"Fat Talk Free Week"

In many ways, I've been very lucky.

Throughout my life I've been surrounded by family who have taught me that I am beautiful inside and out--and that it's the inside that's more important, anyway. Still, I have strong arms and hands that have enabled 14 years of playing the piano, legs that have sustained 4 summers of volunteer work projects in Appalachia, and an entire body's worth of ability and blessings.

And yet, our culture's endorsement of the "thin ideal" has still managed to manipulate my image of myself. Until this moment I've silenced myself about body image issues over the past 10 years, unable to identify with the language of the conversation--mostly because the thin ideal had such a tight hold on it:

• Since I heard it in junior high for the first time, "You look great! Have you lost weight?" has never felt like a compliment--especially when I heard it from my 13-year-old friends...and their mothers.
  
• I've been consistently upset by TV spots like The Biggest Loser--both the competitive concept and the tongue-in-cheek derogatory name of the show.
• Hearing other women in my life talk about how they need to lose weight (often women who weighed far less than I did) felt like a personal attack and judgment against me.
  

Tri Delta, the fraternity for women of which I'm a proud alumna, is sponsoring "Fat Talk Free Week" this week, to reject the hold that the thin ideal has on our culture and the people in our lives that we love.

Fat Talk Free® Week 2009 (Oct 19 – 23) is an international, 5- day body activism campaign to draw attention to body image issues and the damaging impact of the ‘thin ideal’ on women in society. This 2nd annual public awareness effort was borne from Tri Delta’s award-winning body image education and eating disorders prevention program, Reflections.

Finally there is a campaign against the damaging rhetoric of "fat talk"--rhetoric that has led to 81% of 10-year-olds being afraid of being "fat." Another statistic with which I can personally identify is that 1 in 4 women have avoided engaging in a physical activity or sport because they feel badly about the way they look. "Fat talk" is corrosive; 10 million people nationwide suffer from eating disorders (http://www.endfattalk.org/stats.html).

The campaign's message, "Friends Don’t Let Friends Fat Talk" challenges us to be proactive, not silent. Challenge those you hear who qualify their self-worth by a size or number. With love, offer alternative paradigms for self-esteem. We can prevent eating disorders through "body activism," shifting the way we see, think about, and talk about our bodies.

Consider: Who is overhearing what you say, and how is it affecting that person today, tomorrow, and throughout her life?

So this week, change your language. Change the minds of those in your life. Change your own mind. Reclaim and celebrate your whole self--including your body!

I reclaim my body as a beautiful gift that enables me...
to serve others, to play volleyball, to dance the Cupid Shuffle at wedding receptions, to move in and out of 9 temporary homes in the past 5 years, to travel to visit friends and family, to hug my aging grandmothers, to roll around in piles of leaves on my walk into the office (okay, I haven't done that one yet, but I've been tempted these days)...

How can you reclaim and celebrate who you are?
I'm starting with this.

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For more information, visit:
http://www.endfattalk.com/
http://www.bodyimageprogram.org/
http://www.tridelta.org