by sitting on her, I wonder if it really was a benefit to my health that the acceptable weight bar was set sooooo low in my youth. Somehow, I don't think it was.
Recently I had the experience of participating in one of those online ABC news forums, the topic of this one being the latest round of proposed cuts to doctors for their Medicare reimbursements. I wondered very much why some angry doctors vented their frustrations at the obese and why some angry citizens who wanted a reduction in government spending somehow blamed the obese as well. Unless they were talking about obese Congresspersons, and I don't think they were, I fail to see the relevance. I think "fat" is just an all-purpose-group-you-can-HATE-and-it's-ok. And every time I think I've seen the worst of this...it gets worse.
Lastly, why did the writer of this article feel compelled to put "(wishful?) thinking" in the title? It is an article about research results...isn't it? This wouldn't be a lame attempt to make sure the writer/paper would not be seen as condoning the high crime of obesity, or anything like that, now would it? |
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| Diet ads fatten up our "body image" insecurities |
[Apr. 28th, 2008|10:14 am] |
A number of ads appearing on Facebook for Wu Yi tea seem to favor the notion that attractive people everywhere need to get skinnier. The ads say, "Look like a Hollywood Star with the Wu Yi system!" Well, there are plenty of people who believe that the skinny boney look of many stars is not something to be desired. Nor is there anything wrong with being "overweight" in our society.
"Wow. That is Gross," or "OMG. Disgusting," reads the line with the above pic, and when you click to find out why, you learn that love handles are not desirable, that a bit of love blubber is not sexy. In other words, you learn to hate yourself and look down on others who are not boney-thin. And yet, there is nothing wrong with the above pic. She is certainly beautifully-shaped and she knows it, or she wouldn't dress in such a showy fashion. ( Read more... ) |
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| Stop the Insanity! |
[Apr. 24th, 2008|10:17 am] |
Stop the Insanity!
Miss England 2008 contestant,left, called too fat. Miss England 2007, right, was told to fatten up for Miss World competition.
( Read more... ) |
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| MA considers size discrimination bill |
[Mar. 14th, 2008|09:44 am] |
From Peggy Elam's blog:
Please support this much-needed civil rights law. People of all sizes face discrimination based on body size. It's real. It's not okay. Without a law, we have no protection. The only other places to offer such a law: San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Washington, D.C., Madison, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
You want to help make history?
If you live in Massachusetts:
1. Call your state Representative: 617-722-2000 (ask to be directed based on your zip code). Ask how the Rep. will vote for H. 1844, how they will support this historic legislation.
2. Come to the crucial hearing! Tell your story!
Tuesday, March 25, 2 p.m.
State House, room A-2, in Boston
If you don't live in Massachusetts, please forward this info to anyone you know who does.
For questions, contact Marilyn Wann: marilyn @ fatso.com.
Nationally, everyone has a stake in this issue. While it's important for states to have anti-size-discrimination legislation in place, IMO what's ultimately needed is an amendment to the 1964 US Civil Rights Act to include height and weight as protected categories.
Yes, there are some jobs that fat people physically might not be able to do. Those physical requirements would constitute "BFOQs" - "bona fide occupational qualifications." For instance, if a job required routine lifting of 50 lb objects, then it would not be discrimination to say so. What *would* be discriminatory would be to say, "Applicants must be fit," and for the prospective employer to automatically assume that a fat applicant was "unfit." The question should be, can the applicant endure the frequent lifting? Some fat applicants could; some thin ones might not be able to.
Just as disability rights are critical for everyone, because every one of us is just one illness or car accident away from becoming disabled, so are size-rights in the workplace. Any one of us, through illness, can find our body size/shape changes - and can face employment discrimination as a consequence. It's not just a "fat person's" issue.
(Cross-posted) |
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