I was wondering when the good folks at We Have Brains were going to get around to asking a question about body issues. (I don't mean that as an insult or anything, I just figured it would come up eventually.) The question focuses on whether or not fat issues--and body issues in general--are feminist issues, and whether fat acceptance and pro-anorexic websites can be considered feminist.
As I have said before, I don't think that any choice that a woman makes is feminist just because she's a woman. We are all perfectly capable of making choices that are bad for us and bad for women in general, and some of us make choices like that on a regular basis. Feminism is NOT just about choice--it's about making the world a better place for women (and everyone else) to live in.
Body issues are certainly feminist issues. (I think everything is a feminist issue, but I have good reasons for this one.) Despite the growing movement to objectify men as well as women, I think it's safe to say that women are still more objectified and more fetishized than men. I don't think any women escape it--at least not in this culture. But some ways of reacting to this cultural objectification are more positive than others.
I keep trying to write this next paragraph and then erasing it, because everything I write makes me feel like an asshole. I have never had a serious weight problem--not because I am particularly diligent about diet and exercise, but because I come from a family of people with metabolisms like rabbits. I have had body issues, just like every insecure 15-year-old, but it�s never been the trauma for me that it is for some women. Since I've been what a lot of people would call "lucky" in this regard, I would hesitate to tell someone else, for whom this has been a much bigger problem, how to handle it.
But I can�t quite help it�pro-anorexia websites are HORRIBLE. I had no idea such a thing existed. I think these poor women are under the thumb of the patriarchy and need to be freed right away. Fat acceptance is something else altogether�it's about loving yourself, not starving yourself until you look like a miserable 11-year-old, and menstruate just as often. Nobody�s natural weight is 87 pounds, for goddess� sake.
Whew. Okay. I feel better now.
But. I do have a friend who is obese, and I worry about her constantly. She's beautiful, brilliant, incredibly funny, and really unhappy. Partly, of course, this is the fault of our culture, which tells her every day that she is unlovable and hideous. But also--she just can't do everything she could do if she lost weight. She has trouble walking sometimes, and gets exhausted almost immediately. I think losing weight would be a really self-loving thing for her to do, but she's caught in a trap--she hates herself too much to even begin. I'm not judging her, and I do accept her as she is. I just think she would be a happier human being if she could be more active, escape her apartment more often, and not fall down quite so often.
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