Hm... when will they begin asking if he/she kicks?

I am pretty sure we've all seen photos like these, either on some gossip site, on magazine stands or wherever, really:

First of all, I really dislike the term "baby bump", but then, this is another issue. Every time I see or hear this kind of speculations because a woman doesn't have a table flat belly, my blood boils. Because people should learn something about women's biology: only very, very thin women (or serious athletes) have very flat belly. And even in such situation there is a natural round line to the belly's shape. And even then a woman should have the right to breath, release abs muscles or be bloated. And now we can move on to the huge majority of women, when most of them could very well be in at least 3rd month. Heck, if I want I can look 5 month pregnant without bigger problems...

People got used that women have no bellies. We are taught all the time to "suck it in", and if you have some belly around it's commented that this person "looks pregnant". How about... natural?

What would YOU do to get a job?

I've read yesterday a short article on a sensational DailyMail, linked from HP. Interesting discussion followed. I observed a few different tendencies among the commenters. Some were simply disgusted with the picture of round worms. Some made fun of the stupid Chinese who would eat anything, others made fun of the stupid women who do such things... Some discussed the deeper problems - the unrealistic burden of fitting a particular (thin) expectation and more and more difficult job market, where the employers might pick and choose, forcing people to do very questionable things simply because they have no real choice.
We know already that fat women are paid less, hired less and generally considered lazy, stupid, unskilled, with will power or self-control. The women are already burdened with unrealistic expectations just to be accepted as attractive females, no job interviews in sight yet. Twelve year old girls on diets... what is more disgusting? This or swallowing round warms? It's a difficult choice to make.

I spent couple hours yesterday researching and googling for images to use in my "Body and Sexuality" class. We have been already discussing a bit the problems of assuming overweight people are that way because of not taking care of their health or overeating. I want to discuss more with them on the societies imagery and the extreme pressure for both men and women to obey the, often unrealistic, expectations.

Below is a sample of vintage ads. It's interesting that it was much harder to find the accurate spot, as both too skinny and fat was forbidden...

Of course it's pretty obvious that for both men and women the only incentive to be "slender" is to be accepted and considered attractive by the opposite sex. What is more annoying in the case of women, that it's assumed it's their fault if they lose the interest of their husbands. Both in the ads about weight loss, various cosmetics and home appliances, it's a woman's job to "keep the husband".

And for the end, a very interesting ad... it looks like China is not that far from the Western Culture after all...

another example how women are pressured to feel guilty about eating.

It's a commercial of a yogurt that is supposed to make you feel "fuller for longer". It is full of tortured women eating celery sticks (well, I would look tortured as well, 'cause I hate that stuff), rice cakes, lettuce ... you would think it should be contrasted with real food. Instead it is contrasted with the "solution": fat-free yogurt which looks very thick, which means you are "satisfying" yourself with thickeners and preservatives and artificial colorants. Women are still not allowed to eat normal food.
And I won't even comment on the mechanization, as if women were brainless robots, repeating everything others do, suffering taken as normal and necessary to be slim and "attractive". And are there really only white slim women in Australia? (ok, one Asian).

fatism

there is a great entry on shakesville about absolutely disgusting ad for weight loose toxin. It's again portraying at people as sad, miserable and unable to enjoy life in anyway. because obviously only thin, white women can have it.

the author commented much better, so I will quote here part of her entry:

Some fat people do live terrible, unfulfilling, limited lives, and in some cases it may be because they're fat—or because they've got shame, anxiety, and/or rigidly self-imposed boundaries in response to endemic cultural fat hatred. I do not want to disappear those experiences. But those experiences are not, as the above advert (and the similar Realize advert) would have us believe, universal among fat people.

I have known real love and real fear (don't even get me started on romanticizing fear as an experience all humans should have); I have gone skinny-dipping in Lake Michigan (and I've no interest in walking naked in the winter snow, but my fat wouldn't stop me if I did); I have fucked a stranger; blah blah blah. I can also tie my own shoes.

I've also traveled to other continents, lived in another country, ridden roller coasters, gone horseback riding, hiked through the Highlands, been rollerskating and bowling and golfing and rockclimbing and biking, gotten married, gotten divorced, gotten married again, had personal and professional achievements, had personal and professional failures, made friends, lost touch with friends, learned how to cook and tapdance and play piano and milk a cow, played endless video games, wrote a book, rode an elephant, went to prom, went to university, went to Niagra Falls, went to a taping of the Drew Carey Show (don't ask), went to Disneyland, went to Disney World, went to Sesame Place, went up in the Statue of Liberty, went up in the Arch, threw up in a brewery in St. Louis, pet a giraffe, bought a house, sold a house, bought another house, struggled financially, splurged stupidly, acquired a disability unrelated to my fat, and a second, visited 44 of the 50 states, watched a calf being born, saw The Matrix: Reloaded in IMAX from the first goddamn row, attended hundreds of rock concerts, got drunk, got high, got sick, got knocked down, got back up again, and flown a kite. That's not a definitive list. Still. All these things I have done, often in the company of other fat people—and I am a fat person.