Fatbook: A Thursday Links Roundup
1. April catches grief because she doesn’t want to follow someone’s weight-loss diary on Facebook.
I’ve already “hidden” posts on my news feed from folks who seem to think that a running litany of everything they ate/didn’t eat wanted to eat/didn’t want to eat or weight they lost/gained inexplicably was the utmost in fascinating conversation… Yesterday this… was not possible when a woman actively messaged me to ask why I hadn’t joined (or “liked”? I’m not sure which) the page she’d set up to log all her Weight Loss Adventures.
2. Do plus-sized women need a separate social networking site? (And if so, why is it not called Fatbook?) Via Jenfu.
Women who are a size 12 or above make up 60% of the population. It seems odd to treat them as though they’re an odd minority who need their own special site when they’re pretty clearly the majority. I just kind of feel like there should be enough of a place for plus sized women in the mainsteam discussion that this sould be unecessary – but maybe that’s not the case. And if it’s not, then the mainstream discussion is really failing.
3. Feminist Does Not Mean “Strong Woman” by my new girlcrush Tasha Fierce. If Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and Sarah Palin unsettle you, you aren’t alone.
These women are part of a new wave of conservative feminism, which apparently views women’s advancement in the workplace and politics to be the most important tenet of actual feminism. Basically, these conservative feminist leaders have decided that the advancement of women to the upper echelons of business — something they have already achieved — is what feminism should really be about… By opposing ideas like subsidized child care, access to birth control, and legal abortion, these women will actually make things worse for any homemaker not privileged by race and wealth.
4. You can buy your own airline seatbelt extender if you would rather not ask for one. Via the Fatcast podcast! Featuring Marianne Kirby and Leslie Kinzel!
5. And finally, from @TweetsOfOld, an excerpt from a Missouri newspaper in 1878:
A 13 months-old boy tips the scales at 100 pounds. The parents intend to exhibit him to the public.
As you do. Happy Thursday, everyone!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Feminism, Links, Old Timey, Politics, Weight Loss
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Wait, that newspaper excerpt’s from 1878?? But I thought there were no fat people in the United States prior to 1980! [/sarcasm]
i haven’t looked through most of these yet but I have one tiny cautionary tale regarding seat belt extenders…for a while there i was traveling constantly for work, so i “borrowed” an extender that I had asked for and just kept it and used it over and over. I was actually told by a flight attendant that I had to have the one she provided because it was on her plane and “approved” or something. I said “but you can buy these online to own, for yourself” and her response was “yes but it’s not an approved one from us”. So…….there’s a little bit of ridiculous for your morning. carry on.
Dude, we’ve had a social network for the plus sized for years. It’s called LiveJournal. *rimshot* (I kid because I love.)
I own my own seatbelt extender. I try to be discreet about hooking it up. But last fall, I had this flight assistant from JB tell me that I had to use theirs, as she waved it for all to see, and I was in row 2. Embarrassing. It was the only flight out of 4 on JB that I had to use theirs on. I wondered what was up with that. I try to be proactive about my own comfort. Just like I buy a 3rd seat when I travel with my 6 foot 4, 270 pound husband. He likes the extra room as much as I do!
Well, living in California, I am truly frightened by Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. And Sarah Palin & her minions have been giving me the heebie jeebies for 2 years.
These women need to APPEAR tough, so they will be harder on issues that are important to the true feminists than a lot of men will. Because they don’t want to be called “soft.” They are the type of women who will, and frequently have, thrown(n) the rest of us under a bus in order to advance their own agenda. This is NOT feminism. At. All.