A Sad Alliance

How ironic that an agent of women's oppression is being used to support an agent of women's empowerment. Odd, that.

Thanks for the mention. This is so bizarre, especially given on the "announcement" is worded. There's just no way for these women to not know how controversial and political this is. It feels like the brainchild of some obsessive fat basher in their ranks, or perhaps a conflict of interest exists between the "gym" and the shelter (i.e. investors also on the WEAVE board, or some sort of "We'll give you advertising if you give us money." set up.) At any rate, any local woman in need not wishing to deal with the weird vibes (I'd especially advise anyone recovering from eating disorders to stay far away) is better off contacting St. John's Shelter at 916-448-0701.

This is truly horrifying. As if battered women don't have enough to deal with already, and now someone's heaping body hatred on them as well. Sheez!

Oh my god. As a former battered women, I can't believe that anyone would do this. It is just evil. There aren't any other words for it.

Something occurred to me later when I was thinking about this. Don't many abuse victims suffer weight-related verbal abuse as well? Therefore, might many of them not harbor the fantasy that if they were thinner, either the abuser would have been nicer to them, or that they could attract a better "class" of partner? Boy, some marketing dicks really know their prospective markets...they must be really fucking proud of themselves.

ajoyce, Indeed many abuse victims suffer weight-related verbal abuse, often when they are nowhere near fat. And yes a lot of them blame themselves for being too fat and think the abuser is justified in his abuse because they are too fat. Even women in single digit sizes. While I was in the battered women's shelter I shrunk down to a size 14 or so because I was too depressed to eat. Don't recommend it at ALL.

((((((Moonvine)))))) I am very sorry for what you have survived. My spousal abuse was virtually all emotional & verbal. This discussion reminds me of something I read about Farrah Fawcett when she made that movie, "The Burning Bed." She went to shelters to research her role, she said, "When I saw the women there, I couldn't believe how most of them let themselves go! Most of them were fat & out of shape & ugly. NO WONDER their husbands beat them!" That is the type of attitude which is all-too-prevalent about any of us who have survived any type of abuse, including those, like myself, who were abused throughout childhood. It must be OUR fault, we did something wrong, we were bad in some way, we asked for it, if we were just BETTER...thinner, prettier, more obedient, not disabled, whatever...we wouldn't have been abused. This linking of shelters for battered women with weight loss is unprincipled & unforgiveable!

OMG, Farrah Fawcett actually SAID that?!?!? What a horrible, ignorant thing to say! Being thin and beautiful is no guarantee against abuse. Look at Halle Berry, Tina Turner (and several conventionally attractive women I've known IRL). They were thin and gorgeous and still somehow ended up in relationships with abusive shits.

Hell, Farrah HERSELF later became an abuse victim. Wonder if she learned anything from it. Probably not.