Laurie says:

I was really charmed by this poem by Sandra Kasturi. I don’t think that this is really “body image in the broadest sense,” but that’s OK.

Frankenstein’s Monster’s Wife’s Therapist

She tells me she’s happy now.
They’ve reconciled. He spends
most evenings at home
and they’ve started to try
to make babies: he bringing
their limbs home, she
with her size 10 sewing needle.

poetry, monsters, Frankenstein, Sandra Kasturi, Body Impolitic

Laurie says:

I’m going to be at “BlogHer ’07”(7/27-7/28), the national women’s blogger’s conference, on the “Our Bodies, Our Blogs” panel.

Debbie and I went to BlogHer last year and really loved the conference, but we had some serious issues with “fat negative” items in the gift bags.

So, we were really delighted when BlogHer invited one of us to be on their body image panel this year. Debbie is “never going anywhere again ever” when she gets back from Europe, so I’m going. And in spite of my crazy summer, I’m really happy I’ll be there.

My fellow panelists are Jenny Lauck, Wendy McClure and Yvonne Marie. We haven’t had our panelists’ phone conference yet but I’d like to start the ball rolling.

I’m planning to talk about body image in the broader sense. Obviously I’ll be talking about the issues of fat, beauty, power and health at any size – but body image (as folks who read us know) includes a lot more. When the beauty standard is young, blond, white and thin, it leaves almost all of us out. It leaves most women and men feeling “never attractive enough”, causes endless discrimination, and makes billion$ for the beauty and diet industries. There is so much we can talk about – fat/size, aging, ability/disability, color, “right” facial features, class, children.

I’d love to hear readers’ ideas and stories that I can bring to the panel. Reply either in Comments or email me at lte@laurietobyedison.com.

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Panel description for BlogHer:

Our Bodies, Our Blogs

There are weight-loss blogs, and there are healthy eating blogs, and there are fat acceptance blogs. The one thing they have in common: a lot of them are written by women. While a lot of them get support and positive reinforcement and encouragement from their readers, a lot of them also get some really strong reactions from people who don’t want to hear about women dealing with body image – and don’t want to worry about whether or not society is “responsible”, for everything from obesity to anorexia to the pressure to conform to some unattainable ideal. Can blogging be the perfect vehicle to expose and break unhealthy influences…and build a healthy identity that isn’t tied to how we look? Jenny Lauck moderates this conversation with Laurie Toby Edison, Wendy McClure and Yvonne Marie, who are tackling the touchy topic head-on.

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BlogHer, fat, body image, size acceptance, Body Impolitic