Just What the Heck Is Weight Stigma?

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Maybe the term ‘weight stigma’ isn’t in your vocabulary yet, but it needs to be. Even if it isn’t, I anticipate that the concept is not f0reign to anyone if you think hard enough about it. In fact, I’m sure that basically everyone, at some point in their lives, has been engaged in it.

Truthfully, it’s a hard set of shackles to break free of. It’s a form of prejudice that most people probably don’t realize they are engaging in, because the stereotypes about people who aren’t thin are usually accepted as truths and are not questioned. Well, I invite you to join me to start questioning them, along with the Binge Eating Disorder Association. As part of their National Weight Stigma Awareness Week (the last week in September), they’re encouraging writers to blog en masse on the subject in what is apparently known as a blog carnival. So long as it doesn’t involve clowns, I’m in.

Real Men, Real Women

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Growing up, I always had a hard time understanding what people meant when they talked about ‘being’ a man. Aside from biology and one’s age, it remained an elusive and abstract concept. When it came to stereotypical ‘guy’ stuff, I always felt out of the loop. I’ve never cared about or followed sports. I’ve always had an aversion to drinking and partying. I could care less about cars. Heck, I don’t even eat meat.

Of course, a lot of that is all superficial stuff. Hobbies and typical cultural interests aside, boys are told not to express themselves from a young age, taught that showing any emotion is a sign of weakness. This also confused me growing up. Maybe it was because I’ve always been fairly well in touch with myself and my emotions, but it just seemed stupid to ignore or deny a part of oneself. If a man isn’t supposed to have emotions, wouldn’t that make a man less than human?

Interview: Karen Morris – Being Your Authentic Self

I’m pleased to present the first podcast for the blog, the No More Cast! I hope to do more interviews with people involved in eating disorder activism and awareness. I hope the audio sounds OK – it wasn’t an ideal setup and we had some white noise, but I mixed most of it out. Let me know what you think, and if you’d like to see/hear more posts like this! It is the product of much time and editing, so I hope you enjoy it. You can stream it by pressing the Play button, or download it directly via the link.

Download podcast.

Full transcript is below.

I recently spoke with Karen Morris, an eating disorder survivor who now treats eating disorders with her unique approach of massage therapy.

Karen:

My name is Karen Morris, I work at A Karen Touch Therapeutic Massage and Body Work, which is a company or business I started a year and half ago, or about. Massage was a major healing modality with me overcoming my eating disorder. It was helping me get reacquainted with my body, because for over 30 years I had an eating disorder, I’m in recovery.

Massage made me become aware back into my body. It made me feel my feelings. I had been disassociated from my head and my body for so long.