And “BlogHer” sure looks mighty Gaelic when you write it all in caps. WI’ NAE WEE BAIRN O’ BLOGHER YE’LL ME BEGET. Oh, I have no idea what that means. But today I had a slight lull in between all my freelance-writing- for-fun-and-profit adventures to post about BlogHer for those of you who are coming next weekend, those of you playing at home, and those of you who might not even know my site at all. Way back in the early days of this site I had a FAQ section that people could read to find out where I was coming from, and it worked pretty well back then. So here’s a few Q’s that I’ll A right here, and feel free to ask more in the comments. Or just, you know, comment.
What’s this panel you’re doing and who else is going to be there?
It’s called Our Bodies, Our Blogs and the description is here. I’ll be on the panel with Laurie of Body Impolitic and Yvonne of Joy Unexpected, and Jenny at Big Slice of Life is going to moderate. Other BlogHer attendees who’ve mentioned they’ll show up and take part in the discussion (and they better) include Kate Harding, Weetabix at Elastic Waist, Jen from Angry Fat Girlz, Shauna (yes, that Shauna) and the notorious PQ. And anyone else who wants to drop a line in the comments and introduce herself (HINT HINT).
What business does a Weight Watcherer like you have being on a body image panel?
Yeah, apparently this came up in a discussion elsewhere. Initially I sort of shrugged off the question and simply pointed out that I stopped doing Weight Watchers about two years ago, just to put to rest any concern that I’d show up and totally ruin everything with my weight-watcherly ways. Like I promised I wouldn’t wear my fancy tape measure cinched around my awesomely trim waist, and I would also try not to get up in the middle of the panel and twirl the hell around like Lynn Redgrave.
Not like people who do Weight Watchers are actually like that, ever, but still.
Then again, even when I was doing that program I still had things to say about the way our popular culture regards fat women and about the way we appear in magazines and in the eyes of self-entitled douchebags who didn’t like the Dove ads, so maybe I didn’t have all my brain cells completely replaced by POINTSâ„¢.
Though it’s also it’s worth noting that the person who took issue with my place on the panel put the question in such a way that almost suggests that by being “smart, witty and clever,” my weight-watcherness was even more problematic, because God forbid anyone associate That Program with anything other than mandatory self-hatred. I could go on, but instead I’ll refer you to Jen’s and Erin’s reactions, which are much more thoughtful than anything I can manage right now.
Okay, but where are you with all this stuff now?
I gained back the forty pounds that I lost on Weight Watchers in 2001-2002, and all this evidence that most diets fail after five years sounds pretty intriguing to me these days. Intriguing and, um, true.
But I’ve also gradually lost thirty pounds since October from being more active and eating more vegetarian/vegan. It’s true I don’t write about the body stuff as much as I used to, and part of the reason is that I’m simply doing more offline writing than blogging these days, but it’s also because after more than five years of writing online about this, I’ve gotten weary of doing this elaborate dance. You know, where you feel like anything you say about changing your eating habits must be prefaced by the statement that you’re doing it to be healthy and not just a shallow dipshit, and that you’re focused but not obsessed, and that every time you happen to mention pushing yourself a little harder than usual during a workout you must issue the disclaimer that, yes, you like it, and yes, it feels good, and no, you really do not need to just give yourself a big hug right now.
Because yes, people have written in to say things like that over the years. So I don’t put the food and body stuff in my life up for discussion so much any more, which is fine, because I don’t feel like I need to write about them as much. When I do, I tend to write about the stuff that kind of thrills me: the bike thrills me. For fuck’s sake, soup thrills me.
Would you say you endorse WW?
Well, no, there are a lot of things about Weight Watchers that I disagree with. Feel free to ask me if you want to know, but I haven’t felt a need to write about it online. Maybe sometime I will, but I don’t feel like going there now.
Would you say you endorse fat acceptance?
Sure, same as always. I’m never going to be thin. Sometimes it’s not as simple as that, but you know what? Sometimes it is.
Any other advice for BlogHer?
Wear comfy shoes. You’re gonna walk your fucking head off at Navy Pier, you know.
Just to reiterate here what I’ve said elsewhere. As Laurie Edison’s co-blogger at Body Impolitic, I personally think that 1) body image is about a lot more than fat/dieting; and 2) everybody (i.e., everyone who has a body) has a place on a body image panel. I just wish I could be there.
Well, you’re certainly everywhere else, Debbie! 🙂
I have a question: what does a panel format mean exactly? Are we all going to sit Indian style on the rug and pass the speaking stick around? Are the presenters going to be up front calling on people? I’m trying to visualize this in my head.
Holy crap Wendy, I cannae wait to meet ya, hen! And other asssorted Gaelic-ish words!
I felt a huge rush of relief reading this bit of your entry:
“You know, where you feel like anything you say about changing your eating habits must be prefaced by the statement that you’re doing it to be healthy and not just a shallow dipshit, and that you’re focused but not obsessed..”
Lately I’ve felt compelled to splash disclaimers everywhere and perhaps change the name of my stinking blog since it has the D word in it. Or at least put a notice in red letters on the sidebar, I Do A Lot Of Exercise But Not From A Place Of Loathing.
It’s rather complicated, all this stuff. I’m looking forward to seeing how the panel unfolds!
Ditto what Shauna (the D Word-girl) just said. I am looking forward to seeing all your bonnie faces there. And afterwards, maybe we can knock back a drink or two.
When I have gone to conferences with panels in the past, there is a long table with all the panelists in the front of the room, a moderator, and chairs for the rest of us. Usually each panelist gets to speak a little to introduce herself, and then it is turned over to Q & A from the rest of us.
I promise not to ask you to suggest low-POINTS snacks. 🙂
Looking forward to the discussion, which, as Debbie suggests, will hopefully be wide-ranging. Hopefully we can keep some focus on blogging.
PastaQueen: a “panel format” has presenters at the front of the room behind a table. Usually, the presenters each talk first (maybe just a brief introduction, maybe “opening remarks” of some kind), then there’s a short conversation among the presenters, and then the moderator opens the floor for questions and comments. This format can vary a lot, depending on the moderator’s style.
Debbie & Jen – Cool, thanks for the info. I guess I should think up some interesting questions so I can appear all smart and prepared
shauna – I Do A Lot Of Exercise But Not From A Place Of Loathing – Heh! LOL over here. Do I have to start calling you “Lifestyle Changer Girl” now? I know what you mean though. I like to call it “Defensive Blogging.” It happens when you’ve been blogging for so long that you can anticipate all the criticisms people are going to throw at you, so you move to block any attacks before they happen. It’s like when you’re fat and you make a joke about your weight before anyone else can.
Will someone take copious notes or video or something? I’ve been desperately trying to get busses to connect and find hostels without roommates who will potentially watch you while you sleep, but no such luck. Plus it’s happening during my birthday and there are already rumors of multiple chocolate cakes being baked and frosted in the balmy depths of Southwest Missouri…le sigh.
Enjoy BlogHer, ladies. I bet it’ll be a remarkable conversation next weekend.
Just a general shout out, rant, whatever, since we’re talking about fat chick blogging of which I am one (amongst other things) (are we even talking about that?).
What the fuck ever happened to Emily and Lindsay, The FattyMcBlog girls (http://fattymcblog.blogspot.com/)? Did they go on The Biggest Loser as they had vaguely threatened to do (but jokingly also dissing it too, saying they were too fat and lazy to put together audition tapes)?
Your panel sounds fun and all but sheesh, I totally wanna see those chicks on The Biggest Loser (if that is indeed what happened and is the cause of their annoying radio silence). I have been dying to have a look at them ever since one of them wrote about their pannus.
Hey, thanks for the advice about comfy shoes. I am totally torn between the body image panel and the storytelling panel, where a friend is speaking. I so wish I could be in two places at once!
On a slightly related topic: Can you recommend any good plus-size shopping in the BlogHer vicinity? I have been trying to find stuff online but am not having much luck. Thanks.
I’ve been reading you off and on for a while now – and I am curious about your thoughts on Weight Watchers. I was considering paying them a visit to lose 15 lbs or so (I lost about 40-50 lbs last year on LA Weight Loss). I did find LA to work for me – but it was expensive and I might want to try something else to lose that last little bit.
Re Plus-size shopping near BlogHer:
It’s been years since I shopped in that area, so none of this is first-hand and just based on what stores are nearby and which ones I know to be fairly plus friendly:
The nearest big store is Nordstrom’s on Michigan and Grand (but I don’t know what their in-store selection is like). There’s a Chico’s several blocks up Michigan Avenue at Water Tower Place, and I’ve heard they have plus sizes. If you go south to the Loop area there’s an Ashley Stewart and a Lane Bryant, and probably other stuff, too.
It’s a cab ride away in Bucktown, but Vive La Femme is the fancy plus boutique place that has stuff from Igigi and Svoboda. Not cheap, but fun to visit.
If anyone has other ideas, please chime in.
Great entry, Wendy – I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone and hearing from all of these great attendees at the panel.
Thanks, Wendy, for the shopping suggestions. I may have to make a pilgrimage to Lane Bryant. Vive La Femme sounds fun — do you know if they have casual clothes? I wish Chico’s had plus sizes, but I don’t think they do. http://chicos.com/store/page.asp?id=22
Thanks again, I appreciate it!
Hi Wendy – I’m a contributing editor for Blogher and have been one of your readers for a long time now. I just posted in response to Denise’s Blogher post about the panel, and you can see what I had to say if you cruise over there. Bottom line: I’m a Weight Watchers vet who believes that if everyone on this panel had never dieted or did not feel the need to currently in spite of all knowledge to the contrary and an evolving sense of self-acceptance (blahblahblah!), I wouldn’t think it was an accurate group for the topic. And honestly, Weight Watchers is way down the list of things I think about when it comes to your writing. #1? “Bad times stores”, which I’ve stolen for my own personal use and ALMOST always give you credit for, and a bunch of other things, to be annoyingly vague.
I’m really glad you’ll be there. I was hoping you would when I learned the conference would be in Chicago. See you there!
Laurie, thanks so much for your terrific comment on that BlogHer thread.
Patia: oops, you’re right about Chico’s. I wonder where I heard they had plus sizes. Vive La Femme indeed has casual stuff, though be warned it’s at boutique prices.
re: Chico’s…I’m a 14 who can wear a 16 on occasion, and many Chico’s size 2s (different here than the normal size 2, which I haven’t worn since I was a toddler – they only have four sizes, 0-3) fit me. 3s run big, so I imagine that they would work for women who wear a 16-maybe 20? I suck at estimating this kind of thing.
Their clothes tend to be very comfortable, a little bit “Mom-chic”, if you will, but I LOVE their “Traveler” line, which is microfiber-type stuff that mixes and matches well. My mom and I are sort of addicted to it. You can find knock-offs of it at Belk (in the South) and I’d imagine other department stores like Macy’s, if you look…I just saw it at Belk the other week when I was in SC. It’s called another “C” word – “Choices” or “Casuals” or something stupid like that. They also have funky wraps and things for evening wear that are one-size fits all, so that’s fun (and those often don’t sell at full price, so if you’re a little more daring, you can often get sale prices on some of the more fun stuff.)
I only shop the sale stuff at Chico’s and even that isn’t often cheap. My favorite denim jacket came from there for like 12 bucks, though, so they’re one of those overpriced chains where you can occasionally get random, awesome, clearance deals.
PS: You’re welcome for the comment, Wendy. I got really fired up over the one that inspired it, clearly. ; ) It just really irks me when people have their own arbitrary ideas about who is “qualified” to do this or that thing. In a way, that kind of pigeonholing is why panels like this have to happen in the first place!
Plus, having really been down this weird road myself, I know the deal. Or at least the deal as I went through it. See you this Friday, and if you decide to hang out after or before your panel, you’re on the very short list of people I’m buying a drink for!!!! I’ll come up and say hey, or maybe I’ll just start shrieking from the audience again if something pisses me off. ; ) (Nah, don’t worry – not my style…am looking forward to meeting you though, and though this isn’t one of my liveblog assignments, I’ll be covering it for my little site.)
Ah, that’s so cool you’ve gone towards veg-ish! This is the thing for me (I’ve been fully veg 10 ten yrs, vegan 4 yrs)–sad products of inhumane farming systems aren’t food, so not eating them can’t be deprivation, it’s been so long since I viewed all that as food (I took my long, comfortable time to get there, though. Thus the non-deprivation). And of course salt, sugar, and fat still all come vegan style. But it’s nice to look at your food and consider how it affects someone besides yourself (the “general” you, not *you*). So I think it’s pretty sweet when people explore this stuff.
It was nice to meet you, Wendy, and a thrill to find your new book (and get it signed by you).
I did end up going to the Lane Bryant on Wabash and found a bunch of cute things, so thanks.
Ok, this is an old thread and all, but I just wanna give you some props. It’s true–not only do people police what you are eating if they think you are big, or they think the food is bad for you, they also police what you are eating if they think you are skinny or if the food is too ‘good’ for you–wouldn’t want you to get too big, or, look at her, she can eat anything, or you’re sure you don’t have some kind of disorder . . . ugh.
Anyway, I am glad you are having fun in whatever Thing you are doing, and much thanks for sharing so much in the past on this issue in your awesomely smart and funny way. You certainly don’t owe us more introspection on what can be such an exhaustingly tricky issue.
Also, if you have any bike questions, drop me a line. I am sort of a born-again bike jock (as in no one who knew me the first 27 years of my life would believe what has happened in the last 7, not as in I exercise and am buds w/ Jesus) and worked in a bike shop for a time, so, y’know, if you have q’s.