Coinciding with this three day marathon of bliss was Venus Envy‘s twelfth anniversary sale. Everything in store was 20% off. And they had free cupcakes. So of course I went and spent money I didn’t have.
Among the things I picked up was a book called Two Whole Cakes. It has the caption of “How to Stop Dieting and Learn to Love your Body”, which apparently the publisher tacked on and is somewhat misrepresentative of the contents. I’m okay with that though because it turns out the book was about something much better.
The title comes from an exchange the author encountered, where an individual proclaimed, in capitalized fashion, “SO YOU THINK IT’S TOTALLY OKAY FOR FAT PEOPLE TO EAT TWO WHOLE CAKES EVERY DAY?”
This absurd statement launches the author’s essay about her journey of accepting and loving herself, and a critique of the ignorance and fat shaming that pervades this society. Among some tidbits:
One diet book author who was moved to weight-loss salvation by an unflattering picture recommends that fat people get themselves photographed as a “reality check.” See, lots of people with substandard bodies are walking around feeling happy a lot of the time, and that’s a problem. Body culture tells us in no uncertain terms that fat people are not supposed to be happy; they are supposed to be ashamed. The notion of employing photography as a cure for happiness rests on the idea that seeing ourselves for the gargantuan monsters we really are will kill our lackadaisical contentment and eject us into a sad, dark void of self-loathing and body hatred, where we belong.
A more appropriate caption for the book would have been “How fat shaming is everywhere and how that’s really destructive.” Among the many topics she explores is the humiliation/dehumanization that’s seen as acceptable in the media because the fatness justifies it and double standards with eating disorders:
The actual number of fat people with eating disorders is unknown, as too often these practices are registered simply as diets. Technically, fat people can’t be diagnosed with anorexia no matter their degree of self-starvation because one of the diagnostic criterion is a failure to maintain at least 85 percent of the expected body weight for height and age.
I finished the book in a day and a half. It was the first time that I had read something by someone else whose views mirrored my rapidly evolving own and then went further. I gobbled it up.
We’d be so much better off if we treated weight like cholesterol levels. Where the only person who should give a flying fuck if one at all is you, and no one else would see you as any different. Where public discourse would be about being healthy and fit, which can be achieved at any size or any weight, rather than obesity and illness.
On that note, I made the really unhealthy cinnamon roll pancakes this morning. So good.
I’ve been really catching up on my baking!