Tissues At The Ready, People
The word has done incredible damage to my body.
In the pages of Slate, Emily Duke, a woman who “loves carbohydrates,” shares her sorrows as a professional person of girth:
When New York state announced that Phase 1B of vaccinations would include those who are “obese” or “severely obese,” I knew I would qualify. My heart sank into my stomach. I am fat. I am a fat activist. Like a lot of larger-bodied people, I have embraced the word fat. Doing so allows me to buy clothes that fit, rather than those that could fit if I changed.
The last three words of that sentence are perhaps worth keeping in mind.
It allows me to exist.
Which, we’re to assume, the word obese does not. It being less fluffy. With the power to send a fat woman into an emotional tailspin.
Among all the radical self-love coffee mugs I’ve seen, “I love being obese” has never been one of them. The word obese elicits an unparalleled grief in me.
Well, recognition can do that, especially if belated and previously avoided. And incidentally, if your world is one in which “radical self-love coffee mugs” feature prominently, I’d suggest something may be awry.
When I heard the [vaccination] announcement I had been waiting for, I spent three hours in the grocery store trying to figure out what I “should” have for dinner that night.
Three hours. One might call that a telling preoccupation. Ms Duke then detours, at length, into recollections of being in therapy, parental divorce, the “trauma” of dieting, and the woes of being told she is an “emotional eater.”
When I heard the good news about my eligibility for the vaccine… I panicked that I was a bad fat activist. I felt like I was just one weigh-in away from losing my chosen identity because I can’t face a number on a scale… I’d need to know my BMI to ensure I qualified, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle it.
No emotional issues there, thank goodness.
I am, right now, healthier than I have ever been. And I also weigh more than I ever have… I can own being fat, because I have internalised that regardless of my weight, it is my chosen identity,
As to whether Ms Duke’s fatness is being “owned” successfully, free of mental complication, I leave that to the reader.
an identity that ultimately gives me more freedom than it takes away.
Well, I suppose that rather depends on how one feels about the attendant risks of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, joint failure, incontinence, sleep apnea, breathing problems, depression, anxiety, and cancer. Compared to which, a form with the word obesity seems fairly trivial. Not the most obvious cause of “incredible damage.” But this, remember, is Slate, where our progressive betters howl about how crushing and unfair everything is. And so, being given priority for a vaccine during a pandemic, while others must wait, is actually, and obviously, a form of oppression. Because words.
It’s also perhaps worth mentioning that Slate’s “community manager” – i.e., comment moderator – has announced that,
I will remove comments that insult her, insult fat people, or contradict the author’s understanding of her own situation.
Which seems to somewhat narrow the scope for meaningful discussion. And in light of which, readers may wish to ponder the following statement by Ms Duke:
As far as I’m concerned, I was fat with BMIs ranging from 14 to 40.
Just ignore the little red warning light. It does that sometimes.
as mainstream liberalism morphs into Stalinism: “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.”
Especially the Byzantine US tax code — take one section and five enrolled agents and get 100 opinions.
But I believe this is less about actually getting Trump in jail than in going after every business partner and charitable enterprise they can dox out of the filings. In jail, his family, friends and supporters can continue to function and advocate for him. Making him radioactive stops that.
She wants to be called fat, but doesn’t want to be called obese.
She wants to claim she is vibrantly healthy, but also wants to cut to the front of the line for her Corona vaccine.
I will NOT make the observation that she wants to have her cake and eat it, too.
while cookies and ice cream were rare treats.
To some extent, it is possible to, as it were, recalibrate your sensitivity to sugar. If, say, you stop adding sugar to tea and coffee, or stop drinking Coke every day or whatever, you may soon start to register just how sweet other foodstuffs are and revise how often you eat them. I remember Pizza Hut pizza suddenly tasting way too sweet, almost sickly.
I remember Pizza Hut pizza…
For some reason it’s amusing when Brits or Europeans (wink) discuss mid- or low-grade American chains. Amusing in the sense I feel solidarity with people half a world away; that they can find joy in horribly unhealthy and irresistible fare like KFC removes some of the exotic mystique that the Old Country inspires, replaced in equal measure by comfort and disappointment that we’re so alike.
Think of those poor Texans who will die through no fault of their own!
This. I teed off on members of my HOA while waiting to start our Zoom meeting last night. Out of the blue our CAM person decides to ask what everyone thinks of what Texas was doing. Of course the other three idiots/NPCs on the call at that time nod along and voice agreement and tut-tut about those ignorant Texans. My from-California-but-thinks-he’s-politically-moderate VP/next-door neighbor relates that he only changes planes in Texas and would never step outside the airport. At this point I had had it. I reminded everyone that we were not there to discuss politics and that I found it quite rude to be doing so in such a manner. See, I’m the one getting angry but they’re the ones being rude. The real hypocrisy in all of this is that Texas is not going to do squat that is much different than what Florida, where everyone on that call is living, has been doing for months now. The vast majority of people are, and have for decades now been, flipping insane. So long as they all agree with each other and nod along with the Narrative, they’re the “good” people, and they never hear anything different. I’m the lone bad guy. For God’s sakes people, speak up.
Grew up that way, but not even cookies and ice cream. No meat either…
Yikes!
Argh, un-closed italics. Dammit, I clicked “post” when I intended to click “edit”.
Y< /i >kes indeed…
Sam, it’s puzzling: I tried to fix my italics by putting only a “/i” in my second comment, but that didn’t work. What exactly is the right way to fix it?
eBay is now taking down advertisements for “offensive” Dr Seuss books:
Could somebody please explain to me why liberals deserve respect? Why they should be regarded as fellow citizens?
Y< /i >kes indeed…
I put the closed italic symbol by itself to start my post. But let me tell you taking HTML advice from me is like taking babysitting advice from Hunter Biden, so…
For some reason it’s amusing when Brits or Europeans (wink) discuss mid- or low-grade American chains.
Let us not forget the Great Crumpet Debate of May 2018.
Well thank goodness – I was preparing for it to be about circumcision…
Great Crumpet Debate of May 2018
Microwave ovens: gifts from God or Satanic engines?
. What exactly is the right way to fix it?
Ironically…or not…if you are relying on the “Preview” button to verify that your fix will work…well, that doesn’t work. It will still show cascading italics. The secret is to cross your fingers and toes and repeat this mantra out loud “WTP IS almost ALWAYS RIGHT” and hit the “Post” button, it will work. You may have to hit reload though to fully verify.
Let us not forget the Great Crumpet Debate of May 2018.
Dude. I apologized. Let it go. 😉
…and see if 5G connectivity is really a big deal.
Well, was it then?
Well, was it then?
I didn’t go, merely pondered. Did I not mention the drizzle?
nothing girly at all; instead you must look like a construction worker or biker
It does seem odd that so many lesbians who profess to be attracted exclusively to women want the objects of their ardour to look like men.
It’s almost like there’s some kind of conflict between their natural impulses and their conscious behaviour.
eBay is now taking down advertisements for “offensive” Dr Seuss books
A near-mint set of the six banned books is now going for ~$2000CAD in a local Facebook buy/sell group.
A near-mint set of the six banned books is now going for ~$2000CAD in a local Facebook buy/sell group.
[ runs home to vacuum seal 1985 Dr Seuss prints ]
HONEY, WE’RE SITTING ON GOLD!!
Seriously though, I’m regretting lending out a few of my childhood set to my son’s school for their Dr. Seuss week. The thought of those grubby hands soiling my retirement money is stomach turning.
It does seem odd that so many lesbians who profess to be attracted exclusively to women want the objects of their ardour to look like men.
I’d change “profess” to “professed”, at least partly: The situation has changed a lot in the last 40 years and seems to be significantly moderated. There do seem to be strong demands for (leftist) political conformity but skirts and Nice Shoes are now allowed. (I would prefer a world where Dan Savage appears only in “alternative” newspapers and Bruce Bawer is nationally syndicated.)
There does seem to be a nostalgia for the Good Old Days when gays and lesbians were largely closeted, which I think strongly resembles the nostalgia among some blacks for the days of segregation when there was a stronger sense of community among all blacks.
HONEY, WE’RE SITTING ON GOLD!!
[ speculatively views shelf of old Tarzan books ]
Three hours. One might call that a telling preoccupation.
My grocery trips are generally focused on “How quickly can I extricate myself from this hellscape with enough food to get me through the week?”
It does seem odd that so many lesbians who profess to be attracted exclusively to women want the objects of their ardour to look like men.
I found this article extremely enlightening in that respect:
“Why Are So Many Lesbians Getting Pregnant?”
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/04/19022/
My grocery trips are generally focused on “How quickly can I extricate myself from this hellscape with enough food to get me through the week?”
I take a list, obviously, with items written in an order that matches my usual route around the store. Also obviously. There is some latitude for improvisation, however, especially on the wine aisle.
There is some latitude for improvisation, however, especially on the wine aisle.
And, it goes without saying, the kleenex and toilet paper aisle.
“Why Are So Many Lesbians Getting Pregnant?”
From the link: “it is curious that those who go both ways still have higher pregnancy rates than heterosexuals. The numbers among those who identify as gay and lesbian remain unbelievably high.”
The article fails to answer the question, but I suspect that this is because gays and lesbians are not used to thinking about birth control and taking steps to be prepared, and thus “make mistakes” when something happens on the spur of the moment. And Lord knows kids do a lot of things on impulse.
From the link: “situation-dependent flexibility in women’s sexual responsiveness”:
Anybody remember LUG, or Lesbian Until Graduation?
Anybody remember LUG
Don’t listen to what people say, look at what they do.
Don’t listen to what people say, look at what they do.
I don’t understand.
I don’t understand.
The “why are lesbians getting pregnant” article pussyfoots around the issue, but the core truth is “because they aren’t lesbians” (at least, not by any definition of lesbian most would recognize).
The article points out that what the people studied self-identified as, and their actual sexual habits, just don’t correlate.
Ah, thanks, Daniel. I wrongly wondered if you were denying the existence of the phenomenon that we used to call Lesbians Until Graduation. (Although I do wonder if that phenomenon has declined in the last 40 years.) I certainly agree with you that there is a serious contradiction between “is a lesbian” and “also has sex with men” and that this shows the public self-identification to be false.
[ Clicks ‘Post’. Clicks ‘Refresh’. Notices that Friday Ephemera have appeared. ]
It is hurtful, as a male, to be rejected by a lesbian, even a morbidly obese one, although my lesbian neighbor’s wiring seems to change the more beered-up she gets, so I steer clear of her when I smell a wiff of barbeque in the air.
Still, I can’t help but think of that old Delta blues song “You’ll Never Feel So Low As When An Ugly Girl Tells You No.”
The article points out that what the people studied self-identified as, and their actual sexual habits, just don’t correlate.
Precisely.
When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
Money quote from the article:
Pre-menopausal hormone rush. Biology will not be denied.
Pre-menopausal hormone rush. Biology will not be denied.
Huh. I forgot about that phenomenon. Thanks.
Maybe also a little bit of this? 🙂
I clicked through the links in the article to see what the numbers were based on and was less than impressed. One link was broken and two went to other articles of the you’ll-just-have-to-take-my-word-for-it variety. Only two went to actual studies.
The subjects in one study were teenagers and you can’t extrapolate anything from teenage behavior, even what those same teenagers will do tomorrow. The subjects were also not ‘all teenagers who identify as homosexual’ or even ‘the subset of teenagers who identify as homosexual and are sexually active’ but ‘the subset of teenagers who identify as homosexual, are sexually active, and have had sex with the opposite sex.’ So as a metric for establishing a large percentage of lesbians getting pregnant it was completely useless.
The other study is going to take some time to chew through, but is only tangentially related. It breaks its subjects out into het/leans het/bi/leans homo/homo … and then rather arbitrarily collapses some of the leaners into another category.
None of it supports the initial article’s premise, which seems to be ‘lots of lesbians get pregnant therefore they all secretly want D and teh gheys shouldn’t be allowed to get married.’
Don’t get me wrong, I’m open to persuasion on the question of ‘are homeosexuals really just closeted bisexuals or really confused heterosexuals,’ though I find such preference issues completely irrelevant. As long as both parties are consenting adults, it’s not my business. Regardless, though, the article failed to persuade.
NTSOG: There are very many highly muscular and very fit athletes whose BMI scores would suggest they’re clinically obese…
I happen to have a list of 900 baseball player with heights and weights (as of 2020). Tis list included just about everyone with significant playing time in 2019 (50 at-bats, 10 pitching appearances). Of these men, 766 had BMIs over 25 (overweight) and 86 over 30 (obese). Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval was over 37, but still hit .268 with 14 home runs.