What a Day--Stigma is alive and well

I wrote a little blog entry on Psychology Today yesterday and today all hell broke lose and I spent the day being attacked on a number of personal levels, including threats to my job at CSN.

As a description of the blog I wrote:

Judging character, work ethic, health or worth on the basis of how somone looks is ALWAYS prejudice. No one should be treated as "less than human" because of their body size.FATISM is a matter of cultural stigma. This blog is about cultural and social issues, not a health debate.

Talk about a prophecy. First controversy and the judgements about my character, my work ethic, my health and my worth were all over the place.

I think the thing that interests me most as a sociologist is that I was considered "obsessed" because I have written about this. These persons were defending themselves on the basis of credentials and a body of work, but as a stigmatized person I was considered "biased," "obsessed" and "deaf to other points of view" because I, too, had a body of work.

I have never seen a more beautiful example of what Goffman meant by spoiled identity. If I wrote and researched the topic, I am obsessed. If I am uniformed and unwilling to change, I am ignorant and need help. My body was code for "stupid," "unhealthy," "lazy," and "incompetent." It makes me wonder what they would have used if I had been thin.

I have written in other places about my reluctance to be a "professional fat person." Today was a reminder of both why I became one and why I hate it.

It remains my hope, however, that having become one, I can use the example of fat stigma to end all stigma. Stigma is a horrible cultural practice and one that hurts both individuals and society.

I Take Up Space: New Blog on Psychology Today

I'm excited about kicking off a new blog at the Psychology Today website. The blog is called "I Take Up Space" and is about the consequences of fatism. The site has millions of visitors each month, so I'm hopeful that it will become an outlet for discussing Fat Studies as an emerging field and promoting sociological perspectives on these issues as well.

I write about the failure of New Year's Resolutions and the Moral Panic of the War on Obesity in my first effort.

(Please forgive my cross-posting if you read me in more than one place.)

Looking for Participants in Study at Purdue--NO MORE

MICHAELA HAD SUCH A LARGE RESPONSE THAT THE SURVEY CLOSED IN A LITTLE OVER 3 DAYS! -- SHE SAYS THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!
============================

Michaela Null, a doctoral student in Sociology at Purdue University is looking for individuals who are interested in volunteering to participate in her study on the "embodiment of size-accepting fat women, with attention to the ways in which gender, race, orientation, and body size intersect" (from her website):

If you are interested in volunteering to participate in an interview, I ask that you take an electronic informational survey, which will take approximately 5 minutes. Please go here and complete the informational survey. After all survey data is collected, participants will be selected for interviews, which will be conducted in-person, by phone, or via internet video chat, and will last between an hour and an hour and a half.

Participation is voluntary and participants must be at least 18 years old.

This project has been approved by my university’s Institutional Review Board, which protects human subjects of research. I will provide confidentiality to all volunteers and participants will be referred to by a pseudonym in all research documents.

If you have any questions regarding this study, you can contact me at mnull@purdue.edu. For more information on me, you can access my university profile. You can also contact Professor Eugene Jackson, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University, at jacksone@purdue.edu.

Sincerely,

Michaela A. Null, Doctoral Student in Sociology, Purdue University