Pissed off
6 December 2004 11:08![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyntir_knightI am so pissed off I could spit! I just finished reading an Ottawa Citizen article that has become the straw that broke the camel's back! This article talks about how it is becoming acceptable to degrade the overweight and that we are viewed as people with no morals and no control! This is an attitude that society has held since Ruben and it pisses me off!
Fine, I'm overweight, and I am doing something about it, but there are no quick fixes. It took me 30 years to put the weight on, it won't come off in a night, and while I am taking the weight off I do not need to be degraded or required to wear a mumu! My weight problem is not due to low self esteem or the fact that I have no self control. My problem is that food is good, and it is made better with butter and cream. I realize now that I have to make changes in my eating and exercise habits, and those changes have been made, but as stated before, there is no quick fix.
Our societal views that overweight people are bad is only going to destroy countless young lives. Young girls and boys are starting to yo-yo diet before they hit puberty, anorexia and bulimia are rampant, diet pills are flying off the shelves and causing irreversible damage (who else remembers the phen-phen scandal?), self-esteem is being ruined and suicides are rising, and, if urban legends are to be believed, people are turning back to old European remedies like tapeworms.
Lives are being ruined because a few thin people are ignorant cruel jerks. And yes, those of you who are at an ideal weight are the minority. Maybe we should start making fun of you lot for a change. Society has hate-crime laws in place for those who abuse visible minorities, non-Christian religious groups, non-heterosexuals. Why is it that we, the overweight, are still fair game.
I won't claim that it's not our fault, very few of us have the right to say that, but when the cheapest food is the high fat food, and when restaurant portion sizes could feed a family of four, what do you expect. The odds are stacked against us and the skinny people of the world don't make it any easier.
Think about that the next time you comment about someone's size. The chances are, you're not perfect either. Shows like Extreme Makeover and The Swan are proof of that.
I leave off telling you that I am Rubenesque and proud. I will not be brought down by society's bias. Unfortunately, most of us have been ground down too far to have the self-esteem to ignore the rest of you.
Fine, I'm overweight, and I am doing something about it, but there are no quick fixes. It took me 30 years to put the weight on, it won't come off in a night, and while I am taking the weight off I do not need to be degraded or required to wear a mumu! My weight problem is not due to low self esteem or the fact that I have no self control. My problem is that food is good, and it is made better with butter and cream. I realize now that I have to make changes in my eating and exercise habits, and those changes have been made, but as stated before, there is no quick fix.
Our societal views that overweight people are bad is only going to destroy countless young lives. Young girls and boys are starting to yo-yo diet before they hit puberty, anorexia and bulimia are rampant, diet pills are flying off the shelves and causing irreversible damage (who else remembers the phen-phen scandal?), self-esteem is being ruined and suicides are rising, and, if urban legends are to be believed, people are turning back to old European remedies like tapeworms.
Lives are being ruined because a few thin people are ignorant cruel jerks. And yes, those of you who are at an ideal weight are the minority. Maybe we should start making fun of you lot for a change. Society has hate-crime laws in place for those who abuse visible minorities, non-Christian religious groups, non-heterosexuals. Why is it that we, the overweight, are still fair game.
I won't claim that it's not our fault, very few of us have the right to say that, but when the cheapest food is the high fat food, and when restaurant portion sizes could feed a family of four, what do you expect. The odds are stacked against us and the skinny people of the world don't make it any easier.
Think about that the next time you comment about someone's size. The chances are, you're not perfect either. Shows like Extreme Makeover and The Swan are proof of that.
I leave off telling you that I am Rubenesque and proud. I will not be brought down by society's bias. Unfortunately, most of us have been ground down too far to have the self-esteem to ignore the rest of you.
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no subject
Date: 6 Dec 2004 17:19 (UTC)Societal pressures are ridiculously powerful, and they have the worse effects on people. The fashion industry has created body image and how we are to be judge, and that is always physical appearance and a certain body image. Hell I suffer from them to, and have had the media infect my perceptions. Can you believe that I actually think I am fat? And the thing is I know better, but still believe. You can kick me if you like, I know I am dumb.
But good on you, don't let them brainwash you too, stand up and be proud :)
no subject
Date: 7 Dec 2004 14:08 (UTC)Consider that a kick in the pants :)
no subject
Date: 6 Dec 2004 19:26 (UTC)I have seen the preceptions .... I am know hearing you can eat anything (and I can't and people here don't get it) My ideal weight is probably not ideal for me and society has chosen my ideal weight.
Funny I got a pic of Kyra today. It is her having solid food and it is all over her face.
P.S. Save the article for me so I can read it later??
no subject
Date: 7 Dec 2004 02:54 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Dec 2004 03:37 (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 Dec 2004 19:29 (UTC)And yeah TT..I remember Phen-Phen, I remember how it was the miracle drug that...whoops! Suddenly you ended up with heart valves the consistency of soft plastic and your heart lost track of wether it was supposed to Rhumba or Samba...
Frankly it's okay to pick away at fat people because human beings seem to operate best when they have a target to dehumanize and shit on and we who are fat are the last of the great discriminated against groups.
Every other old fashioned target group has taken power for itself and pushed and pushed until people came to UNDERSTAND that they were what they were, they couldn't change it and they wouldn't if they could - it wasn't their fault. And I agree with you that often times we fat people are our own worst enemies and ultimately our own worst assassins, but I think you left out one other WHOPPER of a determining factor in who is and who is not fat;
genetics.
It is a sad, sorry and simple fact that what you are, who you are, how and how long you will live is more determined by those double Hellici than ANY OTHER FACTOR.
Yes, you can ameliorate the situation somewhat by being judicious but frankly as you said that is awfully tough considering the forces arrayed against us. We are this size and shape more often than not because we are MEANT to be.
It is amazing how mankind accepts the sciences we like and dismisses the ones we do not. Genetics don't lie. If your family is small YOU will LIKELY (90%) be small, if they are big, so likely will you be and so on. But even doctors who should fucking KNOW better still ignore the facts of genetics and make it all about willpower and courage and conviction and whatever the fuck. Why? Two reasons;
ONE is that the pharmaceutical industry has not yet found a SAFE pill to make fat people thinner. The SECOND they do, you watch, as far as North American doctors are concerned, you won't have some sort of character flaw, you as an overweight person will have a CONDITION, just like people who have trouble with addictive personalities, or people with cancer or MS or anything like that. Once the Pill-Builders can make money out of your fat, doctors will be less likely to tuck a copy of the Canada's Food Guide into your pocket, pat you on the head and tell you to go forth and sin no more.
TWO - Doctors grow up and learn socialization in the same milieu we all do, and they unknowingly absorb the same attitudes we all do. When you turn on the TV, how many fat people are stars of serious dramas? How many in the Movies? How often are we protrayed as weak, lustful, gluttonous or stupid? You cannot picture a black person singing and dancing a cake-walk anymore...and the only reason you can show a mincy gay man is because some of them have taken that back and made the state their own. But it's okay to portray fat people as less than human, less than normal. The fact is that doctors see that shit too and it sinks in and Medical Science sometimes re-inforces that view through simplistic interpretation.
We do indeed have the deck stacked against us.
I applaud your courage to keep fighting the fight. I have fought this since I was eight years old on and off and I am done fighting. You cannot ask anyone to soldier for 25 years and not expect them to get fed up and tired. I am so. Anyone who wants to call it quiting and defeatist, go ahead, but I would rather spend my days doing something I like than in a war I am not sure I can ever win.
Still, I wish you very well, and should you slip or slide or decide you are what you are I will ALWAYS think you look beautiful, as I always have.
And thank you for speaking out. More of us need to. It is nice not to feel alone.
no subject
Date: 7 Dec 2004 03:04 (UTC)I hadn't thought of any of that in my rant.
As for not fighting, I don't view it as giving up. We all have to decide when we are happy with ourselve, and society be damned. We are all beautiful, regardless of our weight, height, structure, or construction. What matters is how we feel about ourselves not what society tells us to think.
no subject
Date: 7 Dec 2004 07:24 (UTC)Baby as I like to put it, I am pleasently plump and there is more of me to love. For years though I have thought that I was ugly because I have been over weight now for many of them. There were many times where I judged myself as not acceptable or pretty.
BUT THAT WAS FOR ME TO JUDGE! Not some fucking moron who writes for the papers! It is no ones right to tell people to go out and degrade someone because of their weight! No one but the person who is over weight knows why they are as well. There are many different caues of weight gain! Why don't they fucking write a report on that, not one that tells you to go out and belittle people who probally already have a low self image to start with.
It's funny being here in Cambodia where the majority of the people here are the size of walking, talking toothpicks. But here I am told that I am beautiful at least 5 times a day! I found it hard at first to believe because in North America that is a compliment that many people forget to tell people. Now though I smile each time I hear it and know that it is true. Sure I still have a tummy and an extra roll or two... but you know what fuck it ... I am beautiful!
Just remember in all your anger that you are beautiful and it doesn't matter what some dim-witted fuck who writes for the paper and smokes crack 17 times a day says! If anyone does take their advice then they are lacking in what we have... Brains and heart!
Love you baby...
Seriously ticked off in Cambodia... Jaximama
no subject
Date: 7 Dec 2004 14:06 (UTC)For myself, I am fully willing to ignore the ignorants of the world, if it was just me. But the other day, my brother's fiance (who is 4'11 and wears a size 0) was complaining that she's getting fat. Luckily she's entering this family and no one ever leaves the table hungry. But I worry about the countless others who don't have that support.
And as for your situation in Cambodia, Jaximama, I have decided that the Cambodians are a very enlightened people. They see you for the beauty that you are, instead of your dress size. It reminds me of the guy that my mother works with. He's from Sierra Leon and thinks that I am the most gorgeous creature on the planet. ... Pity that he's 50 and married.
no subject
Date: 8 Dec 2004 03:33 (UTC)'Many girls were pretty, but not beautiful. That I was not pretty, but that I was beautiful. Because I was beautiful in my spirit, manner and appearance.'
I thought that was the sweetest compliment I could have ever gotten. I wrote it down and put it on my mirror as well... now when I have one of those infamous "Fat Days" I look at that compliment and smile.