"You don't get fat by accident. Eating so much requires Olympic-class stamina and athleticism"

And here's where I stopped reading. Honestly if one can't even wrap their mind around the fact that every fat person doesn't spend hours a day shoveling fatty foods into their mouths, I'm not very interested in the rest of their thoughts on the matter. Honestly, if getting fat was that easy, getting thin would be too.

"An 8-year-old Yemeni girl takes her father to court for forcing her to marry a 30-year-old man."

Thanks for the link to this one. Shame on whoever changed the law to let parents waive the minimum marriage age, and kudos to Sana’a West Court for taking Nojoud Muhammed Nasser seriously!

I wish that this blog would stop equating the terms "conservative", "right", "Republican" and "antifeminist". Do all feminists need to be "liberal"? No. Are all antifeminists "conservative"? No. Are all "conservatives" against legal abortion? No.

We shouldn't ask people to fit into these little boxes.

If we don't want "man" and "woman" to be two mutually exclusive and all-encompassing terms that define a person... "conservative" and "liberal" shouldn't be, either. People's political views are more complex than that.

Telling someone that they can't be considered feminist because they, say, disapprove of corporate subsidies, or because they see a need for restrictions on immigration, is destructive and makes no sense.

It is also nonsensical to assume that someone is a feminist because they are a Democrat. Equally so to assume that a person is a feminist simply because they support legalized abortion.

Really? This is all that went down this week? Nothing about Seal Press and WOC Bloggers or the firestorm over the loss of BFP?

Guess it would make bad business sense to call out the hand that feeds some of you.

Hmmm.

The solidarity of silence from the Big Feminist Bloggers: It's like so much white noise.

I couldn't finish that screed against fat people in the guardian, I was gagging so much.

How is it ok for anyone to judge anyone else on how they look? Every time I read something like that, I get whiffs of a very disturbing ideal, a pseudo-fascist "we should all strive to the Aryan Superman"-ideal. It truly is disgusting.

"Really? This is all that went down this week?"

Of course not. The fact that a blog can't cover *everything* on its topic of interest definitely doesn't mean that it shouldn't say *something*.

frijolera - I've noticed too; the silence is deafening. I was hoping that Feministing would at least mention something in the weekly reader, but nope. Another whitewash.

"frijolera - I've noticed too; the silence is deafening."

The silence would be even more deafening if nobody dared mention something without mentioning everything else important.

I bet that even if this blog post *did* mention Seal Press, someone out there would call it first-world privilege and condemn Feministing for not mentioning the news about Zawadi Mongane and discussing how to get peope such as her husband to be humane to rape victims: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7340074.stm

katita- I agree that it is probably not a good thing that feminism is often reduced into just another plank on the liberal platform, instead of something that can exist on its own independent of unrelated issues.

Why are "good" feminists expected to also be against the death penalty, for instance? Don't get me wrong, I'm opposed to it myself, but it's not really related to feminist issues, and I can't see why someone who happens to favor capital punishment can't also be as much of a feminist as Ann.

PLEASE dear feministing ladies, cover the guardian article more closely! such an extreme hatred shouldnt be left uncommented.

It may not be that consequential in the long run; but when one of the feminist blogosphere head honchos is accused of plagiarism, racism and general asshatery, I'd expect the big fem blogs to at least mention something.

It's almost like they're too ashamed to bother. Hmm.

An Australian woman's husband raped her and left her in a burning bedroom, and she told the county court, "I was a real bitch and I know that. It took something as bad as what happened to snap me out of being what I was."

"what happened"--as though it was an act of God or something. Is there any chance that this is a symptom of PTSD-related Stockholm syndrome?

"It may not be that consequential in the long run; but when one of the feminist blogosphere head honchos"

The feminist blogosphere has head honchos?

I'd consider the folks at Pandagon and here to be head honchos, yes.

EG -

No. It's Stockholm Syndrome, pure and simple. A woman trapped in an abusive relationship.

More details. The man plead guilty to a raft of crimes: rape, arson, battery etc. Raping your wife is a crime now. Setting her on fire, of course, always was. The woman (his wife) was testifying on his behalf at his sentencing.

It's a terrible situation. I think in interesting feminist question here is to examine what happens to the woman now. Does she get counseling? Do her attitudes change once hubby's in the clink?

That GQ article about Russian brides made me sick. I spent my childhood in an ex-Soviet country during the depression. It was not pretty and these people were basically lamenting the fact that the old Soviet countries are getting back on their feet, because now there are less impoverished women to exploit and treat as objects. And seriously, what is this stupid misconception of eastern-european women as submissive and "better brides"?

"I'd consider the folks at Pandagon and here to be head honchos, yes."

How can they be heads of the feminist blogosphere instead of just their own blogs? Wouldn't they have to be admins on the other blogs too, or sysadmins in Blogger/Blogspot, LiveJournal, WordPress, etc., in order to do that?

I'm not saying that they're sinister puppet overlords, no.

They're the ones that get the most traffic. They're the ones with bloggers that have recently gotten book deals.

They're probably the most influential and popular fem blogs out there.

In short, head honchos.

Genetic,
She's baiting you. Don't engage.

I'm in favor of the death penalty in principle, but never for rape. Punishing rape with death, or indeed, as severely as murder, whatever that penalty is, creates a perverse incentive for rapists to kill their victims, since it won't make them any worse off if they do get convicted, but having one less eye-witness makes that less likely to happen in the first place.

Genetic,
She's baiting you. Don't engage.

This blog has repeatedly been critiqued for its failure to address the concerns of WOC and its failure to frame things within an intersectional framework.

These latest incidents were not minor ones. They have been covered EXTENSIVELY over dozens and dozens of blogs. Even Salon has had something to say about the Seal Press debacle.

The events of the past week provided an opportunity for this site to step up and address the marginalization of WOC voices in the blogosphere, the systemic appropriation of WOC thought, and the derth of WOC-penned texts. And yet...

nothing.

Silence.

It makes me wonder why

Plus "head honchos" is inherently sexist (note the -os masculine ending).

On the issue of whether feminists have to be liberal or not, I would say that they (we) do. Feminism is a philosophy of equality and equity. Modern conservatism is anything but. You cannot support an imperial foreign policy and say you support equity, you cannot support unregulated capitalism and say you support equality, and you cannot support a concentration of power in one person and say you support either. Feminism is the logical conclusion of liberalism, and a despotic, patriarchal caste system is the logical conclusion of conservatism.

Capital punishment is a somewhat different matter since it is theoretically possible for it to be equal and equitable, though the way it's implemented in this country (with African-Americans being many times more likely to be put to death than whites, among other problems) requires not just feminists, but any person who cares about justice to oppose it.

I read about the Amanda/bfp stuff, but what happened with Seal Press?

Given that they're Jessica's publisher, though, it could well be professional suicide for feministing to slam Seal Press, and I don't know anyone making a living by writing freelance who would willingly take that risk. Just the reality of being a working writer. Nothing to stop anybody in the comments from giving me a link to what's going on, though.

"Genetic,
She's baiting you. Don't engage."

I was just wondering how anyone could be "head honchos of the feminist blogosphere."

In general, blogs are a useful format but "the blogosphere" and "the [insert name of category] blogosphere" sure seem overrated. I mean, "blog" just means a website that displays postings of content in chronological and usually has links to comments on specific postings. Why the big deals about groups of these things with related themes yet run by different people? o_O I mean, I haven't seen anywhere near as much hype about groups of web bulletin-board forums with related themes yet run by different people...

Um, no. Feminism is a philosophy of equality between the sexes, not all people in general. You can, for instance, be feminist and racist without contradicting yourself. Many pioneering feminists were.

Never mind. I found the links myself. I should have checked better before I posted. Sorry.

Wow. That's dumb of them.

"You can, for instance, be feminist and racist without contradicting yourself."

Word. You really said a mouthful there.

You can, for instance, be feminist and racist without contradicting yourself. Many pioneering feminists were.

Many pioneering feminists contradicted themselves. That doesn't mean that a philosophy of feminism and a philosophy of racism are compatible. It means that most people are self-contradictory and inconsistent; we contain multitudes.

I thought this was awesome news. Makes me smile.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7344383.stm

"An 8-year-old Yemeni girl takes her father to court for forcing her to marry a 30-year-old man."

Wow. A divorce at age 8? Children should'nt even have to know what a divorce is, let alone become involved in one personally. Though it's great that the court stepped in to go after the husband and father, this should've never happened in the first place. Without support of her family, it's amazing to see that Nojoud had the courage to say something.

Wouldn't the parents realize that something was wrong if a 30 year old man was willing to marry an eight year old CHILD? I understand that it's a different culture, but they just had to know that something was suspicious.

The article said that this wasn't the first time that something like this had happened in Yemen, so why don't they put a stop to it? They say that a girl can't be intimate with her husband until she is "ready or mature", so why get married when she is neither ready or mature?

"This blog has repeatedly been critiqued for its failure to address the concerns of WOC and its failure to frame things within an intersectional framework."

No one can win in this. :/

For a very abbreviated example:

Cover fatphobia at The Guardian and risk criticism for not covering Seal Press enough. Cover Seal Press more and risk criticism for not covering rape in DR Congo enough. Cover rape in DR Congo more and risk criticism for not covering domestic violence in Palestine enough. Cover domestic violence in Palestine more and risk criticism for not covering Israeli violence in Palestine enough. Cover Israeli violence in Palestine more and risk criticism for not covering fatphobia at The Guardian enough.

(IRL such a chain of risks of criticism could include many many many more topics)

As for the waxing article, this part was especially interesting:

"...But while it’s easy to vilify women who push prepubescent waxing on their children, things get a little fuzzier when it comes to, say, a nail-painting party, or spa facials designed for young, acne-prone skin (especially when you consider that girls are hitting puberty earlier than previous generations did)."

Or arm waxing, if the girl's arm hair is closer to her male classmates' arm hair than to her female classmates' arm hair?

"No mom wants her unibrowed nine-year-old getting teased at school, or a 13-year-old suffering the angst of bad acne when a solution is at hand..."

Actually, I bet some moms out there might just call the kid a sheep for feeling hurt by the teasing and/or tell her to just want better grades instead of wanting to be tolerated at school.

"Helping out your kid whose cosmetic/semi-medical problem is causing low self-esteem is respectable, as is spending time with her in ways other than loading up the shopping cart with mini-me Juicy. But somewhere along the line — well, the line gets crossed."

Exactly.

Frijolera:"The events of the past week provided an opportunity for this site to step up and address the marginalization of WOC voices in the blogosphere, the systemic appropriation of WOC thought, and the derth of WOC-penned texts. And yet...

nothing.

Silence.

It makes me wonder why"

Me, too.

I also kind of expected something in the weekly wrap up that mentioned what is going on with BFP and the issues that WOC face in academics and in the blogosphere. But at the same time, I think a weekly wrap up that gives a sentence or two explanation would not suffice for this huge issue and the comments that it would attract.

I hope the reason it wasn't discussed above is that Feministing is planning an entire post to the issue. It deserves more nuance and thought than a sentence or two summary could provide.

But I will be very disappointed if Feministing continued to stay silent on this issue.

Just a quick note that there's nothing in this post on the BFP/Amanda dustup because we're working on a post from all of us, which takes a bit more time.

Wow, most of the links are brilliant. I'm really anticipating a post on the BFP/Amanda blowup. Because the whole situation is well, shitty.

About the kids getting waxes: yeah, it's creepy most of the time. However, when I was a little older than that (think 10-12 years old), I had bushy eyebrows, and kind of a unibrow, and seeing as I was already an awkward kid, I was teased mercilessly for it. Which is definitely crappy in the first place, don't get me wrong. But waxing is hardly permanent, and not very dangerous, so in situations like mine, I think it might be okay. That being said, it still creeps me out when little girls get the whole nine yards beauty treatment done.

Ha, the district where the little kids were cross-dressing is the one where I'll be working next year (not at that school, though). After my interview for the job, I waited in line for food at the local Subway and listened to three angry hicks bitch about how there was no Walmart in the town because the guvmint is trying to keep them poor.

The school where I'm working right now was going to have a cross-dressing day as part of the pre-prom build-up, but the administration put the kibosh on it pretty quick, saying that that kind of thing goes against the school dress code and is 'diruptive'. Mind you, I think interrupting class for announcements 3 times in two days and sending flyers home to parents is a bit more disruptive, but what can you do. I also really enjoyed that the whole business was couched in the excuse of "we don't want LGBT kids to get their feelings hurt!" Nice try, but I actually have an openly gay student who said to me, "They're telling me my lifestyle is disruptive! What the hell?" :[

"Wouldn't the parents realize that something was wrong if a 30 year old man was willing to marry an eight year old CHILD? I understand that it's a different culture, but they just had to know that something was suspicious."

OTOH, we don't know how old her parents were during *their* wedding...

I totally understand and support wanting to fine tune any posting about appropriation of the work of WOC. Even so, I'm kind of glad it wasn't in the round up.

It's a catch .22. Intellectual honesty, appropriation and white privilege are definitely feminist issues and need more coverage. Considering it's currently all over the feminist and WOC blogospheres, silence looks conspicuous.

However, I've seen it covered on half a dozen blogs and most discussions turn into gossip and flame wars. I felt like I was reading LiveJournal. I think it hurts the legitimacy of feminist blogs to get mired in what looks like middle school drama bullshit. Being angry, aggressive, defensive, and taking things personally are all perfectly understandable responses to the situation. Yet as activists, we need to look at a greater context.

The real kicker is there there are important issues that need to be addressed, and they keep getting buried. To do that, the discussion needs to be handled carefully. Good luck ladies!

Watching the conflict in other has been driving me nuts for the past couple of days. I'm half tempted not to post this, but I've been writing comments and deleting them to avoid potential conflict way too much lately, and I'm trying to break that habit.

Just for the record. I'm a brown woman and an immigrant from a Muslim country and Feministing does a great job covering issues that are important to me.

Y'know, being a Heroes fan, previously I had been kind of on the fence with the Hayden bandwagon, but I think that I've now hopped off that fence. While I'm sure that it's more a case of being ignorant of the true ramifications of sexual harassment than willful sexism, she still should have considered that before appearing in that video.

Wouldn't the parents realize that something was wrong if a 30 year old man was willing to marry an eight year old CHILD? I understand that it's a different culture, but they just had to know that something was suspicious.

Oh, I'm sure they knew. This type of arrangement really isn't a common occurrence in the culture - that's why the court took up her case so willingly, and why they don't plan to return her to her family. Most people who read the article about that poor Australian woman would be rightfully horrified and concerned about her apparent Stockholm Syndrome, but there's going to be some jerks who will say that she did deserve it, and there was a piece of shit horrible enough to actually do it. It's the same principle.

The question is determining why they did it, and how to predict which other families might do it and how to protect their daughters. I was interested by the mentions of her father's supposed "mental illness," because while I know that MY father would have to legitimately lose his mind to even have contemplate such a thing now, much less when I was eight, I also know that my mother, aunt, and every other person in my family would do everything to prevent it from happening. It's possible that the two of them couldn't act because they're also in abusive situations, but where was this uncle back then?

Rather than being overly critical about what the post doesn't cover, you could simply include the links for what was missed in the comments.

I totally understand and support wanting to fine tune any posting about appropriation of the work of WOC. Even so, I'm kind of glad it wasn't in the round up.

It's a catch .22. Intellectual honesty, appropriation and white privilege are definitely feminist issues and need more coverage. Considering it's currently all over the feminist and WOC blogospheres, silence looks conspicuous.

However, I've seen it covered on half a dozen blogs and most discussions turn into gossip and flame wars. I felt like I was reading LiveJournal. I think it hurts the legitimacy of feminist blogs to get mired in what looks like middle school drama bullshit. Being angry, aggressive, defensive, and taking things personally are all perfectly understandable responses to the situation. Yet as activists, we need to look at a greater context.

The real kicker is there there are important issues that need to be addressed, and they keep getting buried. To do that, the discussion needs to be handled carefully. Good luck ladies!

Watching the conflict in other has been driving me nuts for the past couple of days. I'm half tempted not to post this, but I've been writing comments and deleting them to avoid potential conflict way too much lately, and I'm trying to break that habit.

Posted by: Roni [TypeKey Profile Page] | April 13, 2008 10:42 PM

Seconded. The drama has been unbelievable and overblown.

Very much looking forward to a collective response. Head Honcha Ann, thank you for the link; I do appreciate it.

Some good news, perhaps?

THE woman chosen to become Australia's first female governor-general — ending a 107-year male stranglehold on the vice-regal post — hopes her rise from humble origins in a little bush town will serve as an inspiration for other women and girls.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/bryce-a-pioneering-spirit/2008/04/13/1208024989606.html

I don't understand this concept of "the marginalization of WOC voices in the blogosphere." How can anyone be marginalized in the blogosphere, besides those without internet access? Anyone is free to start a blog, and anyone is free to read a blog. It's the single most democratic form of media the world has ever seen. How can anyone be marginalized?

I may be missing something, but this whole Seal Press scandal just seems to be a tempest in a teapot. I read the Salon article, trying the whole time to figure out why I was reading reportage about a flame war. As far as I can understand the publisher of Seal Press made an inelegantly phrased, foolishly defensive but ultimately innocuous comment, which was then analyzed and reinterpreted to the point where people were acting like she had begun ranting and frothing at the mouth. This sort of thing happens constantly on the internet -- someone says something somewhat stupid, someone else takes it as a personal attack, and bing bam boom: flame war.

I'm not trying to restart any fights here -- I just don't understand why anyone should be covering this. Can someone explain it?

the strength and resilience of that eight year old yemeni girl is so amazing to me. it is horrifying that she had to go through all of that shit at such a young age but she is clearly a very strong girl who i hope will be taken care of so she can finally enjoy her childhood.

as far as the waxing article goes...im pakistani and therefore, very hair and when i was young i begged my mom to let me wax my arms. she let me (after years of pleading) when i was in sixth grade. i never do it now. i realize that the hair is very specifically part of who i am and my culture...i wouldn't devalue that for anything.

I think Ruth Fowler is blogger "Mimi in New York". A few months ago she did a post about how she was now a feminist, then slagged off another blogger (Girl with a One Track Mind) who has been considerably more successful than her, for being "unattractive". She has a lot to learn...

What does "women of size" mean?

"Plus "head honchos" is inherently sexist (note the -os masculine ending)."

Is this a joke?
The word "honcho" is actually a loan word from Japanese, a language that doesn't even have grammatical genders.

"This blog has repeatedly been critiqued for its failure to address the concerns of WOC and its failure to frame things within an intersectional framework."

Doesn't that patronise the WOC who blog here?

Bowleserised: That may be a valid critique; I'm not really sure. I certainly see a lot of posts about issues pertaining to non-white women, but it's possible that there's a skew. But I sort of think that criticizing a blog for failing to address something misses the point of the blogosphere, where all voices are equal. If Feministing is failing to address your issues, start your own blog -- the other readers who agree with you will flock there.

Of course, it's totally valid to critique Feministing's handling of WOC issues. But I don't think it's best addressed by coverage of a go-nowhere flame war.

You are woefully naive if you think all voices are equal in the blogosphere.

I cannot get over the courage of the little Yemeni girl. Eight years old, repeatedly raped and brutalized, yet she went to a court, all by herself, and asked for a divorce. A court in a very conservative Islamic country. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the last we've heard from Nojoud Muhammed Nasser. I hope she gets an education and remembers what she did as such a young child--she could be a voice for Yemeni and Islamic women. Even now, at eight, she can teach all of us a thing or two about standing up for ourselves.

Ruth Fowler (author of the Guardian article) has not yet made an intelligent point on any of her Guardian articles and they are mainly filled with a "look how controversial I am!" vibe.

She is usually roundly ridiculed.

Check out her article on feminism, if you can stand it...

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ruth_fowler/2008/03/the_antichrist_for_feminists.html

"This type of arrangement really isn't a common occurrence in the culture - that's why the court took up her case so willingly, and why they don't plan to return her to her family."

Either that or it's a common occurence in a subculture the family's in and not in the wider culture the court and its judges are in? I don't know enough about the jurisdiction of the Sana’a West Court to say which.

It's worth noting that the Comment is Free section in the Guardian is (I think I'm right in saying) largely on-line only, and very poorly paid. It's all about getting page views.

I watched the fake public service announcement with Hayden Pantierre and Jude Aptow and fail to understand how it is funny. Even if I didn't understand how horrible it is to mock victims of sexual harassment, I still would not think it is funny. Of course I would think nothing more of Jude Aptow, who mocked other serious problems in Knocked Up and Superbad.

I like how the article in Philly magazine blames the mothers for their daughters getting waxes. There is absolutely no mention whatsoever in that article blaming the media for only considering airbrushed, blond, hairless, perfect women to be beautiful.

The Nation article - Who really fucking cares why fat people are fat? I don't understand why people take such a stance on something that is really none of their business since it is not their body. And that ageist comment was really nice too. I wonder how ruth will feel in about 25 when her skin starts to sag.

I watched the fake public service announcement with Hayden Pantierre and Jude Aptow and fail to understand how it is funny. Even if I didn't understand how horrible it is to mock victims of sexual harassment, I still would not think it is funny. Of course I would think nothing more of Jude Aptow, who mocked other serious problems in Knocked Up and Superbad.

I like how the article in Philly magazine blames the mothers for their daughters getting waxes. There is absolutely no mention whatsoever in that article blaming the media for only considering airbrushed, blond, hairless, perfect women to be beautiful.

"Rather than being overly critical about what the post doesn't cover, you could simply include the links for what was missed in the comments."

THANK YOU, Crystal! IAWTC

and on the kid's "drag" (although I don't see the point in calling it that):
"It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values."

Maybe I'm just ignorant of biblical studies, but is dress actually addressed in the bible? If it is, I HIGHLY doubt it is "the heart and core of Biblical values". Seriously guys? Get the hell over yourselves.

I wish the school HAD meant to promote transgenderism.

Maybe I'm just ignorant of biblical studies, but is dress actually addressed in the bible? If it is, I HIGHLY doubt it is "the heart and core of Biblical values". Seriously guys? Get the hell over yourselves.

It is actually addressed in the Bible, and is considered a fairly serious crime, but like much of the 'strict laws' in the Old Testament, few people take it very seriously anymore. Christians eat shrimp and wear mixed material all the time, right?

Also, it's really awesome seeing Hassidic Jews dressed in drag on Purim.

Philadelphia magazine on 8-year-olds getting waxes.
What does an 8 year old have to wax, anyway?

More seriously, the contrast between privileged white 8 year olds getting waxes and that poor 8 year old in Yemen whose parents sold her to a child molester is making me cry.

And Sara wonders, "Why aren't [tampons] provided for free in public restrooms, like toilet paper?"
I just wish that they had garbage cans in the bathrooms at my office, so that I don't have the juggle the used item, the new one, etc.

The hate filled article that the Guardian published is rediculous! I read some of the comments on there and I liked that people stood up to the fact that people who are "overweight," have battled other issues in life such as a tough family life, a death of a parent/child/loved one or faced other traumas. I also could not finish reading and declined to comment on it. I know many beautiful "overweight," (quotations because I don't believe so) people and they happen to be my family or relatives. My cousin was about to model for Lane Bryant years ago. She is a beautiful Native American and African American mix! So gorgeous!!! =)

Yah for that Detroit woman! Detroit always turns out amazing people in this world despite the negative image that is portrayed of the Motor City.

Ugh. I hope public restrooms never offer free tampons or pads. Think of the horrible quality of the toilet paper in those things. I've been tempted to carry around my own roll of toilet paper to avoid using that scratchy, painful garbage.

The anti-fat article (and other that have been posted about here recently) really get to me, mainly because I myself am overweight...despite the fact that I walk the dog every day, eat healthy (relatively speaking...more fruits and veggies than meat or carbs, fruit as a snack as opposed to raiding the vending machine, no sodas, drink water and milk mostly) and don't spend my day shoveling refined processed carbs into my mouth. I have trained for and run a marathon (and the whole time I doubt my BMI dropped below 30), have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, etc. I just blame it on bad genetics...I inherited my dad's slow metabolism. Then my super lean brother (who got mom's high metabolism, lucky bastard) was already showing blood pressure and cholesterol problems before being out of college. So which one of us is healthier? I'm the one more likely to be judged as fat and lazy, unhealthy, and all that. It's an old cliche, but you can't judge a book by it's cover!!!

The Guardian article, as many have pointed out, is full-on crap. Besides the obviously puke-inducing bullshit about being fat --saying that not only is unhealthy blah blah, but implying multiple times that it's actually impossible to be cool AND fat at the same time -- she also manages to be ageist, bigotted against red-heads, those with acne, and makes clear her disgust for those with eating disorders. What a sorry state -- the author of that piece must hate herself so, so much.

A school in rural Saskatchewan (quite conservative) where my husband taught had a x-dressing day. It was fun. Nothing more. I don't know why people get so uptight about this sort of thing. FTR, my husband, a high school science teacher, went dressed in one of my dresses (+makeup and curled up hair). He said, "It was kind of hard to get respect while wearing a dress". I said, "Welcome to womanhood".

The Gaurdian Article:
First, someone who openly admits to being discriminatory and hateful in the first sentence of her article should never be allowed to be a journalist or be published. Way to further prove your ignorance: discrimination based on age is ageism not oldism just as racism is not blackism or hispanicism (etc.) and therefore you would be a weightist not a fattist.

Next, the discussion of obesity always bothers me for exactly this reason: rather than adressing those whose wieght is ACTUALLY threatening to their health and giving those people legitamate medical asvice- anyone who does not fit societies mold is shamed, and insulted. The Miss England Finalist? I clicked on her link since i hadn't heard of her. And was shocked to see that this so called "fat, lazy... poster girl for ill-health" looked alot like me. I am not unhealthy, she is not unhealthy. Actually I fit the author's requirements for healthy living.

She even discusses how she is against acomidating those of different sizes in ambulance equipment. She said that they should have to change- literally loose weight or DIE.

And finally lets get down to it- she never ONCE mentioned a male example of fat, never used a male pronoun. This isn't about her being disgusted with unhealthy living at all. This is about her dislike of women who defy societal standards of beauty, women who can openly love their bodies, and therefore- her (and society's) need to value women only for their looks and the need to otrasize them if they don't meet ridiculous requirements.

Others have addressed the myth that fat=unhealthy and thin=healthy far more eloquently than I could, so I won't rehash it. But one of the many points I think the anti-fat fanatics miss is the impact of class on unhealthy living. A lot of food that is terrible for you is cheap and fast, whereas a lot of healthy food is more expensive and takes time to prepare -- a fruit bar costs more than a chocolate bar. Also, a shocking number of people don't have any knowledge of basic food preparation.

So the minimum-wage slave gets a 15-30 minutes to dash out and wolf down some food, and is exhausted by the time she gets home. Whereas higher-wage-earners have the time and energy to find good food, prepare it (or pay someone else to), and then go to the gym later.

I forgot in the Guardian article that she mentioned something about redheads. Was it anti-redhead???? I refuse to go through the article again. But fuck that! I love being a redhead and we rock!

Y'all, there's a big difference between not covering, say, an article about a particular rape case, and not covering an issue happening currently in our very own blogosphere. The first is one example of sexism among many, too many to cover, though all are important. Of course it's ok to pick and choose. The second is an issue of white feminists - not crazy antifeminists, but *people like us* - being unfair *within the feminist movement*. If you don't believe in the feminist blogosphere, maybe you can at least believe that we're part of the feminist movement together and that the voices of Feministing and Pandagon are louder than the voices of most other people who contribute to the feminist movement by blogging. Since this is an issue ABOUT US, calling into question whether or not white feminist bloggers (know any of those?) are racist and/or pay enough attention to women of color, it sends a clear message to not cover it here. (As I'm writing, it has already been covered, thus my problem is with some people on this thread and not Feministing itself, late though they were). Since it's not the fact that we don't know, but the fact that Feministing had not yet admitted that sometimes white feminists are racist and pledged not to overlook women of color, a commenter providing the links would not have rectified the problem.

Ah, I read the middle of the comments (I have a bad habit of reading just the beginning and end and then catching up *after* I comment) and saw Ann's note. So I retract the "late though they were."

joshua, the problem with Seal Press's response was that it showed some white privilege. I do understand Feministing not wanting to touch that, as long as they bring up the larger issue, but I also think it was evidence of a real problem rather than just a stupid comment that caused a flame war. To me, the problem is in the entitled assumption that white people don't have to work to include women of color, WOC have to come to us. A commenter at Feministe also found it entitled that they tried to start a discussion on someone's blog after the blogger has said f- them. Personally I think that has more to do with wanting to defend yourself than with being so privileged that you think you're always welcome to chat. But anyway, that's a point of view.

"as far as the waxing article goes...im pakistani and therefore, very hair and when i was young i begged my mom to let me wax my arms. she let me (after years of pleading) when i was in sixth grade."

Maybe I can sort of relate. I wish my mom had recommended shaving at first instead of just recommending bleach, telling me the Italian and Jewish girls were hairy too (they sure didn't show it in class), and telling me I was just white (leaving me even more confused about whether the bullying that ensued was sexism or racism or what) when I was 10.

Trying to fit in with other girls instead of getting bullied and having kids ask if I "should have been born a boy" was really difficult even after I started shaving, since kids remembered my blonde beard and moustache from before and since my breasts never grew bigger than AA cup (while the rest of my body filled out too much for me to "get away" with having almost no breasts).

"i realize that the hair is very specifically part of who i am and my culture...i wouldn't devalue that for anything."

Cool! Thank you for saying this! Honestly, before I read your post, I didn't know of any cultures that accepted being a hairy woman.

As for me, it's part of me and my ancestry but from what Mom said it's not part of her Iranian culture (part of our genotypes, part of our phenotypes, not part of the beauty-standard stereotypes there that say women shouldn't show body hair).

"If you don't believe in the feminist blogosphere,"

Nitpick: shouldn't that be the feminist blogospheres, plural?

Or did I miss Anglophone feminist blogs and other feminist blogs crosslinking enough to form one blogophere together instead of separately being an English-languge feminist blogosphere, a Spanish-language feminist blogosphere, etc. (there is so much more out there than what I could read even if I did have time!)?

Neither would surprise me.

I would like to boycott any salon that waxes eight year olds, I wonder how common this practice on young girls is, hot wax and ripping off hair seems an abusive thing to do to a child.

"What does "women of size" mean?"

Exactly what it sounds like. Larger-framed women. Personally, as a "woman of size," I don't like that term. It makes it sound like some sort of disability to me, and I'd rather just acknowledge my weight as what it is: a purely physical description. I'm fat.

That's not self-deprecation. It's a physical description. Fat isn't bad, it's just fat.

That said, I understand our need for a term like "woman of size." We are a group that is frequently and openly targeted for discrimination and humiliation, and we need an all-encompassing name to band together and fight it. And I suppose whoever thought of it felt it needed to be a euphemism, something that won't frighten people and doesn't have a stigma around it.

And society is harder on large women than it is on large men. I'm not saying life is a cakewalk for a big guy, but it's not nearly as bad as it is for a big woman.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/fat-bias-worse-for-women/

(I don't know how to make a text link, HTML doesn't seem to work for me here...sorry)

I just found this article by Lucy Williamson, BBC News, Jakarta. Before, I knew about migrant workers being abused, but not about this method of abuse:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7347861.stm

"...It is the first time Indonesia has tried anyone on a charge of sending migrant workers to Iraq unwittingly.

"But Nur Harsono, from the organisation Migrant Care in Jakarta, sayshe has regularly presented the police with dossiers of similar cases and that there needs to be a change of attitude among officials here.

"The problem, he says, is that migrant workers are often leased out to other agencies in different parts of the world, and obtain visas to third countries while out of Indonesia..."

"An 8-year-old Yemeni girl takes her father to court for forcing her to marry a 30-year-old man."

That girl has so much courage to go into a court and plead her case. I don't even know if i really knew what court was when i was eight. She even said that she didn't know what marriage really was . . ugh so disgusting. I'm glad they are actually taking some action to help her, but they need to do more than that. They need to work on fixing the laws that allowed that to happen.

"'An 8-year-old Yemeni girl takes her father to court for forcing her to marry a 30-year-old man.'

"That girl has so much courage to go into a court and plead her case. I don't even know if i really knew what court was when i was eight."

I knew what court was when I was 8...and I knew I couldn't go to a court unless I called 911 or Mom or Dad gave me a ride.

The fact that she was able to go to court by herself isn't to be taken for granted. Whether she lived within walking distance of more than just other homes or was able to take mass transit to court, kudos to the people who built her community in a way that made it possible!

Update!

"Yemeni child bride gets divorce" by Rachid Sekkai,
BBC Arabic.com, available in English at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7351336.stm

"...The girl, Nojoud Mohammed Ali, took a taxi to a judge’s office on her own, after running away from her husband...

"...Nojoud told the court she had signed the marriage contract two-and-a-half months ago on the understanding she would stay in her parents' house until she was 18.

"'But a week after signing, my mother and father forced me to go and live with him.'...

"...Her father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal told the court he felt obliged to marry off his daughter after receiving repeated threats from the would-be husband and his entourage.

"He said was frightened because his oldest daughter had been kidnapped several years earlier and had been forced to marry her abductor...

"...Shatha Nasser says the judge annulled the marriage instead of granting a divorce, to stop the husband trying to reinstate the wedlock.

"'We are grateful to the judge' she explains. "Had it been someone with strong traditional views, Nojoud could have been sent back home.'...

"...'Nojoud is living happily with me [her maternal uncle, Shu'ee Salem Attabi'ee] and my eight other children. She is looking forward to going back to primary school as soon as possible.'"

more news, from someone at the BBC in "Soyuz spacecraft lands off-target," 19 April 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7355912.stm

"A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has returned to Earth, but came down more than 400km (250 miles) away from its planned touchdown point, say Russian officials.

"On board are Yi So-yeon, South Korea's first astronaut, Yuri Malenchenko from Russia and American Peggy Whitson...

"...Ms Whitson now holds the record for the cumulative length of time spent in space by an American at 377 days, the US space agency Nasa said earlier."

I'd mentioned Yi before at http://feministing.com/archives/008757.html#comment-138464 , but now that they landed safely and Whitson set a new record...

BTW, I just saw an article about another girl escaping rape and marriage in Yemen.

From "Child bride gets divorced after rape, beatings" by Paula Newton, July 16, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/15/yemen.childbride/index.html :

"SANAA, Yemen (CNN) -- Nujood Ali is 10 years old, but she already has been married and divorced. It was an arranged marriage in which she said a husband three times her age routinely beat and raped her...

"...Her parents said they thought they were putting her in the care of her husband's family, but Nujood said he would often beat her into submission.

"Nujood then turned to her family for mercy.

"'When I heard, my heart burned for her; he wasn't supposed to sleep with her,' said Nujood's mother, who asked not to be identified.

"But, initially, she also told her daughter she could not help her -- that she belonged to her husband now.

"Nujood's father, Ali Mohammed Ahdal, said he is angry about what happened to his daughter. 'He was a criminal, a criminal. He did hateful things to her,' he said. 'He didn't keep his promise to me that he wouldn't go near her until she was 20.'...

"...In Yemen, there is nothing new or extraordinary about Nujood's story because children have been married off for generations. The country's legal minimum age for marriage was 15 till a decade ago, when the law was changed to allow for children even younger to be wed.

"But what is most unusual is that this young girl took such an intensely private dispute and went public with it.

"Nujood said she made up her mind to escape from her husband, describing how on a visit to her parents' home she broke free and traveled to the central courthouse across town and demanded to speak to a judge.

"'He asked me, 'What do you want?' And I said, 'I want a divorce.' And he said, 'You're married?' And I said, 'Yes,'' she recalled.

"What unfolded in those few days in April gripped the country on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

"Nujood got her divorce, but based on the principles of Islamic Sharia law, her husband was compensated, not prosecuted. Nujood was ordered to pay him more than $200. The human rights lawyer who represented her donated the money..."

(even some of the comments were disgusting, like claiming that it's God's will because she was married and old enough to menstruate)