I watched the whole thing, finally, and I thought it was surprisingly good. Are there other good documentaries we should know about?

Have you told anyone you're an FA? That is definitely loads easier, and you'll be surprised how well most people will take it. If someone hassles you about *that*, you shouldn't be friends anyway.

I think Debz is right--most people are surprisingly cool about what their friends do.

My own--perhaps greedy--sense of the thing that troubles Debz is that we need both, not one or the other. Until discrimination goes away, people need safe spaces where they know they won't be harrassed or made fun of or ignored. Ideally, if there comes a time when discrimination disappears (see me not holding my breath?), those 'safe spaces' will not be needed and they can fade away.

In the meantime, though, I think it's absolutely crucial for us to keep asking for inclusion in everything there is. Given the percentages in the US and UK (I don't know about other countries, I'm afraid) of 'overweight' and 'obese' people, aka BBWs/BHMs and SSBBWs/SSBHMs, I think our absence in the media is an important thing to push against. How we go about that is a different question.

Well, let me ask an apparently stupid question to all of you who are afraid (which includes me, since many people *don't* know, even though many do). When you imagine telling a particular person, what do you imagine they will say in response? And how do you imagine that would make you feel? And can you imagine a way for you to respond that would feel positive?

Thanks for these, huge help!!! I want to compile the recent ones and use them in the text of a response, and then put the whole list in a 'bibliography' to attach. I can't believe how smug they were, and I just want to show them that it wasn't all about them.

After that I'll try to place it there. I had a piece in Ms. in 1993; might be amusing to try again. (To be honest, I didn't even know it was still publishing.)

What did she recommend? How high was it? What's your family history of heart disease?

Whatever the answers are to these things, the first thing I did when I got that news was buy an at-home meter, to keep track of patterns over the time of day, how much was white-coat, and so on.

You can lower your salt intake, you can get on medication, you can try to be more active. All of those things will help at least somewhat. And then just keep watching.

If it were serious s/he would've put you on meds.

Is it really true that none of you knows places where we've been trashed by fat activists? I know it has happened a number of times...

Silver Fox posted this link in a thread in the General forum, and I just watched it:

&feature=related

I haven't watched the whole show, but I certainly will. Did anyone else see it? or watch it on youtube? What do you all think of it? Is it a good view on fat people?

Would love to hear any and all thoughts...

Yeah, she'd interview you by email or phone or in person. Totally anonymous, you can make up your name. She wants to talk about the usual stuff--when did you start having the fantasies, do you act on it, why or why not, how does it fit in your life, blah blah blah. Basically all the stuff we talk about in the forums.

She's really nice, and definitely looking to do a sympathetic story. Ruby had the same vibe, and I doubted her until I talked to her, but she's the real deal. Let me know if you have any other questions, but you could always just email her and see how it feels.

Aren't Brad Pitt and George Clooney routinely dragged out as proof of that?