Many thanks to Shameless for inviting me to guest-blog this month. I hope that I’ve helped you to learn a bit more about a new topic, and perhaps inspired you to do a little more thinking about why so many of us believe that fat is bad.

Questioning commonly-held perceptions, and even changing your attitude, is only one step. I’ve found that it’s a lot easier to accept others’ bodies than it is to accept my own. I can look at a fat woman and think she’s beautiful, but look at myself and criticize my flabby stomach. I can understand that my body size is not a direct reflection of my health status, but feel like I “need” to work out more than others to “make up” for my size. I can know that diets don’t work, but be tempted to try again anyway. I can know that I’m actually barely over the size of the average North American woman, but still feel unacceptably fat.

Accepting yourself doesn’t just happen overnight, and it requires constant effort. If you’re able to find a support system, you’re much more likely to have more good days than bad. Whether it be friends who respect that your body is not a topic for discussion, a hobby or activity you love, or a bunch of resources to fall back on when you can’t remember why you’re allowed to trust your body and eat what you like, find something to support you. Some of the resources I turn to regularly include:

The Fat Nutritionist (a Toronto-based nutrition student who studies, practices and teaches intuitive eating and Health at Every Size)
Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose, the blog that introduced me to fat acceptance
Fatshionista, a plus-size fashion and size acceptance community

If you taking nothing else from learning a bit about size acceptance, I hope you’ll be willing to consider that everyone, regardless of their body size, is deserving of respect and autonomy regarding what they do with their bodies. That includes yourself. Cheers!

AQSAzine, a grassroots zine for 16-35 year-old women and trans people who identify as Muslim, is launching its second issue at a free event hosted in partnership with The AGO Youth Council. The event is also a launch for Making Noise! Muslim women and trans people video project, and Jasmine Magazine, the first Palestinian Magazine in Toronto.

Making Noise! is an exciting hands-on media arts training that addresses the invisibility and negative portrayals of young Muslim women and trans people in the media, supported by the Urban Alliance on Race Relations.

The event will showcase videos, visual art, and readings by Azza Abbaro, Shadi Eskandani, Sidrah Ladin, Sara Mir, Samira Mohyeddin, Shara Mohammed, Golie Moulaie, and Sahar Rizi.

Musical performances by Farheen Beg & Arun Chaudhuri and Tanya Jacobs.

Dance performance by Raja Jalebi and Sheesha YaDil.

Plus: silk screening and zine-making workshops.

This event is part of the 16 Days to THRIVE! Challenging Violence Against Racialized Women and Our Communities.

Friday Dec. 4th, 6-8 p.m.
Art Gallery of Ontario
Anne Tannenbaum Gallery School
317 Dundas Street W., Toronto

Something that often gets lost in the “healthy fat person/unhealthy fat person” discussion (see my previous post) is a discussion about who gets to decide what “healthy” behaviours are, and who has and does not have the ability to practice those behaviours.

The cost of “healthy living” is prohibitive for a great many people. A diet rich in fresh produce, whole grains, lean meats or alternatives, etc., is quite expensive. For many, the choice between a box of white pasta or a package of brown rice isn’t based on nutrition value, but on cost. Fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly out of season, when prices skyrocket? Forget it. Cheap and filling are the important factors. For someone who can’t afford to buy “healthier” foods, I’d argue that the decision to buy what they can to feed themselves to the best of their ability is the healthy choice.

As for the recommended levels of exercise: a gym membership? Not accessible to all. But you don’t need a gym membership to work out – you can run around the block. Sure, if you don’t have to go home after working overtime in order to care for your child. You get the picture. It’s not a coincidence that obesity is often associated with poverty, and thinness with affluence. It is a privilege to have the time and money to invest in practicing “healthy” behaviours.

Another issue that is often overlooked in the “healthy living” paradigm is disability, whether visible or invisible, physical or mental. It isn’t possible for everyone to run several miles per week. While those with visible physical disabilities might sometimes (but by no means always) be given a free pass against judgment for not performing the prescribed behaviours, those with invisible disabilities like fibromyalgia, chronic diseases, or metal disabilities that mean their healthy behaviours are different are often ignored. Chronic pain might make jogging or weight lifting impossible. Depression might mean that different activities are more or less pleasurable. For those with visible physical disabilities, prescribed activities might take on a clinical angle and be boring or unsatisfying.

Why not allow everyone, regardless of ability, to choose to (or choose not to) participate in activities that are enjoyable? When particular behaviours are lauded as “good” – and who hasn’t met someone who hates going to the gym, but does it because they’re being “good”? – then other behaviours automatically lower in value, even if they’re very enjoyable, beneficial, and accessible. Personally, I think that keeping an eye on your mental health is just as valuable, if not more valuable, than paying attention to the physical. Skipping a run to push a child on a swing and then read a book together isn’t going to burn too many calories, but who says it’s worth less? If you are unable to perform high-intensity cardio at all, should that mean you are worth less? If you also happen to be fat, some people might think so.

Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Amy Sedgwick…

Amy Sedgwick has a passion for women’s health and wants them to be informed. With a goal “to provide a home, a safe space for women to develop a positive and healthy relationship to their bodies - a task that is becoming increasingly challenging in our culture,” Amy, along with her sister Kimberley, started Red Tent Sisters. Combining their visions to offer women services, programs, and a retail store, Amy takes time to answer our questions as this week’s Shameless Woman.

(more inside…)

Canice Leung, fantastic feminist columnist for The Metro, wrote a terrific piece about our exciting new project, the Shameless Wire.

Help us make this project happen. Donate today.

Full text of Canice’s column:

As many women do in university, I took a few women’s studies classes. I remember in one mostly female class of 40, the teacher asked who was feminist; my hand was among a sparse few that went up. But in class discussions, my classmates’ thoughts on gender roles or reproductive rights made clear that’s exactly what they were.

It’s an apt example of how necessary gender studies are; that young adults can dismiss feminism as radical yet recognize the cornerstones of the movement is evidence of this.

Fortunately, two initiatives are underway to change that.

(more inside…)

A month ago we posted about an exciting new project called Shameless Wire, and we are now ready to accept applications! Details are below, and the deadline for applications is December 31, 2009.

SHAMELESS WIRE CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: A FREE HANDS-ON PROGRAM FOR WOMEN AND TRANS YOUTH INTERESTED IN JOURNALISM

YOU ARE…
…interested in learning how to how to report, write, and get published in magazines, newspapers, or online.
…committed to using the media to improve your community and the world.
…20 or younger as of January 1, 2010, identify as female and/or trans, and are not enrolled in university or college.

WE ARE…
… a progressive magazine for teen girls and young women that has been publishing in Toronto for more than five years. Learn more about us at www.shamelessmag.com/about.

TOGETHER, WE WILL…
…meet every second Saturday afternoon from January to April 2010.
…learn the basics of reporting, writing and editing.
…learn how to come up with story ideas, pitch them to editors, and get published.
…meet and learn from professional journalists.

SHAMELESS WIRE IS FREE TO ALL PARTICIPANTS. WE WILL PROVIDE TTC TOKENS AND LUNCH FOR EACH MEETING.

TO APPLY: Email wire@shamelessmag.com with your full name, date of birth, and answers to the following questions. Each answer should be 200 words or less – much less is fine. There are no right or wrong answers. We aren’t your teachers, and we don’t care whether you like school – we’re more interested in how you express yourself.

1. Why do you want to be part of Shameless Wire?
2. If you are in high school, what school do you go to? Do you like it? Tell us why or why not. If you are not in high school, tell us why that is, and a bit about how you spend your time.
3. Do you speak, read and/or write in any languages other than English? Explain briefly.

We strongly encourage all eligible youth to apply, especially transgendered and queer youth, youth with disabilities, immigrant youth, youth of colour and First Nations youth.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 31, 2009

A PDF of the Shameless Wire call for participants is available here. Please feel free to put it up in your schools/libraries/community centres/etc.

Growing up, my mom was always supportive of my career aspirations. When I showed an interest in writing, she bought me notebooks and special pens to encourage me. When I told her I wanted to act, she took me to the National Theatre School a province away to see if it interested me. When I felt visual art was part of my craft, she took me to galleries to show me what was possible. She even bought me my first guitar to explore my musical inclinations.

And through it all, when my activist nature showed through, she explained to me that art can be one of the strongest tools an activist can use to change the world.

This is why I am now a proud “Professional Bohemian” – a writer / actor / musician / artist with activism streaming through everything I do.

She never once tried to convince me to follow her footsteps and become a lawyer/mediator. She knew it wasn’t right for me and knew I had to find my own path to truly be happy and fulfilled.

This seems obvious and normal to me. But not to everyone else.

Yesterday, while checking out Twitter, I noticed a couple of tweets that had gone back and forth between two women I follow. They were discussing the attitudes their parents and cultures had towards certain professions (good and bad) and how that had influenced what they now do.

(more inside…)

Wow. I’m a big fan of Terry O’Reilly’s radio show The Age of Persuasion and I watch more Mad Men than I like to admit, but every time I think I’m a savvy mediaphile who’s completely immune to shock tactics in the world of advertising, those zany ad execs prove me wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

Hit the Bitch is a Danish anti-violence-against-women campaign that works much like a video game where you’re supposed to, well, beat up a woman. Your mouse or webcam controls a big, hairy, manly arm that slaps and punches a very realistic avatar of a woman, complete with sound effects and bruises that appear on her face. Your “performance” is ranked on a scale that goes from PUSSY to GANGSTA (we’ll get to the racist implications in a second). I was not able to complete the game, because I must be a pussy (& proud to say it!) but according to the AdFreak researchers, who are more dedicated than me, when you’ve successfully reduced the woman to a tearful pulp the game calls you an idiot. Well, on behalf of all abused women worldwide, thanks a mill’.

Yeah, so I didn’t really want to include an image from the Hit the Bitch website, since I figure we see enough images of women being abused and victimized, so here instead are Thelma and Louise, who fought back. Enjoy!

The AdFreak piece already makes several strong points about the absurdity of the site (people who think it’s okay to commit violence against women will enjoy it, while people to whom it’s revolting won’t be able to look at it for more than a second; it makes violence against women into a game, which is not okay no matter what the message), and personally I tend to agree that doing something in the name of a cause I support doesn’t equal carte blanche. Plus and besides are there so few images of victimized and abused women in the world that we need to start making more of them? I’d be curious to know where other people stand on that, but before I open up the floor I want to comment on what to me is maybe the most disturbing aspect of this ad, which is the conflation of violence against women and what the makers seem to suggest is a “gangsta” or hip-hop lifestyle.

(more inside…)

Thanks to a comment from Steve on my last post, I was inspired to write some posts on some of the intersections between size acceptance/fat acceptance and race/culture, class and (dis)ability.

First, I want to acknowledge my position of privilege as an educated, able-bodied middle-class, white woman, born in Canada, of white, upper-middle-class parents also born in Canada. I can discuss these issues from the position of an ally trying to inform herself as much as possible, but I cannot and will not try to speak for people in groups of which I’m not a part. I also acknowledge that I can’t come close to understanding all the issues, and would love to hear from others who’d like to add their perspectives.

Something almost guaranteed to get my back up when discussing size and body image is an assertion that it’s “easier” or “harder” for someone of a certain race to have a larger or smaller body size. As an example, there’s a notion that refuses to die that says black women are exempt from worrying about their weight and that fatness is more accepted among black people, because black men prefer women larger. I have three major issues with this:

1) How can anyone know what all black men prefer in terms of body shape and size, and who says they prefer women at all?
2) Even if it were true: what, black women exist purely as attractive objects for black men? If black men like them “bigger,” they have nothing to worry about? Who says that what black men think about their bodies is black women’s primary concern? The inherent racism (not to mention sexism) in assuming that black men have the only valid opinion about black women’s bodies is appalling.
3) It’s just not true.

See, to look “acceptable” in our society is to look as close to the ideal as possible, and that ideal is not only thin; it is white, tall, perhaps blonde-haired (straight or just wavy, of course) and blue-eyed. Whether some or even many black men prefer larger women is completely irrelevant; white-dominated society at large is telling black women that they must look as close to the white ideal as possible in order to be considered attractive. This applies to all women of colour; black women are just an example.

While individual cultures may have particular body size stereotypes (Asian women are thinner, Hispanic women have larger hips, etc.), it’s important to recognize that these are not universal ideals within cultural groups, and that women of colour are under enormous pressure by virtue of their colour to strive to look as white as possible. Women of colour don’t get a free pass on the body ideal thing. In fact, pressure to conform to an ideal body type only increases, the further from the “ideal” you are. A really great rundown on this topic from a woman of colour (another Julia, not me) can be found at Fatshionista here.

Class and (dis)ability next time.