Greta Christina's fat positive manifesto

[ciphergoth]

I froze the discussion here because I thought it deserved a top-level post of its own, rather than being under a general discussion of Greta Christina. A few weeks ago she posted a very interesting series of articles on the fat-positive movement and her own beliefs; I'd be very interested to read more about what people think of them.

"I was frankly shocked at how callous most of the fat-positive advocates were about my bad knee. I was shocked at how quick they were to ignore or dismiss it. They were passionately concerned about the quality of life I might lose if I counted calories or stopped eating chocolate bars every day. But when it came to the quality of life I might lose if I could no longer dance, climb hills, climb stairs, take long walks, walk at all? Eh. Whatever. I should try exercise or physical therapy or something. Oh, I'd tried those things already? Well, whatever."

• The Fat-Positive Diet
• The Fat-Positive Skeptic
• An Open Letter to the Fat-Positive Movement

Comments

[palmer1984.livejournal.com]

Don't have time to read the article so sorry if it addresses this, but being poor is generally very bad to your health anyway.

[booklectica]

That's basically what the article is saying, yes. (The one I link to, I mean.)

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

And this side of the pond, veg *is* cheap and easily accessible in any city - but that doesn't cover all eventualities, you know? Say you're well-off and you need someting to eat RIGHT NOW, because you're starving hungry and light-headed and very very busy rushing between things. We've all been there. You go and spend six pounds on a salad-to-go from M&S, alongside a little pot of fresh pineapple and a bottle of water. If you're broke, though, you're going to spend a quid on a bag of chips instead.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Veg and fruit are *not* cheap and accessible in many areas of cities in this country - when I worked on improving the food supply in London, there were many areas where people don't have any shop selling fresh fruit or veg within half a mile, covering a population of possibly 500,000 people.

Add that to ability to afford bus fares to a supermarket/taxi back/ability to carry shopping/the internet for a net shop and paying the delivery fee, the time and gas/leccy cost for food preparation, as well as your point about spontaneity, and it's a really enormous issue.

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

Really? Bloody hell. There are *thinks* eight places selling fresh fruit and veg within half a mile of my flat, three of which are within 200 meters of where I sit as I type this. If I suddenly had an insatiable desire for a cucumber I could get one for thirty pence within the next three minutes [laughs] I didn't realise how lucky that is!

ETA - I live in a very poor area of London, btw

[devilgate.livejournal.com]

I suspect we may be neighbours.