Some Days, I Just Want To Give Some People Such A Pinch

[filkertom]

Because young girls don't have enough pressure to live up to society's standards.

Comments

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Haven't you read the ba-jillions of articles bemoaning how our generation of children is a generation of fatties? That makes them a "legitimate" target, y'know.

I think this is yet another one of those stupid books where an adult thinks he knows what kids' problems are, and writes a preachy book to "connect" with the type of kid that would have this problem, solvable in less than one hundred pages of "if you just..."

It's just a bad solution to a real problem, y'know?

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

WTF????

I wouldn't have a problem with a book promoting exercise and physical fitness and having a positive self-image. Unfortunately, this book seems to be, "Fat people are ugly, you'll never fit into the size 0 dress that the models wear unless you join the soccer team, you ugly..."

[stormgren.livejournal.com]

What the hell?

I'm all for healthy living, but Christ's chocolate chip cookies, that also includes not inducing anorexia, FFS.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

There are many things that go through my mind when I see something like this. Mostly I just wonder what drives a person to write a book like that. I get that we need kids to excercise more and to eat better but the whole health kick neen not be so vulgar.

Besides I think kids should be allowed to be kids for as long as they can. We need to stop forcing them to grow up so soon and to worry about things so much at a young age.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Actually, what I like about this whole thing is that a guy who's a writer protested this whole idea, and you, filkertom, are a guy who likewise objected to this metric ton of offal being pushed at girls.
Thank you.
I appreciate that very much.
And, speaking as a large woman who was once a large girl, I AGREE COMPLETELY WITH ALL THE OBJECTIONS TO THIS WHOLE STORY CONCEPT AND EXECUTION.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

If I had any image manipulation skills at all, I'd switch Maggie's mirror image with her real self, and re-title the book "Maggie Has Anorexia Nervosa."

As it is, I can only say, "EW!"

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

As a 200+ woman who can swim a mile in one setting, without breathing hard? I want to find this self-publisher (dude, you know you'll go blind doing that, right?) and let him know exactly what a lifetime of dieting, body-shame, and fat hatred does to girls' minds, self-esteem, body image and success in life.

Why do I have the feeling that the "author" is some guy whose own gut could overlap his belt buckle? Those men always seem to be the type who feel most entitled to judge women by their size.

[dysprog.livejournal.com]

I used to be the kind of guy you mention (Fat, judgmental of fat women). In my case, it came from a place of hating the most in others that which you "knew" was a flaw in yourself.

I got better after encountering a few fat positive blogs. Ironically, shortly after losing a bunch of weight.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

"Some Days, I Just Want To Give Some People Such A Pinch Punch"

Fixed that for you. (OK, OK, not really. How about a bunch of qualified volunteers just go sit on the *^#!head?)



Edited for HTML fail.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

What absolutely clinches it, for me, is the author's blurb:

"This book is about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star." (emphasis mine)

Yes, because (a) the art is of someone who's "extremely overweight", as in "my god, get this girl her own show on TLC"; and (b) the emphasis should be on being NORMAL. Not healthy, not confident, but normal. Be like everyone around you, little girl, because fitting in with others is by far the most important thing.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go send a check to NAAFA...

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

Another problem with the blurb: "Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image." [emphasis mine]

Having spent several years dieting, and twice lost a significant amount of weight (which then came back with interest, because that's what human bodies do but nobody bothered to tell me), positive self-image was not at all part of my experience. If I succeeded in losing weight, I lost some self-loathing, which felt an awful lot like self-confidence at the moment but was not exactly the unconditionally positive self-image the author describes. That came later when I made a conscious decision to accept my body as it was, not when I was actively trying to fight it.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

:) The first version was "Sometimes I just want to smack some people in the head with a wet fish." Oh, and, ICON LOVE! Can I swipe that?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

De nada, m'dear. [hugs]

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the "normal" thing really pisses me off. Everybody wants to be normal! Oh, so normal! So average and template and factory-spec and fuck you that's why nobody's DNA is the same.

People are all different, every one, and that should be celebrated by everyone every day.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Especially since it looks as if she already owns the dress, i.e., Mom bought it for her, then told her, "NOW FIT IN IT!"

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Sure! You might also want this one. Credit for both goes to sweety8587.

[lizziecrowe.livejournal.com]

Let me know when you find him, sister, because this 200+ pound For most of my life ass kicker scientist would like a few words with him, too.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Besides which, "normal" for one is "abnormal" for another. What's normal for me is to be attracted to a bright woman with some nice soft, lush curves. I recognize that it's perhaps not mainstream -- though more common than one might think -- but it's normal for me.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

Um, if a person lacks a positive self image, losing weight probably will not fix that. The 2 things are not related. Also, the statistics show that crash dieters who lose large amounts of weight but don't change in any other significant way have a strong tendency to gain it all back, plus a bit more, within 1-2 years. Does anyone else remember the TV movie, probably from the 70s, about the girl who loses a lot of weight and then wants nothing but revenge against all those who tormented her?

Right on, Tom!

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, she has my stepmother for a parent.

Nothing like having clothes that are 6 sizes too small around as a motivator for feeling bad about yourself.

I took a phone away from one of my students in class, and I noticed as her default screen it said, "Don't forget you're fat." That was enough to get the school counselor involved. We don't need books like this for kids; they do it to themselves. (That was a thirteen-year-old.)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Dunno if it's this one (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070112/), but much the same even if it's not.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's the exact same movie I was thinking of. Overweight psycho plus diet equals skinny psycho. All thin people are not happy and well-adjusted, and losing weight does not magically bestow self esteem on people who don't have it to begin with. Oh, and I think I'm signed on on my phone, but if this comes up anonymous, Lemming here.

[pandoradeloeste.livejournal.com]

YES. Thank you. If you start dieting out of self-loathing, the self-loathing doesn't go away; it just mutates from "I hate myself" to "I conditionally like myself as long as I don't become that again".

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Dammit, now I'll HAVE to finish "Millicent" (a kid's book I've been doodling for a while, about a fat and happy girl who rips up trees by the roots when new kids make the mistake of teasing her).

[jss]

Once I figured out that normal was just statistical artifact, I was a much happier person.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Childhood obesity is a real and major problem. This may be a poor response (and men have more health risks from obesity than women, so it would be better to put the emphasis on boys and men first), but we need to do something. Unfortunately, that something would be bad for agribusiness. I think we're doomed.

[sveethot.livejournal.com]

Want. Your. Hat. That is all.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Some days, I just want to take my girls and hide. I hate knowing what society is trying to do to them. We fight it, of course, but it's just disgusting.

I do take a little comfort in the fact that this wad of ick is self-published.

[his-spiffyness.livejournal.com]

Anyone read the Amazon tags (http://www.amazon.com/Maggie-Goes-Diet-Paul-Kramer/dp/tags-on-product/0981974554/ref=tag_top_yt_edpp?page=1&sortBy=popularity) for this book? It's nice to think there is at least some hope, and funny at the same time.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely horrible.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Especially since they use terms like "average" and "median". I don't have any average friends; neither do I have friends who divide highways.

[kayshapero]

But what did the poor trees do to her? :) Or does she simply replant them after the idiots shit a brick and run screaming?

[kayshapero]

Thing is, it's not usually based on health risk for women, it's image and "woman as commodity". You're not as good a product if you don't look and act the "right" way. This ties it in with all sorts of really nasty stuff. Not but what boys catch hell for overweight too.

[ascend soapbox]
But what we do need is an intelligent approach to physical education. Not just cheering on the natural athletes, and relegating the others to boring calisthenics and getting yelled at a lot for being lesser mortals, nor yet the current practice which seems to be basically ignoring the whole thing (possibly because the folks who grew up under the former style are now in charge of the school budget and figures it's a frill and skippable.) It should take up two hours, including suiting up, warmup, cooldown, and showering/changing etc., thus leaving enough time once you've finished warmup to DO SOMETHING, and all kids should be allowed to participate preferably in a sport which hasn't had all the fun processed out of it for the non-natural athlete. It's not that hard - I recall some courses that were a great deal of fun in highschool, even though I was never top of the class or even close. [descend soapbox].

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

I agree entirely.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Oh, does somebody ever need to do this. And then post the result as an Amazon review for the book.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I added one of my own: "hope he doesn't have a daughter".