Seriously, fandom?
Jun. 18th, 2009 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nilchanceChub!Jensen controversy and now a big-bang set in an obesity research center?
Trigger. Biiiiig trigger.
I am sore tired of catching this merry fat-hating bullshit every time I turn on the TV ("now on Dr. G, Medical Examiner: OBESITY CRISIS OBESITY FATTY FATTY FAT FAT DEAAAAATH!"), but fandom too, for serious?
Argh.
ETA: Also, okay. I understand that the underlying message is that Jensen has to come to love himself. HOWEVER. It comes with the understanding that Jensen is expressing his love for himself by losing the weight "for Jared", to go find Jared and love and enlightenment and that.
Here's the thing. Very rarely do fat people actually get that way by cramming fast food and abusing their bodies. They get there through genetics, or thyroid issues, or antidepressants (hi there!), or a history of yo-yo dieting that resets their resting point of ideal weight. A history of eating disorders. So forcing one's body into a thinner shape by exercising to exhaustion (thus making exercise an unpleasant chore that one HAS to do to BEAT OBESITY), or limiting calories to deprivation, is a shock to one's system. It's not necessarily self-love, though it may be motivated by the desire to be lovable or to live longer (because of fear of obesity killing them) or because they can't be happy until they're thin.
Self-love is unrelated to a number on a scale. It's recognizing one's worth, unconnected to one's weight. The beauty of your body as it is, flaws and all, not as it could be. Pursuing health is an awesome thing, and a great way to love yourself, but pursuing thinness is not the same thing.
Trigger. Biiiiig trigger.
I am sore tired of catching this merry fat-hating bullshit every time I turn on the TV ("now on Dr. G, Medical Examiner: OBESITY CRISIS OBESITY FATTY FATTY FAT FAT DEAAAAATH!"), but fandom too, for serious?
Argh.
ETA: Also, okay. I understand that the underlying message is that Jensen has to come to love himself. HOWEVER. It comes with the understanding that Jensen is expressing his love for himself by losing the weight "for Jared", to go find Jared and love and enlightenment and that.
Here's the thing. Very rarely do fat people actually get that way by cramming fast food and abusing their bodies. They get there through genetics, or thyroid issues, or antidepressants (hi there!), or a history of yo-yo dieting that resets their resting point of ideal weight. A history of eating disorders. So forcing one's body into a thinner shape by exercising to exhaustion (thus making exercise an unpleasant chore that one HAS to do to BEAT OBESITY), or limiting calories to deprivation, is a shock to one's system. It's not necessarily self-love, though it may be motivated by the desire to be lovable or to live longer (because of fear of obesity killing them) or because they can't be happy until they're thin.
Self-love is unrelated to a number on a scale. It's recognizing one's worth, unconnected to one's weight. The beauty of your body as it is, flaws and all, not as it could be. Pursuing health is an awesome thing, and a great way to love yourself, but pursuing thinness is not the same thing.
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-19 05:49 pm (UTC)So .. I didn´t actually get your impression from it. My impression was one of complete hilarity because seriously? Seriously? There is so much wrong with this that I was torn between beating my head against the desk and laughing so hard that I was in danger of choking on my own spit. I´m about 20 pounds away from that fictional characters weight and if you threw eight hours of exercise daily at me I would end up with a few torn ligaments and out of comission for a while.
I´m not even going to touch upon that 'diet', yo-yo-effect, skin flaps from losing weight too fast and the strange, strange thing of losing weight without getting stuck on one weight and not going down for a few weeks.
That is not to say it wasn´t well written, just so no one can say that I hate it because it was bad in anything other than form.
/end my two cent
no subject
Date: 2009-06-23 06:58 pm (UTC)This is an excellent point. I'm pretty sure I'd vomit and pass out face down. So sexy! So romantic!
No, it was very well written. I just didn't enjoy the story. But apparently that is a bad thing to say.