Fat Friday – The Fat Jew

The Fat Jew – also known as Fabrizio Goldstein, Jewther Vandross, Fatrick Jewing, and Whitney Jewston – is an actor, television personality, writer, plus-size model, comedian, rapper…and on and on and on. I’ve seen references to “Z-list celebrity” more than once.

The Feb/Mar 2012 issue of BUST magazine features him as their Boy du Jour, and it’s clear that the photographer got the message about Fat Jew’s penchant for public nudity. It’s worth tracking down the issue to see the photo they used as it highlights his rather adorable tummy, but this image will give you a decent sneak peek into his personality (via BUST).

UBC Dialogues: Is Fat All In Our Heads?

Last night I attended the most recent installment of the UBC Dialogues series entitled Body Image: Is Fat All in Our Heads? at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver.  Here was the teaser:

There are two sides of the coin to consider when it comes to body image: the social pressure contributing to eating disorders and self esteem issues (especially in the young) versus the constructive aspect of encouraging people to stay fit and healthy. Where do we draw that finest of lines? Who’s to blame for spreading certain ideals around body image – is it really the media? A new theory says if you’re overweight, that influence not only extends to your family and friends, it also has an impact on the friends of your friends.

Given all of this knowledge, how do we move forward on this complex issue?

I felt compelled to go. Given the complexity of the issue and the tendency for Western culture to default to (mostly negative) beliefs about fat and fat folks, I felt that I needed to be there to put a face on those issues even if people didn’t readily recognize it. I thought to myself, “What this dialogue needs is a fat girl!” And not only did I go, but in a huge auditorium I sat dead center in the third row from the front. No one else sat in the third row with me, and that was perfect. I wanted to be a very visual reminder to the panelists about what they were discussing.

The panel was made up of Dr. Laird Birmingham, a UBC Professor of Psychiatry with 30-years experience in eating disorders; Dr. Gwen Chapman, a UBC Professor of Land and Food Systems; Paul Gallant, a UBC PhD Candidate in Human Kinetics; and Rachel McHollister, owner of a boutique PR firm (not even sure what that means….) that focuses mainly on lifestyle and fashion, and a recovering anorexic. (UPDATE: I took Ms. McHollister’s suggestion and googled it. According to WomenInPR, a PR boutique “specialize[s] in raising the overall awareness of a brand, product or image of a company or person.” I have serious questions about the use of the word “boutique” in this context and related problematic rhetoric, but that is a whole other post. The point is that a PR boutique is apparently not a place where you get your nails done while stylishly dressed reps totter around in 4″ stilettos and try to re-brand you. Glad we cleared that up.) The panel was moderated by CBC journalist, Margaret Gallagher.

The discussion didn’t really take any surprising twists or turns. There was general discussion about the origins of our current conceptions of body size, and the rising incidence of body image issues and eating disorders among men. A large part of the conversation was dedicated to when these judgments manifest in terms of age, and how we as family members and societal members can provide models of behavior to children to prevent the internalizing of those judgments. There was also discussion about creating safe spaces and support networks for children and young adults who have already internalized those judgments. I agree that they are all critically important elements of a very complex issue.

Dr. Birmingham earned my undying admiration when he called the BMI “hogwash” and he stressed the very individualistic nature of body size, body shape, and body fat – essentially that we’re all built differently and comparisons among people are pointless and unproductive. He also made a case for heroes – that each person should have a hero that embodies those qualities of character which we seek to attain. Dr. Chapman was the only panelist to mention fat oppression and Health At Any Size. She also qualified the term “obesity epidemic” (barf!) with the word “supposed” – the “supposed obesity epidemic” – thank you Dr. Chapman! I wish there had been more discussion about fat oppression, but it got a mention in a pointed way, so I’ll take what I can get in this instance.

Honestly, I found the only weak link in the panel to be Ms. McHollister. I didn’t find her to be a very compelling speaker, nor was she particularly insightful. I also found myself to be vaguely resentful of her being chosen to present the face of an eating disorder. She had an opportunity to really bring to life the trauma that results from internalizing these issues surrounding fat and talk about recovery, but I found most of her statements to be trite and superficial. On top of that, she works in the very industry – fashion – that has played a huge role in excluding large bodies and creating a culture of shame around fat. An industry where disordered eating flourishes. An industry where she would easily be accepted because she is quite slender. And not once did we hear about what she’s doing to combat those problems.

So what’s a fat girl to do?  Well, I made sure that I got a hold of the microphone first during the Q&A, of course.

I made sure to stand up because I wanted people to see a large body. I stated right off the bat by saying that I’d been living with an eating disorder for 15 years. I thanked Rachel for having the courage to speak out, and then I addressed myself to the panel and explained that I come from the end of the eating disorder spectrum that was not mentioned even once throughout the course of the evening: binge eating disorder. I then drew the parallel that like our culture that tends to treat fat folks as invisible (unless they are purposefully sought out as objects of ridicule), in the eating disorder world fat folks and folks with binge eating disorder are similarly sidelined. I suggested that the emphasis on anorexia and bulimia may be influenced by the fact that those folks tend to be thinner and are then judged to be “worthy” of our sympathy whereas fat folks are vilified and blamed for their disorder. I asked the panel for their thoughts on this idea.

It was the only comment/question of the evening to get a round of applause from the audience. And though the responses of the panel were not particularly direct or on topic – although they at least agreed that Binge Eating Disorder was a real eating disorder – it was far more important that the question was voiced. And, please, before the comments come in about my hating anorexics, let me say that folks struggling with anorexia/bulimia are facing the same debilitating, self-hating thoughts that I am and are just as much in need of help and support – and also deserving of that support. However, the “invisibility” of fat folks with eating disorders and Binge Eating Disorder is a very real problem that needs addressing. In fact, it was demonstrated repeatedly throughout the evening as panelists made reference to a spectrum that ran “from anorexia to obesity.” Their very words were dismissive of the fact that I, and those like me, struggle with a legitimate disorder.

Overall this was a valuable experience, and I can’t criticize any attempt to bring the issue of fat and social conceptions of fat to the forefront for honest discussion. As a proponent of size activism, however, I found myself in that very uncomfortable position of trying to encourage dialogue and spread the word about being size positive while at the same time having to sit through much of the same old tired (and prejudicial!) rhetoric we’ve been hearing for so long. But I have an easy suggestion for the next panel discussion to tackle this issue:

PUT A FAT PERSON ON THE PANEL, for heaven’s sake! You want to know about living in a fat body? About navigating a thin-obsessed culture in that fat body? You want real perspective on fat? That’s easy – you invite a fat person to the discussion.

I think there is an interesting parallel to be drawn here with the Feminism movement. If you pull aside an average person off the street and ask them if they think men and women should be treated differently because men are better than women, I think most people will answer in the negative. I think for the most part in our culture, people want to believe that men and women can be equally productive members of society and should therefore be dealt with on equal footing. And yet that is clearly not the case – unequal treatment of women is everywhere. Just look at the continuing wage gap; it’s just one issue among many. We desperately need Feminism to remind us of these disparities and work towards their correction. We have to close the gap between what people are assuming (men and women should be equal) and the living reality (women are definitely not treated equally). Likewise, fat oppression is alive and well despite the lofty notions people may have about not judging others on their appearance. Ask someone if they believe that people should be treated differently if they look a certain way, and I think most people will answer in the negative. And yet, that very behavior continues. We desperately need the fat activists of the world to point out the disparities and work towards their correction.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn’t love this one, I must admit. Like a lot of readers here, I started with Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series and I found them to be enjoyable, funny, and compelling fantasy/adventures. “Lost Hero” is off to an even better start. I picked up “The Red Pyramid” because I was hoping for another adventure through a mythology I knew almost nothing about: ancient Egypt. To be fair, there were many things to like about this book:

1. A bi-racial protagonist. I just don’t see this very often in youth lit and we definitely need more of it. We need more books where diverse readers are seeing brown characters in more than just supporting roles. And not only is Carter brown, but he is very mindful of what that can mean in a “white world” and he doesn’t shy away from sharing his thoughts on the subject of stereotypes.

2. I actually did learn a lot about Egyptian mythology. Thanks, Rick!

3. Riordan does pull together some genuinely funny moments. The Friskies and grilled cheese lunches made me smile.

But there are some problematic points:

1. I liked the idea of the siblings Carter and Sadie recording their experience for successors, but that narrative device quickly turned into a gimmick as each chapter inevitably featured some sarcastic aside to the sibling not currently in possession of the “microphone”. Which leads me to…

2. Sarcasm. Too much of it. Between the siblings. Between the gods. Between the magicians. It was just too much. I found that the funniest moments were when the characters were allowed to just let their eccentricities shine without a snide remark from someone else in the narrative. (See Bast’s Friskies and grilled cheese lunches.) The sarcasm kind of killed the humor for the most part.

3. I didn’t see much variety in the Egyptian God characters. A few stood out – Thoth, Bast, and well, that’s kind of it. The others just seemed to blend together. They all seemed to spout the same lines so after a while the “Magic! Chaos! Du’at!” shouts just become white noise. It was a bummer.

If you’re up for adventurous kids and a world where ancient mythology is very much modern, take a pass on this series and give “Percy Jackson” or “Heroes of Olympus” a try instead.



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Ruler of the Realm by Herbie Brennan

Ruler of the Realm by Herbie Brennan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Herbie Brennan continues to impress with the variety of difficult issues he manages to tackle in his writing – very contemporary issues for youth/teens – and yet works it seamlessly into a very engaging adventure fantasy.

I am very impressed, Mr. Brennan! Keep it up!



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The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I had a way to rate it, I would give the first half of the book 2 stars and the final half of the 3.5. The problem with the first half? The protagonist’s seemingly endless anguished whining.

Part of me wants to cut Meghan Chase some slack. At 17 years old, I imagine I did some anguished whining myself, but I hope it was never to this extent. Over and over, the same internal dialog keeps coming up but she doesn’t DO anything with it, never seems to make a decision or take action. I’m all for anguish every once in a while, but stagnant anguishing is too much. Every other character in the book seems to have their minds made up and a direction they are heading. Except Meghan Chase. But that is only the first half of the book.

In the second, which I enjoyed much more, we finally get a break from the anguished whining and what was obvious to everyone else finally becomes clear to our protagonist. We get to see some previously mentioned characters from books 1 and 2 make considerable contributions to this story, and I enjoyed the set up for the fourth book – Iron Knight – without a gimmicky cliffhanger.

I have high hopes that there will be a lot less whining in book 4, as it is written from the perspective of Ash’s character. There may be pining, and longing, and struggling, but my fingers are crossed for a lot less whining.



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Starting the New Year with a Little Dystopia

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A much, much darker read than I was expecting. The mysteries of the Glade are established right away and the author does a great job of layering the tension as we move through the story. I was certainly hooked. Very excited to read book two!





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FatGrrl Reviews: Blowing Embers by Lauri J. Owen

The northern hemisphere is starting to cool down. These are the times I love to spend a lazy weekend afternoon burrowed under the covers of my bed, curled up with a great book. You, too? Are you looking for a feisty heroine? A dashing leading man? Love and betrayal? Bravery upon the battlefield? Intrigue? Magic? Centaurs?!?

Then I’ve got a book for you that has it all! (Except for the centaurs. Sorry, folks.)  You need to give Blowing Embers by Lauri J. Owen a read.

You may recall that FatGrrl was invited to review Lauri’s first book in the series, Fallen Embers. It was a great read, and a really fun review to write. So when she came back and invited us to review the second book, my response was something along the lines of “F*ck, yeah!”

We find ourselves back in the dangerous wilds of alternate Alaska, following Kiera as she and her co-rulers, Laszlo and Marco, try to bring prosperity to their deconn (i.e. kingdom) amidst growing rumors of impending war. Kiera is working hard to develop her magical abilities; Laszlo is busting butt to get the troops ready to rumble; and Marco….is distracted. I’ll let you find out by what…  Kiera is facing a metaphorical storm, and the hits just keep coming and coming as she races to save the man she loves, a people she has sworn to protect, and a race of slaves who have no hope of freedom without her. Busy girl.

There’s a lot to love about “Blowing Embers”. Once I finished it, I immediately went back to read “Fallen Embers” and since I was on a roll, sped through “Blowing Embers” again.

First and foremost for me, it is a thrill to see a fat heroine taking center stage. And Lauri Owen has a way of writing it into the book so that we are reminded of Kiera’s size throughout the story – we are both confronted with it, but also assured that fat doesn’t make Kiera “other,” it’s just one aspect among many that makes up her character. I know that when reading a book I have a tendency to interpret every character as thin – and I know that the internalized “Thin = good. Fat = bad.” mindset of Western culture has definitely played a role in that. I doubt I’m the only one that does it. And I wish my mind’s eye didn’t default to “thin” when I’m reading a great story. I wish my mind had an auto setting that filled in characters with all kinds of shapes. That is why I can appreciate so much more the way that Lauri Owen writes Kiera. As the reader we don’t just get a brief mention of “plus-size” at the beginning, leaving us free to return to our “thin” default throughout the story. Lauri draws our attention back many times to Kiera’s physicality in a way that is not overt or obnoxious. It’s an opportunity for me to say, “Oh, yeah! Kiera’s got curves. Lots of them! And she’s totally kicking ass in this chapter!” I need that reminder, and I think Western culture could benefit a lot from it, too.

We get the best line in the book when a friend to Kiera mentions that she has lost “mass” (weight), and she chuckled at his response, explaining the view of men from her Alaska. Aghast, the friend responds: “Your men favor scrawny women?” I laughed so hard at his response. And I’m proud to say that line was the first and only time I have deemed the highlighter function on my e-reader worthy of use.

We also get to see Kiera’s nephew, Alex, do some growing up and I really enjoyed watching him come in to his own as a character. He got a little sidelined in the first novel as just the “child that needed tending,” but that made sense at the time. In “Blowing Embers” we get to see a lot more dimension to Alex as he tries to tackle the pressure of an impending war, and the uncertainty surrounding his personal heritage.

Moving on from there, I was delighted to see Lauri Owen expand even further the sexual repertoire of both her writing and the genre as a whole. There are more tricks in the bag beside the ever-present Unicorn Orgasm (see our first review for more analysis about the Unicorn Orgasm in past and contemporary romance fiction). And I don’t mean that there are loads of gratuitous S+M scenes (let’s save that for another book), but Lauri doesn’t rely solely on the old standards of the genre and it makes a big difference in this book. Kiera has a confidence around Laszlo that was only beginning in the first book, and it’s great to see her own her sexuality in the second book. And speaking of strong female sexuality,  just wait till you meet Muukwa!! I can say no more than that; you’ll need to read the book.

In “Blowing Embers” there was really only one thing that I found difficult to reconcile: Laszlo’s over-protectiveness of Kiera.  He’s a great guy with great qualities, but all that hovering around Kiera; all that withholding information in the name of protection; all that territorialism for the sake of safety. Poor Laszlo, he seemed to take a step backward on the evolutionary chain and we ended up with a Laszlo-caveman peppered throughout the story. I didn’t enjoy it all that much. Kiera didn’t enjoy it either, though she knew he was motivated by love. I didn’t understand why she continued to put up with it even though she would scowl at him when he did it, and she explained why it didn’t need to be done. If Laszlo is going to be that way, he should just pee on her leg, mark his territory, and get it over with. Otherwise, he needs to let Kiera stand on her own. Afterall, you can still have someone’s back without your hands actually being on their back. Perhaps he’ll see the error of his ways in the final book of the trilogy…

Give “Blowing Embers” a shot. Now’s the perfect time for some cozy blankets, a mug of hot chocolate, and an adventure full of feisty (fat) women!

Testing the Waters

Today I got my haircut over at the East Vanity Parlour - a very kick-ass shop, by the way – and I was very impressed with my new stylist. I was incredibly bummed to leave behind my stylist in Minneapolis, but I think I may have found a good match at East Vanity.

(For any other Minneapolitans out there in need, I highly suggest looking up Kim Carrier at Honeycomb Salon - you will not be disappointed! Kim is also the founder of Minneapolis’ own The Pet Project, a non-profit that helps folks facing financial difficulties keep their loved pets by providing pet food and veterinarian care. Kim is awesome, without a doubt.)

But I digress. Back to East Vanity Parlour.

One way I like to test the Fat Comfort Levels of new folks I may potentially interact with repeatedly is to toss out a comment about my being fat and see what kind of reaction I get. Nothing openly confrontational, just a little nudge with an opportunity to respond. A favorite of mine is the “I wore my polar bear fat today” comment.  It says, “Yes, I am a Fat Girl”, but that statement is tempered by the visual of fluffy, frolicking polar bears (a la the Coca-Cola bears) and no one begrudges a polar bear the layers of body fat that make it possible for them to frolic in ridiculously cold temperatures. (Let’s set aside for now that polar bears are actually super-efficient and vicious hunters.)

My stylist and I were discussing the differences in weather between Vancouver and Minneapolis, and the differences are vast indeed. She mentioned that the current weather in Vancouver – about 45F/7C – is unseasonably cold, and that she had officially started wearing extra layers under her pants. I saw my chance….

“I’m doing fine with this weather, but I do wear my polar bear fat every day so I can handle the cold a little better than most.”

Right on cue: she laughed.

Not a nervous giggle. Not a snort or loud over-compensating guffaw. She laughed an easy and honest laugh. A laugh that said, “Yes! I love frolicking polar bears! Of course it makes sense that your polar bear fat keeps you warm, too, Morgan! Just like those loveable, frolicking bears!”

I do believe I’ve found a winner.

Am I the only one that does this? Do any of you have strategies for testing the waters?

The View from Vancouver

Kiba encourages you to enjoy some of our Vancouver pics over at Flickr.

The Real Cost of Being Fat in the Workplace

NPR posted a news story yesterday as part of their ongoing obesity *coughcough* in America series. It reports on the additional costs employers are taking on because of “obese” employees.  It makes the claim that large workers are costing American employees an extra $73 billion each year.  They don’t cite the studies where this statistic comes from, but apparently there are studies out there somewhere supporting it, including the vague reference to “lost productivity.”

The article raises the usual bogeyman of health care costs associated with diabetes, blood pressure, cholest…Zzzzz….  Blah, blah, blah. Other folks have written far more eloquent responses to this issue and I will leave them to it, because I’ll just get sarcastic and cranky (see previous sentence).

What irritated me most in the article was this little gem:

Managers tell NPR about having to buy company pickup trucks, even though compact cars would suit the job; about installing sturdier toilets when wall-mounted ones collapse; and even remodeling to expand the space between a front desk and the wall.

First of all, thank you, NPR, for that fantastic tidbit of “ZOMG the great big huge fat person broke the toilet! Ew! Gross! Hilarious!”. Thank you, and fuck you. You should know better than that. And employers that are bitching and moaning about tailoring a workspace to the needs of their employees need to examine more closely what is essentially a thinly-veiled bigotry. Very thinly-veiled, by the way.

If this article had laid out the increased costs associated with customizing cubicles for folks in powerchairs, or the cost of installing technology so that the visually-impaired can listen to the emails – along with the implication that this is a disturbing trend in urgent need of resolution –  there would be a storm of public outrage.  No one would accept that kind of treatment of those employees. Yet here we have an instance of condoned bigotry aimed at large-bodied individuals who happen to need a larger chair so that they can work comfortably. Has it occurred to any of these employers that any loss of productivity can actually be traced back to an employer’s refusal to create workspaces for employees that support productivity? The real cost of being fat in the workplace is not being shouldered by the employer, but rather it is the humiliation and bigotry that fat folks are forced to endure on a daily basis.

The majority of the comments on the article, not surprisingly, are vitriolic at best and downright hateful and ignorant at worst. Those folks seem almost gleefully self-righteous in their condemnation. And those who raise their voice in contradiction are quickly smothered under renewed attacks. It was ugly and very disheartening to see how persistent these stereotypes about fat folks are.

But I have a solution to this problem, since it all seems to be coming down to money:

Stop having kids.

Kids are a huge burden on the health care system. We should seriously consider doing away with them. Pre-natal care, birth and delivery, c-sections, high-risk pregnancies, premature babies and NICU care, regular check ups, immunizations, fevers, earaches, flu shots, braces, broken bones and other injuries. It just goes on and on. Think of all that lost productivity when a breeding employee has to stay home with a sick child that can’t go to daycare. Breeding employees should really stop all this selfish reproduction and think about the co-workers that have to pay higher insurance premiums because of so many kids being born. Perhaps it is time for employers to enact programs to encourage less breeding among its employees.

Notice how absolutely ridiculous the above argument is? Now substitute the concept of breeding with that of being fat.