Girls Own, weight and femslash08

[selenay]

There was an interesting discussion on weight on the Girls Own list a couple
of weeks ago (yes, I'm behind and just working on catching up!) and it
triggered some thoughts. According to all the BMI charts, I am firmly in the
middle of the healthy range. According to the list of recommended weights
for heights in the 1930s posted by one member, my weight is just right for
my height.

Yet according to friends and magazines I am firmly in the plump, verging on
overweight category. If I lose the half stone that I always vaguely think
that I should then I will end up at the bottom end of the healthy BMI but I
still wouldn't be in the slim and gorgeous category according to friends and
magazines.

Is it any wonder that so many women end up with eating disorders and the
like when some of the biggest influences in their lives say that what
doctors consider healthy is actually overweight?

Hmm.

In other thoughts: I am about half way there with my femslash08
fic and I only started it a week ago. If I continue at this rate then I
should have it done by the weekend giving me two weeks to re-write, beta
and edit. Despite everything else going on at the moment, I seem to be much
more organised about it this year than I was last year. Phew!

I have banned myself from writing Donna the Time Lord fic until it's done
*sniffle*

It is probably rather late to write any kind of message to the unlucky soul
who got me in the ficathon but...


Dear lovely femslash08 writer,

You can rest assured that I really do want any of the fandoms and pairings
that I listed and I will not try to steer you one way or another. The only
things that I'm not wild about in a fic are tragic endings and extreme kink.
I quite like lots of plot but can quite happily enjoy pure fluff if it's
done well. Any rating is fine by me, any setting.

Hopefully I haven't just killed your fic totally :-)

Love,
Your grateful recipient

Comments

[historyterry.livejournal.com]

I recall how bad I felt when my GP told me that, at 10 stone 4lbs, he considered me to be 'borderline obese'. This didn't take into account that I was, at that time, going to the gym three times a week, and also running 12 miles a week, while living a totally organic, vegetarian diet with little to no junk food or alcohol. It was a time in my life when I should have been proud of what I could acheive physically. Some chance with that kind of blanket statement from a healthcare professional. He took no body fat measurements, and did no other types of monitoring other than plonking me on the scales, taking my blood pressure and measuring my height.

This was also the time when very few fashion shops were stoking clothes that would accomodate my vast size.... Hmm.

[selenay]

I remember your GP saying that and I couldn't believe it! For me, the irony is that I'm of perfectly acceptable weight according to the entire medical profession and yet I'm still a little plump according to the wider world of fashion and half my fellow females. It's beyond me. It certainly explains why so many young girls go on stupid diets or end up with eating disorders if that's the message they're seeing everywhere.

also the time when very few fashion shops were stoking clothes that would accomodate my vast size....

*sigh* Some stores have got better at accomodating people who aren't stick insects, but I still find that most fashion stores are pointless to even look at. And if I do venture in, the store assistants glare at me for cluttering up their shop with my fat, womanly arse.

[gmul.livejournal.com]

but I still wouldn't be in the slim and gorgeous category according to friends and magazines.

Which is exactly the sort of attitude (by "friends"/magazines) which makes me very, very cross indeed. So I'll stop before I rant at length.

[selenay]

*gg*

[feather-autant.livejournal.com]

You have friends that think you're overweight? ::blinks::

Ummm, I don't think that word means what they think it means. I thought you looked great! And no, I'm not just saying that.

[selenay]

Thank you :-) But these are the friends who I consider to look like stick-insects, one of whom is taller than me, weights a stone less and occasionally glares at her flat stomach and moans about all the weight she's put on. As I'm definitely of womanly proportions, that's translated on the plump side according to everyone but me and the medical profession.

Or at least that's how it feels sometimes!

[paranoidangel]

Yet according to friends and magazines I am firmly in the plump, verging on
overweight category.

What, from people who have no eyes?

[selenay]

I reckon that they have serious sight defects and I occasionally wonder about their mental status *sigh*