Monday, May 3, 2010

Another "fat talk" rant

This is probably a post for my other blog, but I think more people will see it on here. A lot of you will skip over this and write it off, because I preach about this subject a lot. But it's important to me. Today I attended Family Week at work. This is our 3rd time doing it, and I have gone every time to meet the families and listen to Doris Smeltzer speak. She is such an inspiring woman. She lost her daughter, Andrea, to bulimia at 19 after only 16 months of practicing bulimia. I still cry when I hear their story. I can't imagine losing a child to such an unneccesary disease. When I got on home, I logged on to facebook. I was completely disturbed and overwhelmed by the amount of "fat talk" I see on that page. Statuses, advertisements, comments...it's everywhere. Why do we as women and mothers allow this sort of thing to continue? Dont we all realize that when we say WE look fat and WE look ugly, others hear that? A child's strongest role model is their same sex parent. How would you feel if your daughter felt she was fat or ugly? Did you know the most common age for a girl to try dieting the first time is 10? TEN YEARS OLD. What the hell is wrong with this world that a fifth grader can't even feel good about his/her weight?! I find nothing more offensive, more disgusting, than a woman who says outloud "Oh gosh, I can't eat that! It'll make me fat!" People go up in arms when you use a racial slur or the word "retard" (as they should, because that's terrible!) but no one bats an eye when you say you are fat or say something like "She's too fat to wear that." And the really sick part? We encourage all this! We motivate each other to continue! "Good for you! You lost 10 pounds. You look so good!" When did our bodies become the bad guy? I think we ought to be showing gratitude for our bodies. This is the only one you're going to get. And hey, remember that real special Man who made that body especially for you? How do you think it makes Him feel when you say that your body isn't good enough? My body isn't perfect. It's full of rolls, stretchmarks, extra skin. But guess what? I really couldn't give a damn. This is MY body. So the next time you want to say "I can't eat that." or "I need to lose ten pounds" or "Geez...she's gained weight.", do me a favor and zip it. No one wants to hear it. And the FACT is, that talking this way will lower your self esteem AND the self esteem of those listening. Keep it to yourself. I'm not interested.

2 comments:

Kaniala, Samantha and Kai Kaha said...

AGREED!! i can think of a few people that would benefit from your "fat rants" :) if people only knew...

Thompson said...

I agree, I am guilty of trying to loose weight, but the way I see it, I am trying to loose just a few pounds so I can get pregnant. After learning that my body has some problems I now dont say "I am fat and want to look good" I say "I want to be healthy and teach my kids the same." You are a smart girl and I think you look beautiful! thanks for that "fat rant"