Fat blogs
There's a fascinating article in today's NYT Health section about the phenomenon of fat-acceptance blogs:
Smart, sassy and irreverent, bloggers with names like Big Fat Deal, FatChicksRule and Fatgrrl (“Now with 50 percent more fat!”) buck anti-obesity sentiment. They celebrate their full figures and call on readers to accept their bodies, quit dieting and get on with life.
Body-acceptance issues, and particularly prejudice against the overweight, is something I've become increasingly interested in since I've been writing this column. I've noticed that whenever I suggest treating fat people with courtesy, I get criticism for it--even hate mail. (The other two groups that this is true of are smokers and Muslims.) People really, truly believe that it is not only acceptable, but right to treat fat people with disdain. I'm sad to say that I've been inculcated with enough societal garbage that I occasionally hate my own body--but as a thin (white, able-bodied, etc.) person I cannot fathom what it must be like to have others take it upon themselves to hate my body for me. As I've said before, if you think fat people have no self-discipline, consider the fact that they haven't killed you yet.
Who is Miss Conduct?
Robin Abrahams writes the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine. Robin, who has a PhD in psychology from Boston University, has worked as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, which are given annually for achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.
