Rocking National Geo and Celebrating Body Liberation

[susanstinson]

originalenid is in a great photo in National Geographic as part of the Bod Squad, protesting Weight Loss Surgery. She's posted it in her lj, and it's something to check out. The picture also includes Marilyn Wann, author of Fat!So? and Sondra Solovay, who wrote Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination.

Marilyn is a bunch of fun, and has achieved amazing things. She's a key organizer for the OutBODIES/OutSELVES gathering in NYC on Friday August 6. You're invited...

Hi!

Come celebrate Body Liberation!!!

WHAT: OutBODIES/OutSELVES ~ a party for people of all sizes!
WHEN: Friday, August 6, 11:30am - 1pm
WHERE: NYC's St. Vartan Park (Between 1st/2nd Ave. & 35th/36th St.)
WHY: Because no body is free until every body is free!
WHO: Every body...including *YOU*!
(Sponsored by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance)

HOW: * Join in a Body Liberation coming-out ceremony...
* Enjoy fabulous speakers and acts!
* Learn the secret handshake of Body Liberation!
* Yay! yourself on the Yay! scales! (Instead of weighing yourself!)
* Dance the Hokey Pokey! (Official Dance of the Body Liberated)
* Come out as some body!

RSVP: activism@naafa.org

OutBODIES/OutSELVES is a coming out party for our bodies and ourselves.
It's a celebration of diversity. It's a big sassy comeback to body image
worries, weight prejudice, and the crazy idea that carbs are somehow more
important than global compassion!

Please pass this e-mail along to every body you know!

I hope you'll be part of the fun at OutBODIES/OutSELVES!!!

Wheee!
Marilyn Wann
NAAFA activism chair
FAT!SO? author

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I was unhappy when I saw the article (though I haven't read it yet), but the photos were gorgeous. (They reminded me a lot of a photo of myself that I had posted at Scarlet Letters a few years ago, actually).

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Oh, is there a whole article? I just saw this one photo online, which I loved -- and I thought the caption was okay. I was just thinking about how many elementary school science and social studies projects that I did based on National Geographic, and what it might have meant to me as a fat kid to run across a photo like that. Talk about cultural penetration.

Very cool that you had a similar photo of yourself posted at Scarlet Letters.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Yes, the cover blurb is "The Heavy Cost of Fat" -- clearly about the "obesity epidemic" and, to quote the inside caption, how it's "killing us." It ends with before-and-after pictures of a gastric bypass patient: before, she's in a hospital gown and hooked up to an IV; after, it's sunglasses and a convertible, baby.

Overall, I'd say the article -- and the pictures -- are sending mixed messages at best. Still, I think I'm going to save the picture, because it is really just so lovely.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course, the well-known moment when they remove most of your stomach and attach sunglasses. Car not included.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Yes, the cover blurb is "The Heavy Cost of Fat." The article ends with before-and-after pics of a woman who underwent gastric bypass surgery -- before, she's in a hospital gown; afterwards, it's all about the sunglasses and the convertible. So I'd say, overall, mixed messages at best.

[plasticsturgeon.livejournal.com]

I've been hearing a lot about the general evilness and stupidity of the article and the beauty of the pictures. I'm very curious!

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. Come to think of it, I think my beloved still subscribes to National Geographic. I'll have to look for it.

[lovelikeyeast.livejournal.com]

I'm so envious and sorry to miss OutBODIES. Go, Marilyn. It was fantastic to see her again in NJ. Everyone who can, go and enjoy! And... please report back. ;-)

[misstoodles.livejournal.com]

I posted in her journal about the photo and how wonderful it was.

But I still have conflicting feelings about people protesting Weight Loss Surgery. I think the fat acceptance movement should give people the cold hard facts and possible dangers about such a drastic measurure. Let the person judge for themselves

It's such a personal descision and I do think it's unhealthy (especially what it did to my mom!)

Doctors are now pushing wls as the panacea for obesity with out much reprecussions. I mean I had a gynecologist recommend it for me, saying it
works like magic.

Sorry susan, I didn't want you to think I was attacking you personally. Sorry for ranting in your own journal.

And I can't wait for august sixth. Huzzaaah :)

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, Miss Toodles, I don't feel attacked. It's always important to be reminded to have respect and compassion for choices that are different from mine, especially when folks are making decisions under the often painful and discriminatory conditions that fat people have to work with.

And it sounds as if your mom has had a hard time -- I'm sorry to hear that.

But, the way I see it, activists would have to be protesting awfully loudly for a very long time to begin to make a dent in uncritical cheering fest for weight loss surgery, from the People Magazine story on Carnie Wilson to your doctor saying that it works like magic. I'm glad that the Bod Squad are pictured with a caption making their point in an article that ends in the way nadinelet described in her comment above. It doesn't sound balanced, but at least their yelling and oufits and signs and eye-catching beauty were rowdy enough to create a glimpse of the possibility of another opinion.

Here's an article (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/DrJohnson/gastric_bypass_040720.html) I saw yesterday on bigfatblog. It's a pretty terrible story of someone who had a very bad reaction to weight loss surgery, and it ends with her surgeon saying, "Celebrities in general have a different support than a common person," he said. "And I truly believe this surgery should be a last resort."

Sounds pretty far from waving a wand and fixing everything by magic.

[francita.livejournal.com]

Susan, I really like you.

Oh, and, independently of the article that accompanies it and that I haven't read, I think the picture is brilliant.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

It's mutual, Francita! I love the picture, too -- and it's even better for me because I know a couple of the women pictured, and they're wonderful, and quite dedicated to making the world a better place for joy in the body for everyone.

[misstoodles.livejournal.com]

I respect you a lot susan and I felt guilty getting on my soapbox in your own journal.

I also have a great deal of respect for Marylin, her book was the first piece of size acceptance literature I read.

I didn't learn about the context of the article until after I wrote this post. It is a welcome contrast then.


Perhaps one day they will leave us alone.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Yay! I think Marilyn's book has played that role for a lot of folks.