Today in line at the grocery store, I looked up and saw O, saw you. The cover of O shows the "you now" looking at the body of the "old you", the thin, in shape you with a little blurb saying something like "How did I do this to myself again?" Then my eyes scanned up to TV guide, "Oprah reports being 200 pounds". Logging on here: "Did you fall off the weight-loss bandwagon?"
In the words of Kate Harding over at Shapely Prose (kateharding.net): STOP! Please, please... stop.
We have an issue, an epidemic if you will, in America and it's spreading all over the world. And it's not "obesity". It's disordered eating and idealized beauty images that are plaguing women, making them alter their bodies to look like "The real housewives of Orange County" (who all look like strippers.. and that's not a compliment.). As a woman who so many look to for guidance, you have an ability I wish I could possess; you can make great waves of change.
It took me a long time to accept my body. I know I'm only 25 and only weigh 152 pounds at 5'3", but I've starved myself, cut calories, thrown up, and based my self-worth on the size of my jeans rather than the degrees I earn. I have the privilege of teaching college students public speaking while earning my masters, but I can't make women worldwide ditch the scales and start eating when they are hungry, stopping when they are full, and finding "exercise" that makes them happy, rather than the latest high calorie burning workout.
I ask you to look into Health At Every Size and to educate your viewers on it. I ask you to really, really, really make a difference. To really give women hope. To really show the world that, "HEY! I'm beautiful just how I am."
Say that aloud.
Feel that power.
Now imagine the world of women saying it in unison.
Please Oprah, make my wish come true.
-- Junior
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