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I Stumbled across this image in a fit of boredom today. I didn’t run across it in any particular context (though the URL seems to indicate it was part of a news article), so just looking at it straight up, what do you think of it?
On the one hand, I think it’s a great idea to have bigger seats available, to accommodate a wide range of sizes. On the other hand, why have just one? Why not make ALL the seats bigger? Having just one like that is awful othering. Plus, what if you want to sit in a bigger seat, but the only one in the row is already taken? I also find it interesting that it seems to be set at a lower height than the other chairs. I am not sure what the logic behind that would be.
Do you see this as a sign of progress? Or do you think it’s more like a finger-shaking, shaming thing?
Update: Commenter BamaGal notes that the chair is probably blue and lower to the ground because it is meant to be a handicap chair. I apologize for not considering that possibility before – that would be my able-bodied privilege, there.
I have now done what I should have done in the first place and gone to the source URL and searched The Sun’s website for the article for which the image is an accompaniment. Here is the article:
SPECIAL chairs for obese passengers have been installed in Brazil’s trains and stations to cope with the country’s soaring obesity rate.
The seats are nearly twice as wide and can support passengers weighing up to 40 STONE without breaking.
Priority ... for larger passengers
But Metro bosses in Sao Paulo say the chairs are being ignored by bigger passengers, possibly because they are too ashamed to use them.
A sign above each seat shows a cartoon of a bulky passenger that reads: “Priority chair for obese people.”
One manager said: “It may be that they don’t want to think of themselves as fat or that they resent being put in with pensioners and the disabled.”
Does this added context change how you feel about the chairs?
I would like to make a toast, to a spectacular, special, splendid young woman.
Chrissy has been my best friend since the 6th grade. As of this year, that’s half our lives. In a few short days, Chrissy will be graduating from college with a degree and a passion. (As so often happens, the degree and the passion are in two different subjects. ^_~) In the 11 years since I’ve known her, Chrissy has managed to change and grow while still ultimately remaining the same wonderful girl I fell in love with. I won’t presume to tell you about how she has changed inside – I’m no mind-reader. But I can tell you that for 11 years she has inspired me to be a kinder and more compassionate person (though I’m sad to say I often ignored that inspiration).
Chrissy is going places. I’m completely awed by her mad videography skills. I’d lay odds on watching her documentaries on television someday. I am so proud to know this woman! When I see her face after one of our long separations, I know instantly that I am in the company of someone amazing. I’m not sure how one human being can be so full of exuberance and drive, but Chrissy manages it, with aplomb and dignity.
I probably won’t be able to attend her graduation ceremony, due to uncontrollable circumstances in my own life. But I will be there in my heart, watching a visionary, an activist, my best friend as she takes her first steps into the rest of her life.
To Chrissy! *clinks glass* 
P.S. Happy Birthday, too!
Okay, obesity police.
I just made myself a sandwich with both butter and Miracle Whip. And I ate it. And liked it. And didn’t worry about whether it was healthy.
Whatcha gonna do about it?
Oh, snap!
I don’t want to get into the rest of this Washington Post article by Howard Kurtz (it’s five pages long and I’ve got other things I’m supposed to be doing), but this bugs me:
I’m not an economist, but when Tim Geithner unveils his long-awaited bailout plan and the Dow plunges nearly 400 points, that’s probably not a good sign.
Can I just say that I’m sick and tired of the stock market’s ups and downs being pointed to as some sort of objective criteria for what’s good and bad, or, worse yet, as some sort of all-knowing, clairvoyant prediction of the future?
Leaving aside the human foibles of the stock market in the best of times, does anyone actually think, anymore, that investors know what’s good for the economy? I sure as fuck don’t.
Next on the list:
Michigan lawmaker sets record with 53 years on the job – CNN
This should not be allowed. Someone who has been a legislator for 53 years as their sole job simply cannot, any longer, be an accurate representative for anyone. Except other legislators. I’ll just let the article illustrate my concern:
He’d probably be the first to tell you that a lot can change over the span of 19,420 days.
When Dingell entered the “people’s house” on December 13, 1955, the White House was home to a retired World War II general named Dwight D. Eisenhower. Barack Obama hadn’t been born yet.
[...]
Over the long decades, however, John Dingell’s core convictions have remained largely the same.
[...]
Looking ahead, Dingell shows no signs of slowing down. “I creak a little more each year,” he told National Journal magazine recently, “but I keep going.”
That’s probably a good thing, because although he’s the longest-serving House member in history, he will have to go a lot longer before he can claim the title of longest-serving member of Congress.
That honor is held by West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, who has a combined 20,493 days of service in the House and Senate.
And the 91-year-old Byrd, who entered the House in 1953 before moving to the Senate in 1959, has not expressed desire to retire anytime soon.
If I could keep getting reelected without ever really doing much of anything useful (which is my sarcastic-but-nearly-serious opinion of the majority of govern-y types here in these United States), I wouldn’t want to retire either.
Last, but not least:
Obese mothers ‘risk spina bifida’ – BBC
Oh yes, that’s right. OMG OBESITY plus TEH BAYBIES!!! Add a dash of failed science reporting and we have ourselves a trifecta of facepalm-worthy pain.
I really can’t even get into all the details of pain, here. The article says:
It is well known that women who are obese are more likely to have difficulty conceiving and once they are pregnant, overweight and obese women and their babies are at a greater risk of a range of health problems.
Yet, if you click through to the BBC’s BMI calculators (and yes, BMI is the definition of “obese” and “overweight” that the article is using), we find this little gem (emphases mine):
Medical research suggests that this range is associated with the best health and least risk of heart disease, some cancers, osteoporosis and a range of other health problems. There are no health benefits to changing your weight, but your health will benefit from being active and eating a healthy diet.
[...]
A BMI measurement is not as accurate if you’re an athlete or very muscular (muscle weighs more than fat) as this can push you into a higher BMI category even if you have a healthy level of body fat. It’s also not accurate for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or people who are frail.
Oh yeah. I know. To begin with, the article never actually clarifies whether the women were in the “obese” and “overweight” categories before their pregnancies, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, I guess. Of course, they don’t link to any of the studies, so fact-checking becomes prohibitively time-consuming.
At any rate, is anyone noticing a discrepancy, here? In the obesity article, obesity puts you at risk for health issues. In the BMI calculator descriptions, changing your weight won’t improve your health. What gives, BBC? Stop messing with my head!
Look, I’m no analyst. I’m writing for an audience that already agrees with me, just pointing out new instances of awfulness. Still, I am hard-pressed to come up with a point of view in which these two ideas aren’t dissonant.
Thoughts?
P.S. I did the calculation and at 5′ 9″, 125 lbs, I am precisely on the border of normal/underweight. No one seems to be fearing for my health though. Gee, I wonder why that is…
P.P.S. I just want to clarify, because a re-reading makes me think it’s not clear, that my trailing sentence in the P.S. is meant to imply that the reason no one is worrying about my health is that because maybe weight really isn’t such a great indicator of fitness, but as long as I fit the beauty standards (or look like I’m trying) I get to escape the hammer of judgement.
Cross-posted at The Reformed Patriarchy-Whore.
Hello, Jigglers! Here I am, browsing Google News, when what do I see but yet another “health” article about food and eating.
Why Saying No to Foods May Be Harder for Women
I am sure you can deconstruct most of the issues with the article yourselves. You’re smart readers.
However, having just returned from a physics conference I would like to note one thing.
For the study, which appears in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers asked 13 women and 10 men about their favorite foods. The participants said they liked a variety of dishes and desserts, including lasagna, pizza, brownies, ice cream and fried chicken.
I am sorry, but a study of 23 people does NOT provide enough data to make statistical inferences about an entire species. NO. Also, did they have a control group of any kind? Did they try this with another group of people who hadn’t been fasting? Were the study’s participants (I like how the word “participants” is used to hide the fact that they’re actually “experimental subjects,” a concept which squicks us out) all in the same age group? Including that information could help to support the thesis of those who did the study, if they compared women of childbearing age to women who were not.
And, of course, they jump right to the “biological imperative” explanation, instead of allowing for factors like, oh, I dunno… Maybe the crazy-ass body pressure that women experience which is so inextricably tied up with food in our dumbfuck culture?
Seriously. You don’t just look at 23 different brain patterns and start claiming things about how evolution and baybeez mean all women are weak-willed face-stuffers.
Scientific research methods. Learn them. Use them. Get back to me later.
Hello, blogosphere.
Chrissy’s post about the election was beautiful. I don’t want to knock it off the top, but it seems that a month is far longer than a blog should have to go without a post. So allow me to engage you in a post-Thanksgiving post.
I admit, my ears are not as attuned to such things as they should be, but I didn’t really hear any fatphobic comments this Thanksgiving season, from my family. Which is an improvement. I heard some “health-conscious” ones, but my grandmother is diabetic, so I was less concerned than I might otherwise have been.
I did hear racist remarks. My cousin (she’s maybe a sophomore in high school) used the n-word.
I did hear sexist remarks. What else is new, really?
By and large, my holidays were alright, and I didn’t get too upset about anything, except my stepmother’s refusal to acknowledge the abusive relationship that is Twilight.
They were alright, that is, until yesterday, when I read about the Wal-Mart worker who was trampled. Again, I come face-to-face with the consumerism that I’ve learned to dread. My families are asking for Christmas lists. I don’t know what to tell them. I don’t really need anything. I have more “stuff” than I know what to do with. Yet they seem disappointed if they can’t put more material goods into my life. I don’t understand it. If there were something I needed, sure, go for it. All I really need is money for food.
I am planning to go the route of asking would-be gift-givers to donate money to charities instead. I don’t expect good reactions to that. I think I’ll get eye rolls and gift cards, instead. What is wrong, I wonder, with asking someone to donate to a charity? It’s what I spend my money on anyway.
It’s not like they listen when I tell them what I do want. Last year I specifically requested that they NOT purchase any Bath & Body Works items – it takes me ages to use them up and I get really sick of the heavy scents. I prefer unscented toiletries, if any at all (I only keep lotion around for emergencies; with my short hair I only need a simple shampoo, and am thinking of switching to the baking soda/vinegar routine; bar soap does it for me; etc.), yet my stocking ended up full of B&BW products. Which, after hanging onto for long enough to be sure I wouldn’t use them, ended up at Goodwill, unopened. I hate that I feel guilty about that.
I have so much. So much to be thankful for. I just want to stop spending it on me – on someone who has pretty much everything she needs – and start spending it on those who hunger and thirst and then die for lack of food and water. If I could take all the money in the entire USA that will be spent on useless junk this holiday season, it would be a lot of money. I would use it to help fund the hospitals that are sewing together the pieces of the women in the Congo who are being raped ceaselessly as a strategy of war. No longer would they have to crouch in a dirty warehouse, urine dribbling out of their bodies because their fistulas prevent them from keeping it inside. I would buy doctors and water and sanitation and a modicum of peace for those women and girls who have guns fired inside their vaginas.
I don’t need stuff. I am eternally thankful for that. All I want for Christmas is the same for others.
Disclaimer: It is no excuse for anything, but it might explain any typos. I am drunk right now.
So, folks, I am sorry for not writing anything in a while. Though in my defense, neither has Chrissy, and she owns this blog! 
The start of classes is rough on us all.
I just wanted to make a note in passing that a) I haven’t forgotten about this place and b) holy cow I have fat prejudice thoughts to get over. 
I only really started participating in the FA stuff this summer. About May or so, I think. So I get back to school and realize there are all these [fat] (I’m sorry I’m still not comfortable with the word and I’m too drunk to try to deal with that right now. I promise I’m working on it though) people I don’t even know but who I recognize, walking around campus, and when I would see them, before, I would think mean things, like, “Why don’t they just walk more/get off their asses/etc.” When I, myself, am one of the most sedentary people I know.
It is always hard learning the ways in which one has not been as egalitarian as one would have wished.
I am working and learning and growing though.
It is a process.
*hugs*
Maybe I can come up with a more substantial post another time.
*pours another whiskey sour*
Some time ago, I wrote a post called “Simple Thoughts from the Lunchroom.” This is my apology and reflection about that piece.
I immediately started getting some feedback telling me my privilege was showing. I took the post down so that I could try to reflect on this without further comments saying the same thing getting my hackles up (I suck at not getting defensive, but I know this so I try to correct for it).
It has been well over a month, if not two, since I wrote that post. I promised honest and thoughtful reflection and, for those who asked, an accounting of just where the privilege was sneaking in. My bio on the Author page notes that I am not as good at thoughtful analyses as Chrissy. There often seems to be a disconnect between the keyboard and what I think I’m saying. Usually I just go with it and try to correct when I get constructive criticism, but I am writing from a privileged perspective on this blog. I can’t just let it slide anymore. I vow to take more time to critically analyse what I’ve said/written from this point forward.
Now that I’ve gotten that bit of the defensive “I meant well, I just suck at writing” bit out of the way… It is time for me to get down to the nitty-gritty. Ultimately, the biggest problem with the post was this (which I’m quoting from below the jump):
I knew nothing about this woman, and I simply used her and the fact that she was fat and eating a classically-demonized food like Wendy’s to paint a story onto her.
That’s the privilege, there, folks, in case you were wondering.
There was more that I did not do well, at all, and so if you want to read through some of my thoughts about it and where I think I messed up or could have done better, please continue. The original post, in all its sloppy glory, with my thoughts and statements about it made inline, below the jump.
I am not sure how I feel about this.
On the one hand, if you want to wake up every morning and immediately do 30 reps with a dumbbell, more power to you.
On the other hand, what if you’re in a rush and you don’t have time to do the reps but are awake anyway? Is there an emergency shut off?
And on the third hand which I appear to have spontaneously generated, is this just another straw on the back of the camel currently transporting the rest of the fat-phobic, faux-health craziness in our society?
You decide.
I have no words.
Seriously. How are these two things even fucking COMPARABLE??
I hate the world. I really, really do.
Note to self: stop taking quizzes online.
Letting out the Jigglies