For readers in the U.K. . . .

Maybe you've already heard about Scarlet Magazine's campaign to ban fat jokes on TV. As editor in chief Sarah Hedley puts it:

Ordinarily, I’m a big fan of Alan Carr, but I only got as far as the second episode of his new Channel 4 show Celebrity Ding Dong before I began to feel uncomfortablewith the format. Pitting celebs against ‘civilians’, as we’re referred to on the show, is one thing, but having a laugh at the expense of the morbidly obese is quite another. Sadly this is what viewers were expected to do in episode two when Davina McCall and team were asked which was bigger, Posh Spice’s waist or obese civilian Tracey’s arm. The celebrity team hazarded a guess, then Tracey was brought on set and measured to prove just how big she was, while the world was invited to point and laugh.

She then goes on to compare obesity to cancer, unfortunately. Still you have an opportunity to sign a digital petition on the subject if you like.

Makes you wish for the good old days of Benny Hill, now, don't it? :-)

Wow

What an outpouring in response to yesterday's Times piece. I had no idea so many people had gone through the same kind of experience. I heard from many, many parents who had nearly lost a child through illness or accident, and from a few who went through the same set of feelings around a parent or sibling.

So I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who wrote and shared a bit of their story with me. You reminded why it is, exactly, that I am a writer. Writing makes me feel not so alone--and I hope it does the same for some of you.

New piece in the New York Times

Here's the linky. Enjoy. And let me know what you think.

Thank you, Canberra Times

for publishing this opinion piece about the connection between anti-obesity hysteria (my word, not theirs) and eating disorders.

Thank you for pointing out the real and tragic human anguish behind eating disorders. Thank you for daring to question the tactics, if not the content, of campaigns against fat.

And thank you for this last line:

. . . let us not forget to protect the innocence and confidence of a child's innate self-image.

Amen.