| may
4th, 2006 |
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8:38pm
on top of all that researching this:
http://www.demorgan.org.uk/collection/cadmus.htm
8:16pm
my long ass rants in LJ today (soon to be deleted from there, it gets more personal as the day progresses)
More on "moral refusal" and women
By dogemperor Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 08:33:38 AM EST
Of particular interest is a new article in the (Seattle) Stranger which involves
yet another case of "moral refusal" involving pharmacists, the first
time a women's clinic is filing malpractice claims to protect the rights of
their patients to receive care...and some ugly confirmation of trends that
I've noted in two previous articles in this series.
topic: Reproductive Rights section:Diaries
I noted in two previous articles--"Every Zygote is Sacred", or
"Can I have my birth control, already?" and "Moral Refusal"
extends to healthcare in general--on how the increasing use of "conscience
clauses" by pharmacists and other professionals puts not only women obtaining
"The Pill" and Plan B at risk, but potentially all medical aid and
care for certain populations (people who have to take drugs of which one medical
indication is for STDs, HIV patients, and LGBT people period).
The Stranger article gives disturbing confirmation of a trend wherein dominionist
medical care professionals are now starting to refuse to give even lifesaving,
medically indicated drugs which cannot be used to induce abortion because
a women's clinic was involved somewhere in the process:
Cedar River Clinics, a women's health and abortion provider with facilities
in Renton, Tacoma, and Yakima, filed a complaint with the Washington State
Department of Health this week alleging three instances where pharmacists
raising moral objections refused to fill prescriptions for Cedar River clients.
The complaint includes one incident at the Swedish Medical Center outpatient
pharmacy in Seattle. According to the complaint, someone at the Swedish pharmacy
said she was "morally unable" to fill a Cedar River patient's prescription
for abortion-related antibiotics. Cedar River's complaint quotes its Renton
clinic manager's May 17, 2005, e-mail account: "Today, one of our clients
asked us to call in her prescription... to Swedish outpatient pharmacy. [We]
called the prescription in... and spoke with an efficient staff person who
took down the prescription. A few minutes later, this pharmacy person called
us back and told us she had found out who we were and she morally was unable
to fill the prescription." (Cedar River thinks their client eventually
got her prescription filled.)
Cedar River's complaint, dated April 10, summarizes: "In each of the
situations, we believe the pharmacist displayed behavior that was biased,
unprofessional, and unethical. We are concerned that this type of poor treatment
may be becoming a trend."
Yes, you read that right. The patient was refused--not Plan B, not "the
pill", not Zovirax--but antibiotics designed to prevent a septic abortion.
The article continues:
The complaint also includes an incident from November 2005 in Yakima, in which
a pharmacist at a Safeway reportedly refused to fill a Cedar River patient's
prescription for pregnancy-related vitamins. The pharmacist reportedly asked
the customer why she had gone to Cedar River Clinics and then told the patient
she "didn't need them if she wasn't pregnant."
Yes, a dominionist pharmacist assumed a woman who went to a women's clinic
went there to have an abortion and refused her medically indicated prenatal
support on that basis alone. (The old yarn telling people to "assume"
on the basis it "makes an ass out of U and me" comes to mind.)
No matter that a lot of poor women go to those clinics NOT to have abortions
but to have prenatal checkups to make sure the babies they plan to bring into
the world have the best start.
The article notes this is such a severe problem in Washington State that the state pharmacy board is considering dropping the whole concept of "conscience clauses":
Next week, the Washington State Board of Pharmacy (WSBP) will begin deliberating
on rules that will determine whether pharmacists can cite "conscientious,
moral, or religious reasons" in refusing to fill prescriptions for drugs
like Plan B, the well-known emergency contraception pill. The board hopes
to have rules in place as early as this summer.
The seven-member board, appointed by the governor, issues pharmacist licenses
and regulates pharmacists statewide. Obviously, if the board allows individual
pharmacists to withhold medication on moral grounds, it will have implications
beyond a woman's access to things like Plan B, antibiotics, or vitamins. For
example, self-righteous pharmacists could prevent a woman from getting birth
control pills if she couldn't supply a marriage license; prevent a recovering
alcoholic from getting Antabuse; or stop someone from getting an AIDS cocktail.
This is not just an idle worry--dominionist pharmacists have refused to dispense
"the Pill" at all to women (because of the claims in the "pro-life"
community that "the pill" and any other drug or device that potentially
prevents implantation is an abortifacient--claiming pregnancy starts at fertilisation
rather than implantation) and at the beginning of the HIV crisis there were
pharmacists who were refusing to dispense the drug cocktails necessary for
treatment. (In fact, at least one state senator from Alabama--Hank Erwin,
a radio-preacher -cum-politician who has connections with Roy Moore and even
claimed that Hurricane Katrina was an act of divine retribution--has pushed
for legislation mandating labels on all HIV medication admonishing users to
practice a "more responsible lifestyle".
The usual players seem to be involved in this case fighting against this--the
Alliance Defense Fund (not entirely surprising) is fighting for "conscience
clauses" and their expansion, whilst the Northwest Women's Law Center
is filing briefs showing a pattern where people are refused care:
"Pharmacists should not be able to elevate their personal beliefs over
the needs of the patient," says Amy Luftig, deputy director of public
policy at Planned Parenthood Network of Washington. Luftig offered several
anecdotes of refusal stories--including one of a young couple seeking emergency
contraception in the Central District who were lectured by the pharmacist
about sex--but says most women are too embarrassed or stigmatized to go public
with a complaint like the one Cedar River filed on behalf of its clients.
(Indeed, until this week, pharmacy board director Steven Saxe says, the board
had not received any complaints.) Luftig says Planned Parenthood is now posting
signs in its clinics asking people for their refusal stories.
from here:
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/4/13/83338/0683
more:
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2005/12/4/193316/139
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/2/3258/64523
A lot of people have expressed legitimate concern that the "conscience clauses", taken to their ultimate extreme, could result in refusals of other products or even refusals to offer care to people whom dominionists disapprove of--gays, or non-dominionists, for that matter.
There are signs this is already happening.
Dominionists are even going further in some instances--one dominionist legislator has attempted to propose banning distribution of birth control on state college campuses under the old dominionist canard that the pill "increases promiscuity".
There are dominionist judges now that--in almost identical manner to the dominionist pharmacists--are refusing to hear "judicial bypass" cases in regards to minors seeking consent for obtaining abortion services (or in some cases even prescription birth control); in some cases, these are the only judges in their county authorised to hear such cases. Reportedly this is also including legal emancipation cases, which has effects far beyond abortion (one common legal mechanism for kids escaping abusive households is to have a judge declare legal emancipation); of note, one of the judges in question is in Shelby County Tennessee, home of one of Love In Action's facilities. (At least one person has successfully made a bid for legal emancipation on the mere threat of being sent by his parents to Love In Action's facilities; another person was granted a hearing in Georgia for emancipation but may have been kidnapped (against the judge's custody order) and transported back to the Love In Action facility after he had escaped. That case is under legal investigation and involves the one minor still at the facility.)
Also, "conscience clauses" are expanding to other medications that dominionists disapprove of solely because they "prevent consequences of sexual misbehaviour and might encourage promiscuity".
A promising vaccine against human papilloma virus or HPV--which is the cause of not only nearly all cervical cancer, but nearly all penile cancer in men--has been shown to be highly effective--but may never make it stateside because dominionist groups like the Family Research Council are already coming out in opposition because they claim it could increase promiscuity.
There is legitmate fear that an HIV vaccine will probably be opposed on similar grounds, should one ever be developed that is effective, based on how funding of condoms for HIV prevention is already opposed by dominionist groups in Africa (where HIV infection rates often approach 40-50% even in the heterosexual population).
Not only are pharmacists refusing to fill legitimate prescriptions for Plan B and even monthly birth control (based on urban legends in the dominionist community promoted by groups like Pharmacists for Life International claiming they are a form of abortion), not only is approval of a vaccine for HPV (which, incidentially, would be the first effective vaccine for cancer, as 99 percent of all cervical and penile cancer is caused by HPV) being fought by dominionist groups even as it has completed phase III trials (because HPV is a cause of genital warts)...
...but per this livejournal entry there are now reports that dominionist pharmacists are refusing to fill scripts for (and occasionally destroying the scripts for) any prescriptions they feel may be for an STD (in this case, this was for Valtrex, a medication that is used for herpesviruses in general):
I know a young woman who has the misfortune to have contracted genital herpes.
She is on a daily regimen of Valtrex to prevent symptoms from manifesting
themselves.
Recently she took her prescription to a pharmacist who was apparently a fundamentalist Christian.
Not only did he refuse to fill the prescription, but he tore it up and handed it back to her, saying, "God is punishing you for your sin."
Refusals of prescriptions for drugs of this class can be potentially life-threatening--antivirals
of the same class are used for herpesviruses besides herpes simplex II (which
is genital herpes).
Genital herpes (herpes simplex II) is one of a family of anywhere between
nine and twelve human herpesviruses, which include herpes simplex I (oral
herpes--cold sores), herpes zoster aka varicella (cause of chickenpox and
shingles when the varicella virus reactivates in adults), Epstein-Barr virus
(aka mononucleosis--which has also been linked to Wilms tumour and Burkitt's
lymphoma), cytomegalovirus (a common complication in HIV patients which can
cause blindness), etc.
A very common reason for prescription of drugs like Valtrex besides genital herpes is for kids who are leukemic or have depressed immune systems to prevent complications from exposure to chickenpox--most of those kids also cannot have the chickenpox shot, as it's a live vaccine, and exposure to chickenpox can be life threatening; even adults who have never had the chickenpox who are exposed are typically given a course of varicella antiglobulin along with a course of Valtrex--in the hope that the VAB will prevent infection, the latter will hopefully make it less severe. (Chickenpox reactivating in adults can cause shingles, which is quite painful (and another reason why Valtrex is prescribed); in adults full blown chickenpox commonly hospitalises people and even kills them--Hawaii state legislature representative Patsy Mink died from chickenpox pneumonia as a result of catching it as an adult.)
Another reason that Valtrex is prescribed is--interestingly--cancer. (Yes, seriously.) As it turns out, Kaposi's sarcoma is (much like cervical cancer and penile cancer) one of the few cancers definitely linked to a virus--specifically, human herpesvirus 8. Ironically, it was partly because of so many HIV patients getting Kaposi's sarcoma that doctors realised it was a virally caused cancer, and we can now treat it using drugs that attack other herpesviruses (including Valtrex).
Valtrex is also prescribed to patients with particularly severe cases of mono or who are subject to severe complications from mono (for example, people who have had to have their spleens surgically removed).
Related drugs to Valtrex, and occasionally Valtrex itself, are also used in people who are exposed to non-human herpesviruses. (Generally herpesviruses that are not fatal to other primates are fatal to humans and vice versa; herpesvirus B, which occurs in macacques, is almost invariably fatal in humans without immediate treatment with anti-herpetic antivirals like Valtrex and ganciclovir. In fact, in many zoos and research facilities, it is standard procedure that if more than one monkey dies in a 24 hour period or if monkeys die after seeming ill all workers who worked with them go on immediate preventive courses of Valtrex in case the monkey had herpesvirus B. It's considered that dangerous to people.)
Also, an increasing fear is that dominionists will start refusing to give antiretroviral drugs to HIV patients because they "disapprove of their lifestyle". In fact, there are hints that the same dominionist groups behind "conscience clauses" are already linking birth control pills and HIV, and as dominionist groups are explicitly trying to expand "conscience clauses" in regards to funding related to HIV.
--
the campaign for "real" beauty
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/07/22/dove/index.html
http://www.etniesgirl.com/blog/2005/08/22/the-dove-girls-you-decide/
what is "real" beauty anyway?
whenever i hear that phrase "REAL women have curves" it makes me
shudder.
it's along the same lines as 'the one TRUE god"
and "the PURE race"
dove (which is just another marketing tactic to even use that word "dove"
as it is an obvious symbol of so much...nothing related to soap) is not about
"real" beauty. it's about selling their products to you.
and they will do it in any way they can, whether that is through guilt, shame,
sex, making you "pure", or making you "real.
see through the bullshit.
"real" empowerment does not come from soap or beauty products.
nor can "true" empowerment be had by telling SOME women they are
"real" because then that means that SOME women are NOT real. but
who cares about the skinny ones anyway, right? i mean skinny women are all
vain and probably anorexic anyway so who gives a shit, right? let's sell some
cellulite cream for your ass, because real asses don't have cellulite. and
then give each other high fives and say "sistah!".
plus this is all in coherts with the girl scouts, which raises an eyebrow
for me. since that is all about god god god and respecting authourity and
doing your duty, blah blah blah...
http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/grab/16/2/1module1-ExploringSpiritualityinGirlGuiding-GirlScouting.pdf
http://www.dovebeyondcompare.ca/beauty/
"you won't find any models on this site. just REAL women"
wow, models aren't real? none of them?
BEAUTY FROM THE INSIDE OUT:
http://www.dovebeyondcompare.ca/beauty/inspirational_articles/feeling_beautiful_from_the_inside_out
"There was a time when I was effortlessly pretty. It was something I was aware of, but didn't pay much attention to. At sixteen, I was focused on boys – one in particular. I obsessed that my very small breasts were never going to grow, and I was confused by where I "fit in." Physically, I was a long-legged teen, with naturally sun-streaked hair and "skinny" genes, who even appeared on the cover of a fashion magazine. Yet the inner me didn't connect to my physical persona. Perhaps I knew instinctively that if I defined myself by these pretty looks, and then went crashing through a windshield or even grew old, I might become lost."
wait...if she was a model and was skinny she wasn't real, but NOW she is?
and before she was "effortlessly" pretty? what now? does she have
to work super super extra hard to let that INNER beauty shine through? i mean
what? what is all this shit about FEELING beautiful and not BEING beautiful.
if i FEEL i am a nice person does that make me a nice person? if i FEEL am
i doing the right thing does that mean i am? all that matters is that i FEEL
i am right?
it goes on
"
The discovery of self is ongoing. Life keeps changing, and we need to keep
assessing how we live our lives and what we care about. It's about being mindful
of our lives – about feeling good in our skin, which is what feeling
beautiful ultimately is about.
European women know this well. They also know it's not about looking young or being conventionally beautiful, although it is about good grooming. In fact, more than 300 European women were asked what they would take to Mars, and the number one response was moisturizer – ahead of husbands. It is also about living with style. It doesn't mean owning a lot of stuff, but enjoying the things you do instead.
"
say wha?
is "feeling good in your skin" meaning LITERALLY your skin"?
and that is ULTIMATELY what makes us beautiful...our SKIN?
the #1 response of what you would take to mars is MOISTURIZER? WTF? *even
ahead of husbands! GASP, how LIBERAL and feminist!* ya for sistahs!!! wait...ummm....why
don't i feel liberated? *pinches self to see if i am real...checks skin...*
ya, a bottle of dove's moisturizer on MARS is going to do such a heck of a
lot of good (us, women, we just don't really know about science yet)
*crazymaking*
3 STEPS TO DESTRESSING YOUR LIFE:
The perfect suit you can wear seven different ways.
Five recipes you can simply prepare and enjoy with family and friends.
The things in your home that make it more livable and enjoyable.
Step One: Assess
What do you have, what do you need? Match your lifestyle with your stuff.
It will give you focus.
(what do i ned to shop for..hmmm....moisturizer for mars!)
Step Two: De-junk
Examine the things you share your life with. Do they work for you or are they
just taking up space? If you've outgrown them, don't like them, or they're
not doing their job, give them away. Only share your life with the things
you need and enjoy.
Step Three: Renew
What's left? Do you have what you need? If not, start your shopping list.
(SHOP SHOP SHOP! now called "RENEW"...i'm not shopping i'm RENEWING
myself)
Start simple – one wardrobe at a time – your clothes, your beauty
routine, your kitchen pantry
(we've come a long way , baby?)
make a donation now to the campaign for REAL beauty!
by a t shirt!
empower yourself!
yay!
"let's free ourselves and the next generation from beauty sterotypes!"
by cleaning and shopping!
let's get everyone involved like moms! and teachers (who are women!) and "other
role models" (like uh...dar i say MEN?)
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/dsef/temp1.asp?id=4685
i would think we should get the men involved with this , too, since we are
leaving them behind when we go to mars.
they might like to know.
"she thinks she's fat. let's tell her she's wrong."
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/flat2.asp?id=5978
'cause fat is BAD BAD BAD! god, no you're not FAT!
heaven forbid anyone should be FAT!
but hey...weren't we celebrating fatness, kind of , sort of?
*drools in a confused way*
you think you're fat but YOU ARE WRONG!!!
WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! screams from a megaphone "YOU ARE WRONG!"
(i feel my self esteem growing!)
but let's celebrate out curves by buying cellulite cream (and eating girl
scout cookies). yay!
it's a win/win situation!
CELEBRATE (celebrate?) eating disorder awareness week and "international
no diet day"
by sending someone a cookie gram!
(no i am not making this up!)
or how about
donating clothes that no longer fit to battered women's shelters?
('cause we all know THEY AIN'T fat unless they're EATING that batter. *bada-bing*!
no cookie grams for the battered women...but how about some PUNCH?)
or how about a group sing-a-long? you know that always makes people feel better
about international binge and purge day..i mean...eat what you want (a million
cookie grams) day. la la la.
on a scale of 1 to 10 how "real" am i?
well, i'm an 11, baby, so shove it up your pure shit free ass, dove.
"Real beauty" -- or really smart marketing?
Dove has a worthy new ad campaign that tells women to embrace their curves.
Too bad they're hawking cellulite cream
By Rebecca Traister
Pages 1 2
July 22, 2005 | The words appear slowly, against the familiar powder-blue
shape of the bird in flight -- the Dove soap symbol -- like soothing, watery
poetry:
For too long beauty has been defined by narrow, stifling sterotypes [sic]. You've told us it's time to change all that. We agree. Because we believe real beauty comes In many shapes, sizes and ages. It is why we started the Campaign for Real Beauty. And why we hope you'll take part.
This is the lilting intro to the Web site that Dove has dedicated to its "Real Beauty" advertising campaign, for which it has picked six women who are not professional models -- each beautiful, but broader than Bundchen, heftier than an Olsen twin -- to model in bras and panties.
The campaign is massive; these six broads are currently featured in national television and magazine ads, as well as on billboards and the sides of buses in urban markets like Boston, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco. And they've made quite an impact. Apparently, this public display of non-liposuctioned thighs is so jaw-droppingly revelatory that recent weeks have seen the Real Beauty models booked on everything from "The Today Show" to "The View" to CNN.
All the hoopla is precisely what Dove expected. According to a press release, Dove wants "to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today's stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves." The use of "real women" (don't think too hard about the Kate Mosses of the world losing their status as biological females here) "of various ages, shapes and sizes" is designed "to provoke discussion and debate about today's typecast beauty images."
It's a great idea --- a worthy follow-up to Dove's 2004 campaign, which featured women with lined faces, silver hair and heavy freckles, and asked questions like, "Wrinkled? Or Wonderful?" and also got a lot of attention, including a shout-out on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show."
As Stacy Nadeau, one of the Real Beauty models and a full-time student from Ann Arbor, Mich., says on the campaign Web site, "I have always been a curvier girl and always will be. I am proud of my body and think all women should be proud of theirs too. This is my time to encourage and help women feel great about themselves, no matter what they weigh or look like. Women have surrendered to diets and insane eating habits to live up to social stereotypes for too long. It's time that all women felt beautiful in their own skin."
But let's hope that skin doesn't have any cellulite. Because no one wants to look at a cottage-cheesy ass.
That's right. The one little wrinkle -- so to speak -- in this you-go-grrl stick-it-to-the-media-man empowerment campaign is that the set of Dove products that these real women are shilling for is Specifically, Dove's new "Intensive Firming Cream," described as "a highly effective blend of glycerin, plus seaweed extract and elastin peptides known for their skin-firming properties." It's supposed to "go to work on problem areas to help skin feel firmer and reduce the appearance of cellulite in two weeks." There are also the Intensive Firming Lotion and the Firming Moisturizing Body Wash, which do pretty much the same thing.
Next page: Is it even possible to break the feel-bad cycle of the beauty industry?
"Real beauty" -- or really smart marketing?
Pages 1 2
July 22, 2005 | The ad copy on the posters -- in which the women stand alone,
often looking over their rounded backsides -- is composed of sing-it-sister
lines like "Let's face it, firming the thighs of a size 2 supermodel
is no challenge" and "New Dove Firming. As tested on real curves."
Meanwhile, on its Web site, Dove encourages us to get behind something called "The Dove Self-Esteem Fund," which involves a partnership with the Girl Scouts (and a program called ). It is supposed to help "girls to overcome life damaging hang-ups by putting beauty into perspective." Yes, when I think of putting beauty in perspective for girls, mostly I think of suggesting that they shell out for three separately sold products that will temporarily make it appear that they have less cellulite.
It's not that I have anything against firming cream. By all means, sell firming cream! Go ahead! I'm even prepared to believe that it may be a useful tool for women who truly are plagued by their cellulite and are thankful to have a product that can help them combat it. I also understand that companies sell stuff. They advertise, they flog product; thus is life and business.
But as long as you're patting yourself on the back for hiring real-life models with imperfect bodies, thereby "challenging today's stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves," why ask those models to flog a cream that has zero health value and is just an expensive and temporary Band-Aid for a "problem" that the media has told us we have with our bodies. Incidentally, cellulite isn't even a result of being overweight! It's the result of cellular changes in the skin. Skinny people have cellulite. Old people have cellulite. Young people have cellulite. Gwyneth Paltrow has cellulite. All God's children have cellulite.
Why not run an ad that proclaims, "Cellulite: Uniquely MINE!"
Or, more realistically, why aren't these women selling shampoo? Or soap? Or moisturizer?
Stacie Bright, a spokeswoman for Unilever, Dove's parent company, emphasized that this campaign "is for women of all shapes and sizes, and a lot of women want firming products. It's about feeling good about yourself. And that's about bringing products that matter to women." Pressed on the inconsistency of having women who feel good about themselves sell a product that makes a lot of us feel bad about ourselves, Bright replied, "Let's face it, if you had a firming product, and you had a size 2 woman selling it, that would really be the contradiction."
Clearly the idea behind the campaign is a smart, worthwhile and rational one. It does feel refreshingly non-self-loathing to log on to the Dove site and hear the models saying things like "I love these big ol' hips" and "I don't think about being slim." It's a little ray of sanity in this anorexic world.
But it's also a business proposition and an advertising campaign. And doing something radically different -- like presenting female consumers with models who actually resemble human beings they've met -- is getting these products a lot of coveted attention. In fact, Dove may have tapped a zeitgeist vein, since the sport of lashing out at manipulated images of female beauty seems to be enjoying a bit of a vogue right now.
This spring, Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett spoke in interviews about her horror at the Botox craze. "I look at people sort of entombing themselves and all you see is their little pinholes of terror," said the actress. "And you think, Just live your life -- death is not going to be any easier just because your face can't move." Blanchett also said that she thinks "that women and their vulnerabilities are played on in the cosmetic industry ... women are encouraged to be terrified of aging." In this month's Vogue, Kate Winslet says of her battle with the press over her normal weight, "I'm relatively slim, I eat healthily, I keep fit ... I couldn't be 105 pounds even if I tried, and I really don't want to be 105 pounds."
And in just over a week, Bath and Body Works in association with American Girl dolls, will launch a line of "Real Beauty Inside and Out" personal care products "designed to help girls ages 8 to 12 feel -- and be --their best." The line will include body lotions, splashes, soaps and lip balms, all dressed up in girl-friendly "hues of berry" and each arriving with an inspirational message like "Real beauty means no one's smile shines exactly like yours," "Real beauty is helping a friend," or "Real beauty is trusting in yourself."
It's a great gimmick -- one that few of us can take issue with. But just like Dove's "love your ass but not the fat on it" campaign, much of this stuff prompts grim questions about whether it's even possible to break the feel-bad cycle of the beauty industry. Blanchett, after all, recently signed on as spokeswoman for SK-II line of cosmetics. And while it's all well and good to tell 8-year-old girls that real beauty is about trust, it's sort of funny to think about doing it while selling them minty lip shine or fruit-scented "My Way Styling Gel" for eight bucks a pop.
Let them be. After all, they have decades ahead of them in which to worry about eradicating the cellulite from their really beautiful curves.
---
Top Ten Reasons To Give Up
Dieting
10. DIETS DON'T WORK. Even if you lose weight, you will probably gain it
all back, and you might gain back more than you lost.
(you undisciplined lazy ass! give up! give up!)
9. DIETS ARE EXPENSIVE. If you didn't buy special diet products, you could
save enough to get new clothes, which would improve your outlook right now.
(be a shopoholic instead! yay! don't stop consuming!)
8. DIETS ARE BORING. People on diets talk and think about food and practically
nothing else. There's a lot more to life.
(oh those boring health nuts and their health! there's so much more to life
like diabetes, not being able to walk, sitting around in hospitals...)
7. DIETS DON'T NECESSARILY IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH. Like the weight loss, health
improvement is temporary. Dieting can actually cause health problems.
(well, ya, if all you eat is GRAPEFRUIT and nothing else, like duh!)
6. DIETS DON'T MAKE YOU BEAUTIFUL. Very few people will ever look like models.
Glamour is a look, not a size. You don't have to be thin to be attractive.
(give up give up! you're NEVER going to look like a model! don't even DARE
to try! who do you think you are anyway?)
5. DIETS ARE NOT SEXY. If you want to be more attractive, take care of your
body and your appearance. Feeling healthy makes you look your best.
(no one will want to fuck you if you are on a diet. EVER! remember FEELING
healthy is better than BEING healthy!)
4. DIETS CAN TURN INTO EATING DISORDERS. The obsession to be thin can lead to anorexia, bulimia, bingeing, and compulsive exercising. (turn to shopping instead! or why not be a workoholic? there are SO many other SEXIER disorders to have!)
3. DIETS CAN MAKE YOU AFRAID OF FOOD. Food nourishes and comforts us, and
gives us pleasure. Dieting can make food seem like your enemy, and can deprive
you of all the positive things about food.
(*sucks thumb*)
2. DIETS CAN ROB YOU OF ENERGY. If you want to lead a full and active life,
you need good nutrition, and enough food to meet your body's needs.
(cookie gram cookie gram!)
And the number one reason to give up dieting:
1. Learning to love and accept yourself just as you are will give you self-confidence,
better health, and a sense of wellbeing that will last a lifetime.
(ya, let's put this one at the bottom of the stack...of pancakes)
from here:
http://www.largesse.net/INDD/toptenreasons.html
(btw, i actually DO NOT advocate diets. one should just eat healthy and not diet. but these sites are just so crazymaking i had to make fun of this)
need some catchy slogans?
http://www.largesse.net/INDD/slogans.html
my favourite one is:
"DIETS...They Deprive the Individual of Eating Temporarily and they Stink!"
catchy!
and god forbid you should TEMPORARILY be deprived of eating!
i advocate eating 24/7!
you should even eat when you sleep!
never never sleep!
more crazymaking from nike:
Here's the worst copy sequence from the ad:
My butt is big...
It's a border collie
That herds skinny women
Away from the best deals
At clothing sales
ya...i feel so empowered.
thanks nike.
"just do it" means groveling over some one sale item from the skinny
bitches?
yay. my ass is like a dog. a dog that herds.
just do it.
--
the "real" women bandwagon
i hope you all realize (those that know me, do, i'm sure)
that i DO accept ALL body sizes.
i'm not going to judge you one way or the other.
i think we've ALL had enough of that now, haven't we?
we've all been there, pretty much.
probably on both sides.
so it just makes me upset when i see someone as intelligent and compassionate
as oprah,
who is now 50 years old and so should know better, after ALL she has gone
through and learned.
to hear her say her show was brought to you by dove, "campaign for REAL
beauty" (huge emphasis on the word "real")
makes me want to slap some sense into her.
and you know, coming from me, one of oprah's "devoted cultlike minions",
because i just adore her...
it takes a lot to make me mad at oprah.
and yes, i realize how ridiculous this sounds.
and i know there are so many people who already hate her and are gonna be
jumping on the "oprah sucks!" bandwagon..
DO NOT GO THERE.
oprah is human and makes mistakes like the rest of us.
and then she , usually, sees her mistakes and makes amends a few months or
years down the road.
i hope this will be one of those times.
but it sure drives home the point that turning 50, even for oprah, does make
make you completely enlightened.
(not like i think it did)
and yes, having a sponsor that is not like halliburton or shell oil, or hooters
or virginia slims (who sponsored billie jean king)
and actually, at least, PRETENDS to be about "empowering women"
(well, i guess virginia slims pretended to....do any of you remember those
commercials? probably not) is not AS bad.
and yes i realize she works WITH the major players (or playahs) to get her
BIGGER message out.
(ho ho ho)
but god fucking dammit.
i just HATE to see this happen.
this...advertising...it's getting better and better all the time. so...effective.
you don't even know you've cut your own throat until it's almost too late.
they make you believe you WANT to cut you own throat. "the campaign for
"real" cut throats!"
and i understand, a person has to make a buck and earn a living...
but fuck if i will buy that oprah needs to "lean" on dove right
now in her life.
fuck that shit.
she could buy her own network by now (oh wait, she did)
and i know i am doing the one thing now that really irritates me bad that
people do to me...
which is think they know me and project their ideals onto me and then when
i do not match what they have in their heads of what they think i am or should
be, they rip me to shreds.
i do not mean to rip her to shreds.
we all have our fatal flaws. bono, tom cruise, god....
and when all is said and done, oprah has done SO much good....having dove
for a sponsor...it's really such a small thing.
or is it?
after all, virginia slims were SLIM....no harm done right? how can you blame a super slim cigarette for anything (except a few deaths)
she is not some sort of messiah or jesus christ but fucking a if you are going to talk the talk then walk the walk.
SEE THROUGH THE BULLSHIT of "the "campaign" for "real" beauty.
god, it even sounds like some sort of nazi propoganda.
and the world is RIPE for it.
it WANTS it.
it wants some BLOODLETTING for all the anorexia images we have been subjected
to.
and people want payback. but the thing is....you're not getting any payback.
"they" are.
you are paying THEM for a false sense of empowerment.
it's just the wrecking ball swaing back and forth.
a wrecking ball would not wreck if it did not sway.
i see what happens in foto_decadent and everyone going off on the skinny
models and at the same time adoring them.
it's a fucked up thing. more than that.
and then we have queen latifah for "cover girl" cover WHAT?
hey i realize not a lot of african amercican women have gotten such a position.
especially one who is "plus size" .
so you go girl *insert hip phrase of empowerment*
"a position" such a loaded term. position for WHAT? pay the bills,
i guess.
and just the mere fact that oprah made it to where she is today from all
the pain she endured and that she channeled that into GOOD, it's astounding...it's
amazing...it's...it makes us all question what WE are capable of.
i guess that is why i love her so much.
is she made me always go...damn....what am *I* capable of if she can do this?
and yes, she still has to insert the enertainment factor into things to make
the boat float.
i get it.
i've been in showbiz.
oprah knows what she is doing.
and she is still learning like we all are.
and ok, i know this makes me sound like some sort of oprah freak, which i guess i am...
just....why oprah why?
when "it's hard out here for a pimp" won a grammy WHY didn't you
SAY something?
i mean HELLO???
THAT HURT.
now this "campaign" (heave ho! onward soldiers! use your asses
as weapons!)
for 'real" beauty starts...
can't you see this is some DUMB ASS PLOY to sell more SHIT we DO NOT NEED???
it's not even like we do not need it. it's worse than that.
i love shit i do not need....beer, extra socks, leaving lights on i do not
need, bic pens...)
but when it MASQUERADES as something which will "LIBERATE" us and then very sneakily, it does "THE EXACT OPPOSITE" it really pisses me off!!
and nothing is black and white i know. (except for those of you who are white
and those of you who are black. *guffaw*)
but FUCK.
i never expected anything remarkable to come from a soap factory, so fuck
you dove, fuck you marketing people suck my ass, but whatever.
dipshits.
make soap, don't tell us to "campaign" for YOU.
you make SOAP NOT BEAUTY!
fuck you for trying to make people think you are a beauty machine like some
osrt of wonka factory.
fuckheads.
but at least i can SORT OF forgive you (but not quite) because you are IDIOTS,
and i expect you to be.
but you, OPRAH (love how my entry sounds like i am speaking to her? god, how strange. it's like one of those rants you have "at the gods" when you've figured out you are smarter than they are...or something....it's kind of psychotic...but whatever. )
but YOU, oprah (as if she can hear)....WTF????
jesus lord almighty christ on a stick.....
use your DISCERNMENT SKILLS that i KNOW YOU HAVE!
(and still don't be dissin' on oprah, 'cause, well, it's like how you can
rag on your sister but if anyone else does you'd punch them in the eye, kind
of a thing)
and i know that's weird.
but i am weird.
and i just needed to type this out to get it out of me because it's just been
BUGGING me for WEEKS!
(can you tell the moon is in leo?)
---
so here is me, ranting and raving about the evils of consumerism and blah
blah blah and i am doing my laundry with "tide" which probably kills
the ocean more than saves it (but at least it doesn't say it will SAVE the
environment, except for the fact that you can now get it scent free and the
bottle is recyclable, or something...as if that makes it BETTER or WORSE),
and i am defrosting my SEA SCALLOPS to eat later (bought at TARGET *zing*)....(i
assure you i eat ramen the rest of the weak in case the karma police want
to come after me)
and i am pissed because the dvd player broke which means the tv now runs through
the vcr..and i tried to change the channel to #4 via the tv which fuct everything
up so now i've missed "survivor" and so i don't know who got voted
off (how will i live?)
and i cannot watch any tv at all because i do not understand how to make it
go back to it's original setting.
it makes me feel pathetic.
like a 50's housewife waiting for her husband to come home to fix the damn
thing which is just the click of a button, i'm sure.
and so i rant and rave while i drink my leinenkugel berry veiss, with diet
coke in the fridge, my pure bred dogs chomping on their dog chow (bless their
souls more "pure" than mine). i look outside my window at the polluted
mississippi river.
and the barges and the trains and think "how beautiful"
the decay, the waste, the spring...it's almost over.
i'm such a self indulgent american artist (ya, i AM an artist, THIS i do know,
thank "god" i at least have this) even tho i am always a shred away
from sheer homelessness or the metal institution, here i remain,
on a thread, in my little box...
ranting and raving.
hi.
fuck.
i think i do more good than evil.
i would hope.
we all try our best...or so we would like to think.
i don't know what matters anymore.
yes, i do.
12:49pm
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a VERY cool illusion
http://www.grand-illusions.com/images/articles/opticalillusions/pinwheel/Optical.exe
download that (super
small file, downloads in seconds)
click on the .exe and it will automatically do this pinwheel thing on your
monitor.
stare in the middle of the pinwheel for 30 seconds.
and then look at something else and see what happens :)
VERY cool!
thanks to fetik3 for
the link :)
+++
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