aprii 5.2002 ' Ju st out 3
ju s t m m
COMMENTARY
by
M
arty
D
a v is
Wm The IN publication for the OUT population
F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown
Vol. 19 N o. 11
and
R enee L a C hance
April 5, 2002
FEATURE
WORKING OUT: Just Out evaluates the area’s
10 largest private employers
P 24
N E WS
NORTHWEST • Corvallis resource center opening
pp 7 - 1 9
NATIONAL • Catholic Church scapegoating?
PP 2 0 - 2 1
WORLD • U .K. pop idol comes out of the closet
pp 2 2 - 2 3
CULTURE
BOOKS • Cute high school boys and gay icons
top the reviews
p 36
CULTURE . A maze of gays: the Gay Men's
Labyrinth Walk
p 37
FILM • Trembling Before G-d and Pinero
p 39
THEATER - Mae West was a Dirty Blonde
P «
PEOPLE • Emily Huffman promotes the next
generation o f womyn’s music
p 43
DIVERSIONS • Tret Fure is here; Ellen is coming!;
an amazing month of events to honor human
dignity; Bridges choir sings at a venue near you;
the Lesbian Ball of the Year; damali ayo gets
ontological; Southern Comfort on HBO
pp 4 0 - 4 1
COLUMNS
MS. BEHAVIOR • Old enough to be his father
P 34
LIVING OUT • Just Out introduces columnist
Sally Sheklow
P 35
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARC • Marc helps
you choose a gift for Liza!
p 45
SPECIAL
EATING OUT • Let someone else cook tonight
Choose life
Big is beautiful, but being is better
friends, your partners, your children? Does size acceptance show respect for
the person who will take care of you when you no longer can care for your
l was 18.1 had naively applied for a job with the San
self?
Does not every life deserve to be long, rich and lived to its fullest?
Diego Parks, and I was first jarred into awareness of the
We look at lists like the one above and often brush them aside. After
virulence of this word when, unfortunately for me, the
all,
these are the lists that always apply to everyone else.
application process required a brief physical examination.
If you
A few days later the mailman brought the letter: My application
for can manage to ignore the message, can you also ignore your
high blood pressure? Can you ignore not being able to run, walk, romp
employment had been denied. The reason for denial was scrawled across
and frolic with your children, your dogs, your friends?
the page.. .circled.. .attacking.. .one word.. .Obesity.
On a beautiful spring day or evening can you ride your bike, can you
It was the ugliest word I had ever seen.
walk the Esplanade, can you play tennis, can you hike the Wildwood
It’s many years later now and I’ve since learned life is full of many
Trail? Can you climb steps, can you bend over, can you be free?
such ugly words— indeed, many horrid words more hateful and brutal
Is the size-acceptance mantra merely an excuse, a facade to hide the
and dangerous than the medically approved hate word “obesity.” How
pain of a true lack of self-acceptance? Can you honestly accept the
ever, this gained new knowledge does not have the power to erase
above risks and still hide behind the debatable concept of size accep
entrenched and painful old memories.
tance? These are the questions I ask myself.
Obesity. Fat acceptance. Cancer. Fatphobia. Diabetes. Size accep
tance. Heart disease. Love. Hate. Tortuous pain. Pain in the knees, pain
hich brings me to the point of all this. For most lesbians obesity
in the soul, pain in the artery-clogged heart.
is, I believe, a question of choice.
Obesity. Pain. Death.
No, not the kind of choice where a woman sits down one day and says,
“I choose to be obese.” That’s certainly not what 1 have done with my life.
t the recent Cris Williamson and Holly Near concert I was in awe
Yet the results of the choices and decisions, choices of diet, choices
of the energy at the women-packed theater. Young, old, beautiful,
of activity levels, choices of partners and choices of lifestyle have con
powerful, each and every one.
tributed to a lifetime of weight problems. Throw in the complications of
But another truth was impossible to ignore. We are strong women,
lack of control over addiction, lack of understanding of
we are beautiful lesbians. We are powerful individually,
behaviors,
and you arrive at your end result. Obesity.
and we are powerful together.
I choose not to die
Why do we make choices that cause us to hurt our
While these are wondrous things, the clearly evident fact
from complications selves? These are complex questions with no simple
remains that far too many of us are jeopardizing our health by
being too fat. We are obese, and we are killing ourselves.
because o f obesity answers.
Nothing about obesity is simple. Not the reasons for it,
We’ve all heard the facts, but Portland naturopath
not the excuses for it, and certainly not the means to control it. But hid
Karen Frangos helpfully reiterates the following health risks associated
ing under a false— albeit comfortable— security blanket of self-acceptance
with obesity. She starts by emphasizing the undeniable fact that being
and/or self-denial is not going to keep anyone hale, healthy and hearty.
overweight can shorten one’s life because of complications from:
And, yes, you can be big and beautiful and be healthy, and
• Coronary artery disease— atherosclerosis leads to increased risk of
kudos
to those who accomplish this. While not downplaying the
heart attack and stroke.
problems of job discrimination and our fat-oppressive culture nor
• Diabetes mellitus— leads to life-threatening diseases of the cardio
condoning societal judgments that burden the already burdened,
vascular system and kidneys.
the truth is that most of us who are weighed down by obesity are
• Hypertension— high blood pressure increases risk for heart attack
not physically healthy.
and stroke.
But we do have the power to make changes and improvements in
• Gall bladder disease.
our lives. We do.
• Intestinal disorders.
Bad choices have led to a life of obesity for me. Now, new choices
• Respiratory disease.
are going to have to be made.
• Thrombophlebitis.
The first choice is easy. I choose not to die from complications
• Back and joint pains, especially lower extremities.
because of obesity.
• Cancers— especially breast and colorectal.
Is it too late? Maybe. Maybe not.’But not as late as it will be if I
Did you catch the sadness and finality of the phrase “shortens one’s
make no new choices at all.
life” ? When we speak of size acceptance and fatphohia, where is the
Will new choices and new paths be easy? No. Will I falter and need
honor for the value of the life of the obese person? Do you honor and
help? Yes.
respect yourself by choosing to shorten your life?
Am I going to make it? Yes, watch and see. jH
Does size acceptance show regard for the people who love you, your
O
W
A
pp 1 6 , 1 8
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p 46
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PUBLISHER ANO MANAGING BIITOR
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NEW S EDITOR • Jim RaJosta
CULTURE BIITOR • Lisa Bradshaw
CONTRIBUTORS • Marc Acito, Kronda
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