There is No Escape!

So I was driving home from the store today. Minding my own business, listening to a good CD, and BAM! I stop at a stop light and what do I see in front of me? "GR2 Lose the weight and keep it off!" emblazoned across the back door of the van in front of me. Now I'd been having a pretty good day up until that point. I'd gone out gotten some groceries, paid my rent, and then I got smacked in the face by the weight loss industry.

There is no escaping the giant monster that is the weight loss industry. For crying out loud even Chiropractors are getting in on it! There's a practice here in town that says they have a supervised plan to help you become thin and stay that way. Their add on the radio is one reason I frequently choose to drag around CD's or listen to podcasts.

I mean really I don't see that many people who are a "OMG DEATHFATS!". If you haven't heard of Deathfats you may want to check out Two Whole Cakes Fatcast their episode on Language and safe space, which I believe is episode 7, covers it well. Anyway, I don't see that many Deathfats around. I more often see people who are my own size, maybe a little bigger, maybe a little smaller, but the industry keeps attempting to beat me to death with their message, that "OMG! IF YOU DON'T LOSE 20 POUNDS YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!" And honestly I'm tired of hearing it.

So what I'm not a stick. So what I carry a little extra weight around...well maybe more than a little. But please would you people just shut up! I am not gonna keel over and die in the next five minutes. In fact I'm probably not gonna keel over and die in the next 20 years unless some kind of major health issue pops up or I get hit by a bus. Ok now watch that jinx me.

To wrap things up...I'm tired of hearing how fat I am from random billboards, car advertisements, radio ads, and infomercials, created by people who like to think they're "helping" fat people. They can go shove it, I like me just the way I am.

FAT! FATTY FAT FAT!

Recently I realized how much of an aversion I have to the word fat. In my last post I had to make myself go back and put the word fat into the post where I had put "larger woman". Then I read through the post again and had to stop and tell myself that fat was not a bad word.

Everyday we hear from so many sources that fat is bad. "OMG she is soooo fat!" "Am I getting fat?!" "Does my butt look fat in these jeans?" And the word itself has become anathema to society. As a fat woman I am particularly sensitive to this word. Why? Because up until the last...oh 8 months to a year I thought that I was an ugly, worthless, human being, that no one would ever care about. Sure no one ever came out and said it to my face, but I heard it in whispers and glances. I heard it on the TV, the radio, and from my parents. As such I have come to equate the word fat with one of the most horrible insults possible.

But it's really not an insult. It's being used as one in most circles, but it's not. It's just a word.

So the next time I hear someone say I'm fat I'm gonna smile and say thank you! ^_^ Again why? Because loving your enemies (or in this case people who are just rude) confuses and embarrasses them. And as the saying goes, "I'd rather die fat and happy."

Body Positive Fiction

So, my friend that I have mentioned before over at Fat Heffalump, posted quite some time ago about Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. And recently I finally got a library card here at my local library. Well guess what series they have the first three books of? I picked up Earthly Delights, which is the first book in the series, yesterday and I've finished it already.

It was fabulous! In all honestly one of the best books I've read in a very very long time. And I'm not one for mystery novels, but these were great! The mystery thing is very subtle and she gets pulled into solving them through what she does naturally for other people. This isn't one of those generic mystery novels where the main character's job is as a PI. Nope Corinna is a Baker. And I bake so I really enjoy the fact that there are recipes in the back. Now I just have to fine a way to convert grams over to tablespoons and such.

Anyway, this series of books is very body positive, and I couldn't help laughing and almost crying because I know exactly how the character feels as a fat woman. But yes, I really think all fat women should read this book, it gave me a big boost. Not really in my self esteem but it just gave me a boost...a warm fuzzy feeling if you will.

Unfortunately those of us ladies in the US...I have yet to find a bookstore that carries these books in stock. It's rather upsetting.

How do you handle Loneliness?

So this is way off from the fat acceptance topic, but how do you handle loneliness?

Lately it seems like the only physical human contact I have is at the end of a boffer. And even just chatting and doing something with other people it seems like all I have is work or amtgard (has to do with the boffers). I don't hang out with friends because the friends that aren't 500+ miles away are all really busy, sick all the time, or not really friends at all. And if I said a word of this to my family, my mother would just say, "Well you chose to go to school out there."  I go to work and come home to an empty silent apartment. I cook and sit down at my dinner table and eat by myself almost every single night. I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've had meaningful face to face conversations with people I care about in the last four months.

So I guess I'm not handling my loneliness very well.