Comments on: that is not what I meant, at all, at all

by: brew ho

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:58:26 +0000

Ugh. First of all, good male post-post-feminist that I am, metaphorical ponytail and No War! bumpersticker and all, I ought to clarify why I haven’t commented. We didn’t have an interweb. But my comment is: a new bumpersticker with the Venus/woman symbol and the word EAT.

Shame is never a good motivator for anything. The whole obsession over food, diet, ectomorphic perfection, all of it, ruins my appetite.

by: oleoptene

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:09:26 +0000

Yes, well another generation or two and they’ll be all caught up with us in dysmorphic disorders, isn’t progress grand? We took the kids to see WALL-E upon getting back from camping, the smaller two have been excited about all previews of it forever and ever (at least it wasn’t talking animals!) I was fine/it was fine until the humans came in. Do I have to put in a spoiler alert here? Obesity becomes the symbol of consumption and dependence on the robots. Which I guess makes some causal sense, but I still didn’t LIKE it. And Raven trying to get what I am going on about asks if shame about bodies isn’t a good motivator or something and that at least I could put into a straightforward, no, self-loathing never really made anyone get better at anything. And maybe that was the thing about these obese humans (an effect of microgravity, they put in a line, saying) was that one of them looks at a picture and has an epiphany and starts gradually working towards restoring himself/humanity to better shape. And I am so sick of self-improvement and the self as a project, and cinderella stories, but maybe self-acceptance doesn’t have so dramatic a denoument?

by: unreliable narrator

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:13:17 +0000

PS: “In-Your-Facebook” hahahahahahahaha!

by: unreliable narrator

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:12:37 +0000

And I cannot help but be amused that this post did not generate nearly the manly comment that has seethed all over Señor Dawkins’ unweaving of the rainbow. Sigh.

by: oleoptene

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:05:01 +0000

Thank you for this. Amazing how quickly the self-hating thoughts slip in again after you perform an exorcism. I don’t think it’s just making ourselves better, or save the world or bring us closer to God, I think it’s trying to make ourselves love-worthy because it is so impossible to believe we are, forgive the self-help-talk tone.

If I had money for vast ad campaigns I have a hard time deciding whether I would lobby for a “let’s not talk about what we’re eating” week or if I would plaster the world with images of healthy women with well-nourished bodies (I trim my media consumption and avoid magazines and now In-Your-Facebook ads, which I realize are making look at my own abdomen other than gently and lovingly).

I watch 80s movies and marvel that you don’t see midriffs and have no idea if these actresses do a full regimen of Pilates and I consider building a time machine so I can go back and buy clothes that flatter a round body. Nourishment and sustenance to you!