Conscious Choice: Simmering Fat Hatred [Updated]

I would *LOVE* to buy some ad space. That would be brilliant! Can that be a COFRA thing?

It's starting to piss me off how rampant this blame-the-fatty environmentalism is becoming. I read a lot of green blogs and mags and it's becoming a once-a-week (at least) thing. I swear, it's like they've hired a marketing department who told them that fat was the fearmongering holy fucking grail (especially since we're also now a threat to national security and all)!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

OOo, I like the ad idea. Can we do one of those PeTA kinds of ads, in which we photograph a naked woman as if she were a piece of meat to promote veganism, but make it a photo of a FAT naked woman?

They really will take an ad from anyone who ponies up the cash? Well, then what are we waiting for?

Here's a starter idea: "Big Ass. Small Footprint. Yes, You'd Better Believe It's Possible."

And speaking of an entirely different kind of big ass, at least this guy admits he himself has his own vices. But of course, the classism demonstrated here is completely nauseating, as is the sizism. Like you said, Paul, I doubt he shakes with revulsion when he sees thin people with a cart full of beer and chips.

Re: His possible reaction to thin people with beer and chips, etc.--Something just struck me. I wonder if the reason people like Richard preach the gospel of thin is because they believe that only the thin have the "right" to eat what they want and enjoy it, and, therefore, THAT is the real reason they want to be thin?
And they claim we're the ones who are obsessed with food and who are under its thumb. Hah!

Haha, I made that last "fixin" comment before I even read this. Concern trolls abound.

I like Meowser's idea.

I also love "Ooga booga." Sometimes that's pretty much all I have to say anymore in response to fat hatred.

"OMG, look at the nekkid carbs in that woman's shopping cart!"
"OOGA BOOGA!"

I think it's sort of amusing that he starts with this: "I don’t think I have an eating disorder."

And then goes on to say: "For weeks before my annual physical, I go fiber crazy. Cleansing teas and increased cardio exercises are de rigueur. Then, when I barely pass the LDL/HDL exam, I go right back to my passionate encounters with fair trade organic chocolate brownies."

Sounds kinda like restrained eating and punitive exercise to me. But what do I know; I'm fat.

And with this: "Having said that, I still cringe at the local grocery when I see an overweight mom with her overweight kids buying GMO-laden toaster pastries and sugary pop. There have been times I wanted to snatch something out of the basket of a fellow shopper..." I'd also say he's got a dysfunctional relationship not only with food but also with, oh, say, the whole of humanity.

I'm glad he says he's never followed through on that little food-fascist fantasy, but it's borderline psychopathic at best.

I am also getting tired of being the terror within AND the cause of global warming. How long will it take people to understand that stereotypes are inherently inaccurate and do nothing but marginalize people and promote hatred?

If anyone decides to buy some advertising space, I'll chip in.

Um yeah, if you think that eating sugar, chocolate, eggs, and butter is "irresponsible", and you obsess about it, I'd call that an eating disorder. Personally, I'd much rather be mentally and physically healthy, regardless of whether I was also thin or fat, than eating disordered. But that's just me.

And oh god, the "fat mom and fat kids with a cart full of fake food" story. It's reached mythical proportions amongst the fat-phobic in our society. They all seem to think it to be such a brilliantly insightful indictment. (Pardon me as my eyes roll out of my head.) As if to be fat means to eat poorly. And as if it isn't just as unhealthy when thin people eat poorly.

Yes, I've noticed a lot of fat-phobic bullshit coming out of environmentalist communities/activists too. I don't really like a lot of environmentalist communities for those and a lot of other reasons having to do with messed up politics/elitism, but I'm pretty into the biking/critical mass community here in chicago and I've noticed a bunch of fat-hating comments, in subtle and more direct ways, pop up on the listserve a lot (and got some pretty strong knee jerk reactions when I called it out). in both joke/point of reference for someone being lazy/ a jerk/an asshole car driver and in the moral panic about health and the fatness=unhealthiness automatically vein.

I think this form of fatphobia is very intertwined with classism, and racism too. Fears about excess, and who "takes too much," and elite rich white people preferences/abilities to be skinny are all tied up in this. I think fat-phobia and clasism (and racism) help make each other, and it goes back & forth both ways. I think there's a lot to this, but I'm too tired/busy to finish articulating it now.

The pricing on the ads are not too bad for a city like chicago, but I would think that there are better magazines that can target the audience that we want better than that. The problem that we will find is that most national magazines have outragous pricing that is in the hundred thousands. Personally, I think we might do better using newspapers and places where smart "rational" people frequent.

Yikes, that's not cheap.

I wonder if there are other ways we could confront this BS. Any of the journalistic types want to try to pitch a social justice piece? Maybe we could bombard them with letters to the editor? Hell, I'd go sit outside their offices on Franklin and protest or something.

Okay. Well, I favor putting a half-pager in Conscious Choice. One: because it's not all that much money, comparatively, and we've got to start thinking beyond nickles and dimes Right Now. (We also need to start raising funds Right Now, not just paying for each thing we want to do as we think of it.) Two: because Conscious Choice does seem to reach a lot of people. At least, from my point of view; I'm always running into people who mention reading it or finding a resource through it. It may not be the broadest communication vehicle, but we could start here, anyway. And if we start raising money asap, we can start putting ads in other places, so we still don't have to rule out Conscious Choice. Three: because it makes some sense to rebut the article that just appeared.

I can help with putting together an ad. It's probably a good idea to have several heads working on this, especially since we don't have a well-articulated pitch yet. And I'll throw in some cash for the ad, if it's decided that we will do this. Or that we put an ad in something else.
Now: How do we decide? Are we going to vote? And who will do the voting? And when? blah blah blah...

I haven't received a response to my letter yet. The response to yours is definitely obnoxious and, er, kind of maddening actually. If I get a blow-off like that....I'm going to be that much more motivated to take some action.

I think if we are going to purchase ad space somewhere and get the message out, the whole liberal/organic/green crowd is a perfect place to start. Most greenies are already predisposed to rejecting the ideas force-fed to them by the media and will be more willing to consider an idea that goes against conventional wisdom.

Oh! And anybody who belongs to a green or greenish organization (I do) can do their thing directly. I'm mentally planning some kind of strategy for educating the hundred-odd active members of my co-op, who profess to be extremely tolerant of differences. Quite a few larger children attend this co-op's summer camp, and I'm thinking the staff training can include size tolerance training. I wonder what else I can do...
Somehow, having a Real Organization behind my efforts makes me think more creatively and productively!

Most greenies are already predisposed to rejecting the ideas force-fed to them by the media and will be more willing to consider an idea that goes against conventional wisdom.

I totally agree - except where fat is concerned. It seems like their ability to question the mainstream media (and advertisers and government and whatever other Powers That Be) is completely hamstrung when it comes to this one thing. That's definitely an angle I work whenever I get a chance in dealing with alternative types and greenies, though.

I also throw in the social justice concept a lot, because so many alternative/green groups go out of their way to make space for socio-economic and racial diversity...and body diversity shouldn't be any different.

I totally agree - except where fat is concerned. It seems like their ability to question the mainstream media (and advertisers and government and whatever other Powers That Be) is completely hamstrung when it comes to this one thing. That's definitely an angle I work whenever I get a chance in dealing with alternative types and greenies, though.

I concur. I split my online time between the fat-rights blogosphere and vegan groups, and it seems like I always need to call out my fellow vegans on lipophobia. These are the same people who will not tolerate the slightest trace of misogyny, homophobia, or racism (except that fat hatred is linked with all of those things...).

I'd still be delighted to see BFB put an ad in such a publication, though. I'd like to see it emphasize the presence of fat people in every part of the environmental movement -- vegetarianism/veganism, bicycling/walking (rather than driving), natural medicine, etc.

Don't a lot of people become vegans to lose weight? Yes, I know they also care about animals and ecology and all that good stuff, but I think weight loss is a strong motivator for a lot of them.