Weighing In: Heavy thoughts on obesity

Well, some are cold, and some are lukewarm...

As a fat pagan woman, I have been following many of the various discussions on Pagans and obesity (or fat pagans) with interest. I wasn't going to chime in, but I did - on Z's show and a few comments.

But now is the time; I am making a point: mind your own fat business!

Probably the most common argument I've seen for stepping in when a pagan sees another pagan who is fat is this: "When harm is being done, it is my spiritual/religious duty to step up."

Goddess gets body image insecurity?

Ok, I immediately went to abortion rights on that one.

That's right, I'm saying that that excuse is used for Christians (and others) imposing their values, beliefs and opinions upon the masses, regardless of their own personal beliefs, regardless of circumstances.

I'm gonna say it... proselytizing.

You want to impose your own sense of what is right and wrong for me and my body? I hear there is an opening in the Westboro Baptist Church.


I would argue that most Pagans would consider it MORE in line with their beliefs that, with only the most extreme exceptions, it's our job to TRUST each other to do what is right for ourselves and the rest of the world.

Ruben likes his women with
fleshy goodness!

Yeah, I brought out the T-word.

You should trust me that I am a reasonably intelligent human being with complexities that you prolly don't understand.
You should trust me that I have the same googling capability that you have, and that I am either as informed as you are or have CHOSEN to remain ignorant.
You should trust me that if I WANT to get better, I will do what I can to do so, and if I don't, there is NOTHING that you poking your nose in will do to change that.

You should trust that I am a "grown-ass woman" with decision-making capability and that, whether you are talking about the layer of fatty tissue under my epidermis or the reproductive organs in my lower abdomen, MY BODY = MY CHOICE still applies.

I don't understand how being nosy or pushy is the way you show you care. Personal responsibility is just that: personal AND a responsibility. It is mine to make or break. My body to use or abuse, to trash or treasure.

Gods, if I came even close to
having her body fat...
I'd eat MORE ICE CREAM!

On a similar note, it came to my attention that an Olympic swimming contender was called "fat." Let me clarify: This woman swims. She swims often and she swims fast. She does so to the point that she beat out most of an entire country (Australia) to qualify for the Olympics, an honor most people I know have never even APPROACHED. She has won EIGHT medals during the last 12 years. "Together with Emily Seebohm, Alicia Coutts and Melanie Schlanger, she won a silver medal for Australia in the 4 × 100 m medley relay." Oh, wait. That makes NINE medals. How many have YOU won?

 She's now 26 and has grown a bit of a pooch. To quote, "The question that comes up is: Does it matter? Is it the media's place to question the fitness of an athlete who has already proved herself by making the team in the first place?" Exactly. She's done 4 Olympics and 9 medals more than pretty much any journalist, blogger or commentator who has decided to judge her body (in an unforgiving and less then flattering swimsuit, no less).

To those who did judge her, go win a frickin' Olympic medal and then you MIGHT get to say something. Otherwise, SHUT UP.

Holley Mangold weighs in at 346 pounds (157 kilograms);
she can also bench press a small BUS!
"[Her] personal record in the combined snatch and
clean-and-jerk is 255 kilos (562.2 pounds)."

UPDATE: This was in my YahooNews feed today. The epic quote? Here: "The Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF), a UK charity aiming to get more women into sport to build self-esteem and confidence, said only 12 percent of British girls at age 14 were doing enough exercise to meet recommended guidelines. WSFF Chief Executive Sue Tibballs said their research found negative body image was consistently cited as a barrier for girls participating in exercise as popular culture gave out the message it was more important to be thin than fit." (Emphasis, mine.)

Blogging on Blogging: How multi-tasking is the only way to travel

I am currently on the radio.

I am sitting at my desk, connected to Pagan-Musings radio blog as one of the weekly co-hosts, along with Phil Kessler. We are celebrating two years of being on the "air". Woot!

We have been on all this time, with kids and cats, technical issues and technological progress. And what a ride!

The following is a real-time run-down of what we are talking about:
We are talking about The Witches' Hour ezine, as well as our past guests and musical artists, such as Kaedrich Olsen, Damh the Bard, Paradiso and Rasamayi, Wendy Rule, Spiral Dance. We also have a call-in guest, Zaracon from Pagans Tonight.

We are also talking about plans for the future, both near and far: guest Lady Amythyst Raine who wrote Tarot: A Witch's Journey, and when I am moving to Lincoln, NE for the continued saga of Pangaia Metaphysical Store, the site and the facebook page. We are also discussing future-guest Oberon Zell and his projects, The Church of All Worlds (CAW) and Green Egg Magazine, Dorothy Morrison, and Patrick McCollum.

Phil and Z are teasing me about something they know about and won't tell me... Grrrr! Phil has a new project coming up, a pagan news program associated with Pagan-Musings and the sister programs, Musica Pagani and Selections from the Mess.


In discussing music, we have to mention that we carry some of this music on the webstore. We are also going to be bringing on Stormcrow to discuss the magical properties of various woods, which he uses to make wands for Pangaia.


Also our second-half of the show is a more serious subject, discussing the legal situation with Patrick McCollum and the religious rights of pagans in prison systems. Here is the press release he made regarding his continued efforts; and an article about the situation, Pagan Values: Why Prisoners Matter.


One of the wonderful things about a live show is the hecklers/spammers. Having open call-ins and/or an open chat room means that sometimes we'll have a caller talk about something totally inappropriate, or chatters posting about fundie Christian stuff, or posting porno links... *sighs* Idjits!