Gender
A Fat Rant
by Joy Nash
(linked from the About Face site)
This is a simple but powerful video.
A Woman's Place
by Naomi Wolf
- her commencement address at Scripps College - May 17, 1992
A short transcript of a speech in which Naomi Wolf gives
the audience of women "the commencement talk that was denied to me".
The Pool
by Margie
on About Face
A short, simple and powerful story by a 14 year old girl about realising
that "we had to live our lives to the fullest, and not kill ourselves by
constantly hating ourselves because of society".
Scale, Scale
by Julia Summers
on About Face
" Scale, scale, in the hall, who's the fairest of them all? Scale, scale,
whose dial goes round, did I gain another pound? "
From the Field Notes
by Irina Diyankova
on About Face
A short account of being bombarded by messages about weight "I feel furious
because I cannot escape these messages. They crawl into my mind when I
am tired and worn out, when I am half awake, when I am not ready to defend
myself."
Anorexia and I
by Nicole Schlesinger
on About Face
A powerful essay submitted to About Face by Nicole's mother after her death.
Chocolate Cake
by Katie Rainbow
on About Face
"I look at chocolate cake. and I see my friends who have to think too much
about it. And I see them as the most beautiful girls in the world. And
I don't know what to do"
The Emotional Immune System
and Why Weight Neutrality?
by Debora Burgard
on her extensive Body Positive web site.
These useful articles are representative of a much bigger body or writing on
this site (which suggests "Change Your Mind, Change Your Culture, and Let Your Body Be").
Fat, Thin and Power
by Judy Lightstone
on Psychotherapist.org
"We are taught in families, schools, on the streets... that a girl’s/woman’s
power can be primarily expressed in 3 ways: her physical appearance (especially
her heterosexual appeal, body shape and size), motherhood, and food.
"
Statement on Dying to be Thin
by Naomi Wolf
on Gifts of Speech - Women's Speeches from Across the World
A review of Naomi Wolf's book The Beauty Myth
by Laura Bryannan
This review provides some useful quotes from The Beauty Myth
The Porn Myth
by Naomi Wolf
on NewYorkMetro.com
"In the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real
thing."
The Silent Treatment
by Naomi Wolf
on the New York Metro site.
The best introduction to this short article is a direct quote:
" Twenty years on, I am handing over a secret to its rightful owner. I... professor
Harold Bloom did something banal, human, and destructive: He put his hand on
a student’s inner thigh...he student was me, a 20-year-old senior at Yale "
Waiting to Sing
by Emily Habermehl
on The University of Pittsburgh site
"I justified my parents' hurtful insults by saying "they only say it because they care; they are just worried about me." I wonder to this day why they were so worried about the shape of my body, and
not the size of myself esteem or self worth. "
Pale Marigolds
by Claudia Parker
on About Face
"Dear Catalogue, I'm a lovely, wrinkled 62 year old white haired grandmother ...Until you do an about-face, and I find myself represented in your models,
I will NEVER, EVER buy anything from you."
Untitled essay
by 'Hannah'
on About Face
"While shopping for clothing this weekend, I noticed how many stores use the
word "woman" to designate their larger sizes."
Real Women Project (sculptures)
on the Real Women Project site
This page has photographs of the beautiful Real Women Project's sculptures
(of real women with real body shapes), with poetry. "They were commissioned
to provide real evidence of the real bodies of women in contrast to the
illusion of Barbie." "They are the same size as the popular doll. "
The Good Body
by Eve Ensler
on www.feminist.com
"In the midst of a war in Iraq, in a time of escalating global terrorism,
when civil liberties are disappearing as fast as the ozone layer, when
one out of three women in the world will be beaten or raped in her lifetime,
why write a play about my stomach?"
First Do No Harm
A guide for health professionals.
I wonder if the approach the authors take may irritate some people, particularly
in the introductory sections.
If
so
please
stick with it.
In the introduction the authors say:
"The information here is not a diet or weight loss plan. Instead, you will find alternatives to recommending diets and weight loss for clients. You may discover that the information presented is unlike what you have been taught. It is meant to provide you with a more balanced view of information available on weight-related issues and overall health. The facts and advice contained here may provoke intense emotions since they may contradict past learning and question the strong cultural ideals and judgements we have lived with for so long. "
There are a couple of sections missing from the site.
The Mysterious Origins of Eating Disorders
by Dr. Alex Yellowlees
on www.swedauk.org
Quotes from the introduction to this article:
"Sooner or later, everyone who is touched by eating disorders asks the vital
question: just what causes these conditions to develop? It is the big question.
And it would seem reasonable to expect that science, psychiatry and medical
research would have the answers.
"
"I have come to the conclusion that the same issues that recur to block all potential
human development in society play their part here too."
"Issues such as ignorance, lack of education, misunderstanding, prejudice, fear,
the suppression of women, sexism, ageism and medical politics! "
A Personal Perspective/My Experiences
by Anna Paterson
on www.swedauk.org (and also www.annapaterson.com )
"I remember that when I was suffering from anorexia, I felt the need to
read other personal accounts which were honest, open and above all hopeful.
It is extremely important to understand the dangers and risks involved
with eating disorders but it is also VERY important to know that you CAN beat
them. "
Six articles from the book 'A Waist is a Terrible Thing to Mind'
To view these: click on any of the links I've provided - they all will take you to a page advertising
the book - look for the dots at the top right of the page and click the eighth
one from the left ("a circle of women'). I haven't read the book, but I'm a little discouraged by
the links page on this site - which in many cases takes you to standard 'womens' material (e.g. "Two-minute workouts for real results." and "lose 10lbs in 5 weeks")
'The Sabbath Meal' by Malkah Leah: Quote - "My mother died two weeks after
she told me about her lifelong eating disorder and struggles with her weight
and her
body and her incessant desire to be "thin and beautiful." I wasn’t present at the moment of her death, but I was told that at the end
she vomited profusely and then died."
'I Am Learning' by 'Judi': Quote - "I am also learning to take charge of—and
most importantly, to accept—myself"
'The Ice Cream Cone' by 'Laurie': Quote - "That was last year, when she was
10. Every Sunday after breakfast, Dad would weigh her. She dreaded Sunday
mornings,
because she never seemed to lose weight, and the look of disappointment on
her parents’ faces was difficult to bear."
'The Girdle, a Woman’s Best Friend' by 'Maxine': If you've read many of the
other articles listed on isja note that this article is the most different. Recommended.
'My Own True Voice' by 'Rosette': Quote - "Once upon a time
as a baby, I loved my body
but that was before..."
'Untitled' by 'Christy': Quote: "I know my parents only wanted me to be "happy" and they believed (and instilled in me the fact) that I could never be happy
or satisfied if I was overweight. What I wish they would have instilled in
me instead was the knowledge that people come in all shapes and sizes and that
physical appearance is not the only attribute about a person that is important.
Ordinary Ads, Everyday Images
by Catherine Redfern
on the f word site
"Catherine Redfern takes her camera out and about in London to analyse
the imagery shown in ordinary adverts. Do the representations of men and
women differ? And if so, how?"
Genderads.com
by Scott A. Lukas
This whole site is an analysis of gender images in advertising - a gallery
of images.
A Person Paper on Purity in Language
by Douglas Hofstadter
This is an article in support of non-sexist language (although it appears at
first glance to be about racism or even racist).
It is a satirical piece prompted by a newspaper column which was against
changes to sexist language. This is worth emphasising because I've come
across at least one person on the net who had completely misunderstood
it. In the post scriptum towards the end of the article, Douglas Hofstadter
says
"Perhaps
this piece
shocks
you.
It
is
meant to.
The entire point
of it is to use something that we find shocking as leverage to illustrate the
fact that something that we usually close our eyes to is also very shocking.
The most effective way I know to do so is to develop an extended analogy with
something known as shocking and reprehensible. Racism is that thing, in this
case. I am happy with this piece, despite-but also because of-its shock value."
If you are confused, read the Post Scriptum (towards the end) first.
Evolution
from the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty
This is a short but startling video (on YouTube) showing a woman being
transformed from ordinary person into a billboard photograph. The same video
can be
found on www.campaignforrealbeauty.co.uk
Where the size zero debate goes awry
by Laurie Penny
on The F Word site
Quote: "On the face of it, the size zero debate seems to address feminist bug-bears. But... it just creates another set of sexist stereotypes - and obfuscates the truth about eating disorders"
Skinny Porn
by Abi Millar
on The F Word site
This article is a good companion to 'Where the size zero debate goes awry'
(above). There are a few phrases and assumptions in Abi Millar's writing
that I'm not comfortable with, but her main points are very well made.
Quote:"Calling it ‘the size zero debate’ obfuscates what’s really going
on. This is not about what size women ought or ought not to be - this is
about the fact that women feel they ‘ought’ to be anything at all.... this
is about the fact - the crucial fact - that it’s different for men."
Redefine the Problem
(It's Not Weight)
by Kelly Bliss
on www.kellybliss.com
Kelly looks here at 'the obesity problem' from an angle which places the
emphasis on health and self esteem not on body shape. To quote: "You can no more tell the healthy lifestyle of a person based on their body size
than you can tell how hard someone works based on the balance in their
bank account." You can also see more of Kelly Bliss (and Joy Nash) debating these issues on
this video. Note that much (if not all) of what the other people in this video say is less helpful.
The Compliment that Hurts
part of the book Don't Weight
by Kelly Bliss
on her site at www.kellybliss.com
This very short (and powerful) piece is about the way that a young girl learns that her body is unacceptable from her mother thinking that her own body is unacceptable - and that both are being wounded by 'compliments'.
A debate on latimes.com
between Kelly D. Brownell and Paul F. Campos
in five parts
Look for the links to parts 2-5 at the bottom of the first page.
This is an interesting debate.
A quote from Kelly Brownell: "The prevalence of obesity has increased in
every corner of the world. Fully two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese,
and rates in children have more than tripled in the last 30 years. Obesity,
diabetes and a cascade of other diseases are affected by styles of modern
living, in particular poor diet and physical inactivity."
A quote from Paul Campos: "The fundamental strategy of the war on fat is
to universalize the attitudes of middle- and upper-class white American women
toward weight, food, dieting and exercise. Such women are taught from a very
early age to hate their bodies, to be terrified of fat and to turn eating
into an endless moralistic struggle between the imperative to eat appropriately
petite portions of supposedly "good" foods while avoiding the quasi-erotic seductions of "bad" foods. This, of course, is a recipe for producing an epidemic of eating disorders, which is precisely what we've managed to do. "
'Who… me? I’m just a housewife'
by Jen Clayton
on The F Word site
Quote: "Maybe it’s time we challenged the common assumption in the women’s
movement that housewives need feminism. It would be wiser if we started
to see it the other way around: that feminism needs housewives."
Junkfood Science analysis of Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Dietary Modification
Trial
by Sandy Szwarc
I haven't had time to do more than read this once through quickly. It is of interest in relation to the science/myth behind stories of what people should be eating. It is in two parts. Part 2 is here.
Filling the hole
by Katie Muller
on The F Word site
Katie Muller writes about anorexia - linking it to ordinary mindsets and power
in society.
Quote"Statistics claim that approximately 10% of people are anorexic, most
of them women. If we presume that this information is based on diagnosis and
thus ignores
all those with ‘invisible’ anorexia, I would venture to say that the number
of women who suffer from the mental agony of such a disorder, is far, far higher."
Articles on www.isja.org.uk
The links listed on the directory page displayed above take you to other websites. Articles on www.isja.org.uk (this site) are listed separately on the 'on-site articles' page, grouped by author rather than subject. The links below should take you directly to relevant items on that page:
You're looking good - have you lost weight?
by Robert Weetman
Good places to look for more
The Change page of this directory
The About Face site.
The Body Positive web site.
The Adios Barbie web site.
the f word web site (features by date page) - LOTS OF BRILLIANT WRITING
the links page on genderads.com
the links page on gender and advertising on the mcs site