I’d still be chained to the bed…

WTH????!?!?!?! Are you serious? A man chained his 15 year old daughter to the bed because he wanted to stop her from “overeating” because he thought she is “fat??????????????” Are you KIDDING ME??

On and off for two days, Blue’s 15-year-old daughter was chained to her bed. She was found beaten and in tears — all because Blue thought she was overweight, according to a police report.

My Google Reader presents me several news stories a day that anger me, but this was one of the worst today. My father gets after me about my weight all the time, in the name of health of course, but he never chained me to the bed to keep me from eating! If he had I’d still be being chained to the bed because I’m still fat!

So, you want your daughter to weigh less, for her martial arts class. You find illegal pea and corn containers (peas and corn? seriously? I’d probably have gotten a party if my parents had saw me sneaking peas and corn!!!) and think to yourself “Oh, I’ll show her. I’ll chain her to the bed so she’ll stop heading to the fridge!!! Oh, and I’ll beat her with a stick and kick her a few times just to make sure she gets the message!”

So, let’s see, you’ve taken away her self-confidence, self-esteem, freedom, security – great job! You’ve now shown your daugher not only that you don’t find her a beautiful miracle, but that you don’t even value her safety and health. Family trust = broken.

Would you also chain your wife to the bed and kick her (or worse) if she doesn’t want to vaccum or cook your favorite dinner?!? I hope you get a clue dude.

Dreams for Women

Ever heard of PostSecret? I subscribe to the feed on LiveJournal and every Sunday I look forward to reading the new cards that come in from people all over that choose to bear their souls to the world. I find myself disgusted by some, incredibly saddened by others, and agreeing with a good few. Sometimes I find myself reading one and thinking “wow…I could have sent this in.” I was thinking of PostSecret when I saw the image you see to your right and a few others in my Google Reader the other day.

The images are made by men and women all over and sent to Antigone Magazine out of British Columbia. The magazine is a non-profit (and non-partisan) magazine about women and politics and is sponsoring this feminist version of PostSecret asking for submissions of art expressing dreams for women. From their website:

Donations received from the Dreams for Women project will help launch the Antigone Foundation, a national organization that will encourage young women aged 10-30 to become politically and civically engaged, and to actively participate in leadership roles.

The images are stunning and I’d imagine resonate with anyone that struggles with self and gender image. I know they strike a familiar chord with me. I really encourage everyone to check them out, and to buy a calendar if you have the extra money.

Who knew “What do you want to drink?” could be such a loaded question?

I have a co-worker that eats very little besides McDonald’s. Not just a cheeseburger and fries a couple of times a week – no, I’m talking about a NIGHTLY (at least 5 nights a week) meal of a Big Mac Meal and 2 Double Cheeseburgers. Its always been a joke for the rest of us – “Where is so and so? Oh, he’s probably at McDonald’s.” Its also slightly a sore point for a couple of us that are a bit jealous that he eats all that and gains not an ounce on his skeleton thin frame (there are some rumors that he takes Adipex, but they are just rumors).

I hate going grocery shopping. I’m in that omg-it-is-so-hard-to-buy-healthy-food-when-my-budget-is-already-overshot and I-have-no-idea-what-to-fix-that-will-keep-for-a-week-and-that-I-won’t-get-bored-with-being-the-only-person-eating-it so I often don’t go shopping when I need to and end up relying on a coworker to go get me something to eat. I’m quite opposed to McDonald’s, for reasons in addition to the lack of healthy food, but every once in a while I have to rely on that McDonald’s loving co-worker to grab me something when he goes because there’s not much else open at 3AM nearby.

The other day was a day like that – I slept ALLLLLLLLL day and had no time to even root around in my fridge and look for something I could take with me. So, at 2:30AM when the food run was being made I threw an order in. My order? The chicken sandwich meal with a Coke.

“What do you want to drink with that? A diet-something?”

WTH? I’m offended by this on two levels. First – I’m a fat girl that just ordered McDonald’s. Really…what’s the point of having a Diet Coke with anything from McDonald’s? Honestly. What else? Oh, just because I’m fat you are going to ASSUME that I want a Diet Coke? That because I’m fat I should feel shame and order a Diet Coke because that’s what society wants me to do? Second – I’m a female in a male-dominated field…I’m guessing here, but I bet if a male had asked for something to be picked up his choice of drink wouldn’t have been questioned.

I turned, looked at him, and said “no, regular Coke will be fine.”

What did I get? A snicker and a smile.