I am writing at a shiny new blog these days. My new blog isn’t Fat Acceptance specific, I write about a lot of things and it is a bit more personal that Fat Lot of Good has ever been. I am incorporating book reviews, photography, personal opinion on topical events, personal musing about all sorts of things and a bunch of other stuff.

If you want to follow along please come and visit at www.myscarlettheartt.com

I would love to see you there!

You can see more STANDards at the  I Stand Against Weight Bullying tumblr

*this post could be triggering as it contains images and descriptions of emaciated, starving children*

When I, as a privileged white person living in a First World country, think of starving children this is the image that comes to mind

photo from http://news.bbc.co.uk

We have all seen these images. At different times we are exposed to more or less of such pictures, depending on the current famine situation in the African continent and depending on whatever else of ‘importance’ is happening in the Western world.

When we think of starving children we do not tend to think of images like this

from http://afamilyformaria.blogspot.com

And even when we do think of emaciated, starving children that are outside of the African arena, even on the rare occasion that we do see images of these children, they tend to be historical pictures from Holocaust collections or photographs taken in Eastern European orphanages. Or we assume that is where they are from. We are not routinely exposed to images of starving children from First World countries. And so we are conditioned to believe that there are no emaciated, starving, rib protruding children, particularly no emaciated, starving, rib protruding white children, in countries like the US, or Australia or the UK.

But these children do exist.

They exist here and here and here.  (warning, the stories behind these links are graphic and disturbing)

There are parents who are starving their children simply because they do not want their children to become fat. These adults fear fat to such an extent that they willingly withhold food from their offspring in an attempt to circumvent obesity. There are parents killing their children because they fear them getting fat.

That does my head in.

The idea that fat is so bad, so abhorrent, that starving your child is a viable alternative? What sort of world do we live in that would allow this sort of misguided thinking to occur?

A world that says this and this and this and this. (warning: fat hatred behind the links)

Until people stop believing that fat equals unhealthy, that fat costs society billions, that fat equals a shorter life span, that fat is ugly and that fat is bad bad bad and to be avoided at all costs, well until then there will continue to be parents who starve their children. Until then there will be parents who advocate disordered eating habits. Until then there will be parents who encourage their children to hate their own bodies. Not all of those parents will starve their children to death. Many of them will institute the so-called ‘lifestyle’ changes promoted by people like Michelle Obama. Many of them will simply continue to criticise fat people in front of their children, or to bemoan their own ‘fat ass’ in front of their kids – the same kids who will then twist around in front of the bathroom mirror to see if their own ass is fat and who will then start skipping breakfast and lunch in order to combat what they now believe is their own fat butt.

Until society undergoes a dramatic paradigm shift there will be parents who starve their kid, who teach their kids disordered eating habits, who endorse their children hating themselves. There will be parents who put their kids on diets. There will be children with eating disorders before they are 8 years old and there will be children who die from starvation or eating disorders. There will be children who hate themselves because they are fat. There will be children who are bullied by other children who have been indoctrinated to hate fat. There will continue to be hatred of fat and thus, hatred of fat people.

The world needs to change.

We need to change it.

Please look at and like Fat Lot of Good’s Facebook page! I post lots of links to articles there that you might be interested in!

Tell your fat friends, family and everyone else too!

(No exclamation marks were harmed in the writing of this post. Overused maybe but not harmed).

So now fruit is making us fat.

*sigh*

Every day is it something different. Every day something else cops the blame for being the cause of TEHFATZ. Every day there is something else we should be fearful of putting in our mouths, chewing and digesting. No wonder people are scared to eat.

Someone better tell Weight Watchers, don’t they recommend 5 servings of fruit a day? Or they did back in the old days (i.e. the last time I did WW).  And while they are at it, someone should tell the good doctor that the reason he hasn’t seen anyone with scurvy in his 30 years of medical practice is because people HAVE BEEN EATING FRUIT. If he gets his way and people stop eating fruit I wonder if he will then get the scurvy cases he is so sorely missing.

Unfortunately I have had to postpone the clothing sale for the moment. It will be held before Christmas so stay tuned for further updates!

The 42nd Down Under Feminists Carnival is up at Pondering Postfeminism! Lots of interesting reads to be had so join the fun!

We don’t use this term in Australia. We don’t use the term ‘freshman’ (‘first year’ is the term I know of) and as far as I am aware, there is no term that has the same implications as ‘freshman fifteen‘. For those not in the know, ‘freshman fifteen’ refers to students who gain approximately 15 pounds when they go away to college (become a freshman). I learned about this when I was a teenager reading such trash as Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams novels. Interestingly enough, when I went away to university I actually lost weight (all the walking to, from and around campus as well as stairs I had to climb seeing as I lived on the third floor and there was no elevator). But the ‘freshman 15′ is well known in the US and now researchers are saying it is a fallacy. Interesting.

What is your experience with the concept of the ‘freshman 15′?

I have been sorting through my wardrobe and having a bit of a cull. I have way too many clothes and need to pare things down a bit. So I have decided to have a sale right here on Fat Lot of Good!

I will post pictures of the items with a brief description and asking price (which will be minimal for the item, plus postage). The items are almost new (some still with tags) and in great condition. Anything left over will be offered up for ‘make me an offer’ and if there is anything left after that, it will be donated. I have at least 30 items so far including dresses, tops, skirts, pants, purple boots and shoes. Sizes generally range from 20 to 24. I am happy to send anywhere in the world if you are happy to pay postage.

The sale will be held next weekend, November 5th and 6th. First come, best dressed!

So this won’t surprise anyone. Of course kids from wealthier households are more likely to do gymnastics, swimming club, ballet, soccer, hockey and all the  other organised sports kids can participate in these days. Of course parents are more likely to be gym members, play tennis, have a round of golf or try yoga or pilates if they have the disposable income, time, childminding etc to do so. It doesn’t take Einstein to work this out.

It also doesn’t take Einstein to work out that more well to do neighbourhoods will have environments that are more conducive to outdoor activity (i.e. walking trails, bike paths, sports grounds, parks etc). Not only can families with lower incomes ill afford for kids to participate in pricey extra curricular activities but they also need the ability to transport kids to such activities and a parent or guardian who isn’t at work to take said children to said activities. Not to mention the parents themselves need the time and energy (as well as cash) to participate in organised physical activity. But I guess they need to do these studies to prove it beyond all doubt.

What I find interesting is that no matter where the women surveyed were from (and why was it only women? what about the fathers?) they all had mobile devices with access to social media apps. What a sign of the times that is!