Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday Night Random Thoughts

Random Thought #1:

I REALLY hate Hollywood and what it does for women's body image issues. Tonight on Entertainment Tonight, one of the "teases" was "See which Baywatch star packed on the pounds." Wasn't planning to watch, but never turned the channel.

Who it is doesn't matter. Here's what does: The statistics as reported by ET are that while on Baywatch, the actress weighed 99lbs. Currently she weights 130lbs. She's 5'2". And she's now going to be on Celebrity Fit Club. You know...the show for fat celebrities.

EXCUSE ME? Go plug in the numbers into an adult BMI calculator. I did. While on Baywatch, at 99lbs her BMI makes her underweight. UNDERweight. Does this make her unhealthy? Probably not, depending on what she has to do to maintain that weight. Currently her BMI is 23.8. NORMAL. Granted it's on the high end of normal and creeping towards overweight, but it's NORMAL.

Is she happy that she's now 30lbs heavier? Probably not. Should she be paraded around as the "fat" ex-Baywatch star? DEFINITELY not.

Whether or not she should be on Celebrity Fit Club really depends (in my opinion) on HOW they present her. If they say "hey, you're not considered overweight but there's room for improvement and we'll show you the healthy way to do it" then I'm all for that. But I'm still concerned the message it can send to people who strive to be like the celebrities they see. The message ET is sending is CERTAINLY inappropriate in that regard. Wow...that was about three times as long as I intended it to be.

Random Thought #2:

Okay, this really isn't that random. This is based on an incident a couple of days ago. And I hesitate to post it here, but I'm going to anyway.

So my job involves dealing with doctors. And the chip on my shoulder about being summed up and judged based on my weight is majorly amplified when the medical community is involved. However, I'm practicing the belief that everybody, including doctors, is not so judgmental.

Going back a few months, I had to talk with one of our doctors about a case I was working on. The person was my exact height and weight at the time. During the course of the consultation, the doc pops off with "Damn she's fat. She should just have her jaws wired shut." Um... Really? I know she wasn't talking ABOUT me, but did she really think that was an appropriate thing to say? And did she really think, looking at me who is clearly fat, that I wouldn't be rather offended? Really? I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

So this week I'm back to talk about a different case. Again this person was my height, but a bit heavier than I am now. The first comment was "Wow she's fat for somebody that short!" Here we go again. I just sat there and reminded myself it's not about me, it's not about me, IT'S NOT ABOUT ME. Keep your mouth shut, Ginny...it's NOT ABOUT YOU. But a few minutes later, the doc pops off with "She's just too fat to walk." No. No. NO! I couldn't just sit there anymore. I shot off with "Yeah, well I manage to keep my fat ass on a spin bike for two hours, so I don't think it's fair to say that."

I am just fed up with that kind of thing, whether it's about me specifically or MY people. Why do people think that's okay? Why is fat bashing acceptable? I'd really like to know.

3 comments:

  1. I wish I knew! Almost nothing makes me angrier! And these people never seem to have a problem saying things like this in front of us - even friends and colleagues. Are they just blind to us, or are these people that they're making fun of just abstract images in their heads, blown out of proportion? Whatever happened to thinking before you speak?

    So what was their response when you said that? Great response by the way!!!

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  2. I just wanted to tell you how much I LOVE reading your postings! They really hit home! Thanks for sharing your thoughts- it's wonderful!

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  3. Sounds like the doctor has lost touch of reality and sees a "case" as a "thing" vs. a human being. Its his/her brick to put in their back pack and carry around---not your brick--don't place it in your backpack and lug around someone else's problem.

    Love your blog, by the way. Very well done.

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