The news has been so full of body-image- and obesity- and weight-related articles lately, to the point that I just haven't been able to keep up! So in the spirit of the new year, and because the media interest in bodies/weight/health doesn't seem to be waning (so I'm sure I'll have plenty more material in the future), I'm cleaning house: here are all the articles I saved up in my email account in 2012 to write individual posts on, which I'm going to share instead through one big link-filled post. I hope you find these links as interesting as I did (and still do)!
- This astoundingly brave young woman is doing a similar thing with a photo series to what I'm trying to achieve with the book – I can only hope I've produced something half as affecting and powerful as what she has created.
- Months ago I stumbled across this website with images of real women's bodies, sometimes accompanied by a paragraph or two about how these women feel about their bodies, and I think it is just about the most genius and important thing I've ever seen. Finally, a place where young/old women/men can look at the diversity of forms in the human race! AMAZING. I fall down this particular rabbit hole on the regular.
- In less 'real' body news, the media/internet/world has been a dick (shocker) to a couple of specific women in the public eye lately about their bodies. Here are a couple of good defenses of Christina Aguilera (who I think looks great, actually, although she and everyone else, no matter the thigh circumference, should STOP IT with the leggings as pants) and Lena Dunham (who also looks great – if you don't know her, she's the quirky and brilliant writer/lead actress of Girls, which is one of my favorite new shows).
- The Standard did an article on talk therapy as a replacement for gastric surgery, and here are my very brief 2 cents: I don't think it's a replacement. I think it's a great idea for people who overeat for emotional reasons (or just overeat, full stop, which I'm convinced not all fat people do) or hate the gym or have more mental than physical reasons for gaining weight, but it's obviously not going to do any good for someone who's genuinely hungry all the time, whether because s/he has that hormone they recently discovered or because s/he is obese and has been stretching his/her stomach for decades.
- This past winter has been really cold in London, and because I recently swapped two days working from home for four days in the office, I've been struggling with what to wear: everything I feel comfortable in is either too cold (my office is SO DRAFTY) or too unflattering when seated (*shakes fist at adorable-when-standing pencil skirts) or unlayerable (argh, pretty fluttery sleeves). I'm beyond sick of wearing tights and leggings and the same two sweaters with the same ten dresses every day, and reading about fabulous plus-size fashion bloggers only makes my frumpiness seem even worse. Nonetheless, I love these women for their fabulousness, and also for the war they're fighting every day against the dumpy, shlumpy stereotypical 'big girl'. I've bookmarked all these blogs and am starting out 2013 with the best intentions to pay more attention to how I dress... but we'll see how long that lasts!
- Okay, this is a really old one, but a while back my blogger-friend Betsy sent me a link to another NYTimes article about weight, this one specifically about weight-loss surgery being encouraged for younger people. My reactions: 1. this girl had a different surgery from me, and I can't help feeling this is a large part of why she didn't lose more weight, and also maybe why she was hungry all the time? 2. I had similar reactions/expectations to hers, and I remember trying to think of some way to indulge before I went in for surgery, but I couldn't think of anything super exciting/naughty (I can think of so many now! Milkshakes! Ice cream! Pecan pie!). 3. I wish I'd never read the comments section! Holy moly, people really are set in their ways about blaming and vilifying fat people! 4. It's interesting and sad that insurance companies will cover lap band but not other weight loss programs (for the record, my dad paid for both of our surgeries out of pocket, because he could afford it and neither of us thought to try to get insurance to cover it – maybe that was our natural reaction, to blame ourselves? It's our problem so we'll pay?) 5. Re the girl's age... I've always felt like having the surgery at a young age was good for me: my body recovered better than an older body; I hadn't yet developed any obesity-related diseases like diabetes; my food preferences etc actually changed, in part as a result of the surgery, which would be much less likely in someone who'd had decades to develop habits (like my dad). 6. Re pre- and post-op education: I was forced (as I saw it) to sit through many nutrition lectures, and my parents even made me go to therapy for 6 months before and 6 months after the surgery. Maybe I just had better/more involved doctors/parents, but I felt like I had to wade through tons of 'support' before they'd let me have the surgery. I avoided it as much as possible, of course, since I hated talking about my body with anybody, but maybe some of it got through... at least I had the opportunity (and man, what I'd give now for another shot at therapy!).
- The Independent published this article on pro-anorexia ('pro-ana') websites, which I find extremely disturbing. This encouragement for young girls to starve themselves for perfection is nothing new, but the more common use of the internet becomes, the more this kind of sickness finds a home and digs its nails in. Sadness.
- In happier news, Stylist awarded their Curvy Blog Award to plus-size blogger Tanesha Awasthi (who was also featured in the NYT article mentioned above), who is stunning and articulate and someone I'd love to emulate someday when I get my shit together.
- On a related note, check out this interesting diatribe on the overuse of the word 'curvy' and its resulting lack of meaning.
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