Coming attractions

9th June 2008

posted in Administrative |

My graduate seminar officially ended last Monday, but it didn’t feel like the official end of the quarter until Friday evening after I presented a history paper at the university’s Queen City Colloquium conference. Public speaking does not bother me in the slightest. Heck, I delivered a 5-minute commencement address at my college graduation several years ago before 13,000 people completely by memory and oh, yeah, I’m a journalist, too. I’ve always said that I’ve made a fool out of myself so many times I just don’t care anymore, but delivering a presentation of a topic you self-initiated and self-researched before an audience of your academic peers and superiors? Yeah, a little nerve wracking. My professor friends who attended told me I did well, though, and the audience’s eyes didn’t appear that glazed over.

The husband and I celebrated our official start of summer this past weekend by vegging out on the couch watching the first three CDs of season one of Lost (which we just tuned into this past season), trolling the aisles of Lowe’s and Home Depot and me, lugging 40-pound bags of dirt and cow manure and working in my cottage garden. Ahh… summer, how I’ve longed for thee.

I’ve only been AWOL from the internet for just a few days, but in blogging time, it’s been ages. Here’s a few coming attractions:

There are several blogs I need to add to the Eating Disorders Digest feed. Interesting in seeing yours added? Submit your feed address in the comments below;

Two interviews with Very Cool People in the works;

Glen Gers, the director of the newly-released film Disfigured sent me a copy of the film to review. The hubby and I plan to watch it tonight so my review should be forthcoming, as well as an interview with Gers;

I was sent two books to read and review: Stephanie Klein’s Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp and Gordon Patzer’s Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined;

I bought a video camera shortly after Christmas and the only things we’ve recorded thus far are the cats in various states of sleep and play. But I have big vlogging plans, beginning with a local plus-size clothing designer who boasts her own Project Runway kind of workshop and plus-size boutique.

My longterm goal has always been to expand www.the-f-word.org from just a blog into a more well-rounded and comprehensive site. First phase? A messageboard.

All this and more coming soon….

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 11:07 am and is filed under Administrative. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On June 9th, 2008, glt said:

Wow, Amazon was down (very unusual) so I Googled the “Moose” book, and look at this caption from an article on it in Newsweek: “Life Stages: Author Stephanie Klein as an overweight child and a healthy adult”–because if you are overweight you cannot be healthy. I mean, we’re not even talking morbidly obese here. Anyway, this interview on Newsweek with the author does not sound very fat-positive at all. Maybe a hint of “fat people don’t deserve this abuse” but more focused on getting thin. http://www.newsweek.com/id/137753/page/1 if you want to see for yourself. But it kind of makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

posted on June 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

2 On June 9th, 2008, Lindsey said:

Congrats on finishing your graduate seminar! I’m sure you’re just glad it’s over, eh?

I’m going to have to agree with glt on this one. I read that article by Newsweek and this is certainly not a book I have any interest in picking up. If I want to hear about someone’s “amazing weightloss success and you can too” story, I can go to a myriad of other places and get pissed off and shamed for free. And as for the picture of her, she really wasn’t really big at all. Eye-gouging out sounds like a good plan.

posted on June 9th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

3 On June 9th, 2008, withoutscene said:

Grrr, why does your blog hate me?

I posted a comment earlier, but didn’t think it went through…but when I tried to repost it, it told me I already posted it. This isn’t the first time, either. Grr.

In short, I can’t wait for your review of Disfigured…and possibly also Moose. The Today Show segment on that book was horrendous, to put it lightly…though not necessarily because of the author. You can find it under Books on the Today Show website. (I’d link to it, but I think when I try to link things is when it doesn’t let me comment. Boo!)

posted on June 9th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

4 On June 9th, 2008, Cyn said:

Congratulations for finishing the seminar!

Those books don’t look quite nice. Are you sure they weren’t sent by a troll? Can’t wait for your Disfigured review anyway.

You should really start vlogging. I bet your vlogs will be interesting. And so will the message board. Yay, yay.

posted on June 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

5 On June 9th, 2008, Rachel said:

Yeah, I was kind of ambivalent about the Klein book, but I read an excerpt of it first and it seemed to really characterize the abuse many fat kids face. The fact that Klein wasn’t even what I would consider really fat shows the depths of our culturally ingrained fear of fatness. I didn’t expect Klein’s book to be fat-positive, but I was curious to read it and see how her experiences as a fat kid have influenced who she is and what she believes in today. I’m also interested to see what really happens at these fat camps.

Withoutscene, I get a lot of spam (hundreds of comments a day) so I usually delete everything in the queue without checking it. Perhaps your comments are somehow getting flagged as spam. Not sure why… I’ll try to watch out for them before I delete everything in the future.

GLT: You’re probably right about the caption at Newsweek, but I’d like to give it some benefit of the doubt. After all, overweight kids are more prone to dieting and disordered relationships with food because they’re pressured to lose weight. The fact that Klein could have been an overweight kid and healthy adult to me doesn’t necessarily suggest fatphobia, but rather kind of shock that her childhood spent dieting and at fat camp didn’t leave her with a lasting eating disorder or something.

posted on June 9th, 2008 at 6:59 pm

6 On June 9th, 2008, Arielle said:

I really enjoy your site and visit it often. I’d love to be added to the blog list. I have a fairly popular ED recovery blog (http://tearstowords.blogspot.com) and am also a friend of Twisted Barbie’s. (You have her on your blog list.)

I’m always reading even if I don’t always comment here!

-Arielle

posted on June 9th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

7 On June 10th, 2008, Angel said:

I hope you will add me to the digest feed. I am 41 yrs old and in recovery from anorexia. Thanks so much! This is a wonderful site filled with so much helpful information.

posted on June 10th, 2008 at 1:25 am

8 On June 11th, 2008, Jackie said:

I don’t really understand why you mentioned Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined as a book to read. I’m rather tired of these justifications for the beauty ideal, like babies look longer at pretty faces and such. I’m just saying, I don’t need a book to tell me I’m considered less in society, cause I’m not willing to diet, wear tons of makeup, or other things. I don’t see how knowing where I’m failing in my personal attractiveness will help me in life.

I feel people who belive in the whole idea that people are attracted to people who are beautiful, based on more than hormones or wanting to make themselves feel better by having a pretty person hang out with them, are rather shallow. I don’t see what insight I could gain, from a book that claims to tell me everything I already learned by being a loser in high school. Nobody cares if you exsist, unless you look like a freaking Barbie doll. Next!

posted on June 11th, 2008 at 3:34 am

9 On June 11th, 2008, glt said:

“You’re probably right about the caption at Newsweek, but I’d like to give it some benefit of the doubt. After all, overweight kids are more prone to dieting and disordered relationships with food because they’re pressured to lose weight. The fact that Klein could have been an overweight kid and healthy adult to me doesn’t necessarily suggest fatphobia, but rather kind of shock that her childhood spent dieting and at fat camp didn’t leave her with a lasting eating disorder or something.”

I think you’re giving them too much benefit of the doubt, because they’re contrasting “healthy” with “overweight,” not “healthy” with “dieting” or “eating-disordered” or “weight-obsessed.” It’s doubtful that Newsweek is even aware that pressure to diet is harmful, considering they are pretty much pressuring us to diet with this weight-loss-success-story.

I will be interested to hear if the book itself is better than it was represented by Newsweek.

posted on June 11th, 2008 at 8:16 am

10 On June 11th, 2008, glt said:

Now that Amazon is back up, I checked out their page on Moose, which makes it sound much better than Newsweek does. So maybe it’s just Newsweek having a severe case of fat-hatred.

posted on June 11th, 2008 at 8:22 am

11 On June 11th, 2008, Rachel said:

Jackie – Gordon Palzer isn’t condoning lookism, he’s examining it. I agreed to review the book because I think his studies and experiments which show just how rampant lookism is in our culture are important to be cognizant of and point out.

posted on June 11th, 2008 at 8:45 am

12 On June 11th, 2008, Dr. Gordon Patzer said:

Rachel,

I appreciate your comment to Jackie and I very much appreciate the entire The-F-Word.org blog.

The-F-Word.org is a great site with, apparently, goals that overlap with mine concerning the physical attractiveness dimension of a person’s appearance. Like The-F-Word.org, we strive to challenge and correct certain discomforting and unacceptable discriminations carried-out by society and individuals. These discriminations lead to consequences that give benefits to those individuals stereotypically defined or viewed by society as good-looking people, and force detriments upon their counterparts who society defines, or views, as not so good-looking people. In turn, one ramification concerning looks is that people increasingly spend unaffordable time and money in pursuits of unattainable higher levels of physical attractiveness (again, as defined/viewed by society and individuals within that society), and do so with unrealistic hopes.

In regard to Jackie’s 6/11/2008 comments, I believe that I truly understand her stated perspective and I am definitely aware and sensitive about that perspective. At the same time, I humbly respectfully disagree substantially with the notion that people benefit more by looking the other way than by realistically idealistically challenging conventional wisdom. Also at the same time, my intent is never to embarrass anyone nor in anyway reinforce the scenario that Jackie sincerely states. In fact, I have long deliberated in my mind whether it is better to articulate the reality of the world in terms of physical attractiveness phenomenon, which I also refer to as lookism, along with my usual message of trying to change it, or is it better to not acknowledge that reality, and to deny it, which many people do while they hope it either does not exist or that it will go away.

Well, I have concluded, denying lookism/physical attractiveness phenomenon or in other ways turning a proverbial blind eye to it (including that aspect referenced by Jackie) is not the best action. In turn, my own individual actions will not provide an ultimate solution, but I believe my actions point toward a solution better than taking no action.

Two statements that I make repeatedly in my talking and writing seem pertinent here. First, in my perspective, “Beauty is Ugly” or, at least, “Beauty Can Be Ugly”. Society and individuals who compose society place entirely too much importance (and value) on a person’s physical attractiveness. Second, as in most regards in life, people “should not do nothing, just because they can’t do everything.” I certainly cannot eliminate the world of lookism/physical attractiveness phenomenon. But I will do what I can, which to me is making people of average and higher physical attractiveness (as society might traditionally stereotypically define such) to be aware that their worlds might be much different than the world of others of less physical attractiveness than theirs (again, as society might traditionally stereotypically define it).

In these regards, I am proud of at least two review/endorsement comments concerning my perspective as expressed by formal review/endorsement comments concerning my 2006 book, The Power & Paradox of Physical Attractiveness. My 2008 book (LOOKS: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined) carries my same basic perspective that “beauty can be ugly,” which is a message that I have consistently expressed in my 2006 book, much earlier, in my 1985 book, and throughout my work in this topic for more than three decades. These comments by two reviewers in 2006 (can be found at the publisher’s website: http://www.BrownWalker.com) are:

(1) “I am pleased to see the research in which the author of this groundbreaking book, Dr. Patzer, delved into the motivations for the medical industry to be influenced by the Physical Attractiveness Phenomenon. This is good material.” (Allen Steadham — Director, International Size Acceptance Association)

(2) “Gordon Patzer makes me think. This is a high compliment in a world of vapid sound bytes and meaningless clichés. Having written a cover story on the subject of beauty for Psychology Today, I feel qualified to say that Patzer’s work is interesting, fearless and even inspired. If a profound writer’s job is to comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable, Patzer continues to pass this test.” (Michael Levine — Best selling author of 16 books.)

This current post of mine has become entirely too long and, yet, I would like to include a few more summary paragraphs. It is clear to me that, for both males and females, of all ages, in the workplace and throughout life, entirely too much importance is placed on the looks of a person. Objective scientific research strongly documents that the consequences—whether we like it or not—is that good looking people experience benefits throughout life that not so good looking people do not experience. Because this reality discomforts many, we then too often do not recognize this well-documented fact or we even deny it.

Lack of knowledge and awareness does not resolve problems. Awareness about differences experienced by people with differences precedes corrective actions. For too long, people not affected negatively by discrimination—aligned with differences based on race, sex, physical attractiveness, and so forth—believed life to be a reasonably level playing field. At best, their insensitivity was inadvertent.

Whatever our indignities and resolve, we can not avoid lookism as it exists currently. To avoid it or deny it, let alone to practice it, only promulgates it. In life as we know it today, we interact all the time with people who do—consciously or unconsciously—make judgments about us based on what we look like. Nevertheless, each of us can realistically challenge realities of lookism and rise above it.

Best wishes, Gordon
___________________

Dr. Gordon Patzer
author of, “Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined”
http://www.GordonPatzer.com