*Hello – if you’ve come to this post via another website after reading about the controversy stirred up by fat activists, welcome. Since I am unable to watch this particular post 24/7, comments are currently closed on this post after requests from fat activists who were concerned about potentially hostile comments.*
There are some really interesting people in the world. Different people. OK, odd people. People like Gainers – men and women who deliberately try to become as fat as they possibly can. Yes. You read that right. And did I mention deliberately?
The pro-anorexia website phenomenon was shocking enough. Now, the opposite extreme – emphasis on the extreme – has snuck out of the shadows and onto the internet.
The latest group of fringe dwellers to come to mainstream attention are gainer blogs which document weight gain efforts and really do encourage obesity. Quite literally. This is Donna Simpson. She is a 42-year-old New Jersey mother who recently made an announcement that she is trying to reach 453 kilos.
I know you’ll be surprised to hear that the idea of intentional weight gain and its promotion has sparked concern from health experts.
Although purposely gaining weight isn’t a definable eating disorder like bulimia or anorexia, it may be symptomatic of underlying mental health issues.
According to an article in the SMH:
Donna SimpsonAt 170 cm and weighing a hefty 113 kilograms, Peter, who requested that his last name not be published, is on a quest to become even more corpulent. He documents his weight gain on his blog, GitBigger.com, under the pen name “Stupidgit.”
“I love how my weight feels when I run, falling and shaking my body shortly after each step…” the 23-year-old Lexington, Kentucky, resident, writes on his blog. “The only thing I love more than being fat, is getting fatter.”
As hard as it is to understand, Peter is not alone in his desire to gain weight. The internet is rife with “gainer” blogs, plus dating sites and discussion forums that glorify big bodies, with names such as Fatnesse Follies, Growing Larger and BellyBuilders.com.
While far from mainstream, the phenomenon was brought into the public eye in March, when a 272 kilogram New Jersey mother announced she is trying to reach 453 kilograms (1,000 pounds) to become the world’s fattest woman.
Donna Simpson, a 42-year-old mother, told Britain’s Daily Mail that she raises money for her weekly $US750 ($802.65) food budget through a web site where men pay to watch her eat. Her longtime boyfriend reportedly encourages her weight gain.
[Thanks Lucy]
UPDATE: 3 things
1. I did have a sentence in caps at the end of the first par in my original post. It said “AS THEY POSSIBLY CAN”. I deleted it because I felt it didn’t add anything to what I was trying to say and was proving highly effective in diverting the discussion from the subject to me which wasn’t the point. I have made many comments on this post clarifying that I am not persecuting overweight people in this post (it is about an individual) and asking for this post not to become an attack on obesity.
2. There are one or two commenters posting below under many different names. We can see this in the back end of the site. So while it may seem there are many people in agreement that this post is outrageous, it is in fact just one or two people agreeing with themselves. Still, I’ve chosen to allow their comments to remain. Interestingly, the comment I have attempted to post on their blog, inviting them to do a guest post on the subject of fat acceptance has been deleted. I’m just saying.
3. On Tuesday night, I decided to close comments on this post. I think everything worth discussing has been covered now – repeatedly. Since this website is only staffed by me and a voluntary moderator, I can’t watch it 24/7. Given the heat around this post (see point 2) I have taken the decision to close comments to prevent any nasty comments being added (even though I have not deleted a single post by a vocal but persistent minority who have repeatedly slammed me for reasons that are STILL unclear to me). There is no hatred for fat people or any people on this post or in the comments below. I’ve looked and looked – as have others – and I can’t see it. Because it’s not there.
Top Comments
Im back again.
Im a regular MM commenter, I love MM, I love Mia's writing, I think she is an incredibly talented woman.
But what I hate is when I come onto this site, read through the comments and see people attacking each other & their views.
Now, it is fabulous that people have different opinions, great!
But people need to be more eloquent & tactful when posting.
A fine example of this is Anonymous Lee, excuse me for being a hypocrite for a second, but this particular post angered me for the simple reason it gives people who want to be negative, more ammunition to continue on their scathing rampages.
I don't think it is fair to question Mia's credibility. I don't think it is fair to accuse someone who is here to represent women on all levels of being degrading.
Last time I checked this post wasn't slandering obese, overweight or underweight people. It was a post about a woman who was on a mission to eat herself into the record books.
TYhe behaviour of this woman is "odd" and "different" and for majority of us, the case of Donna Simpson being bought to light has opened our eyes to a whole different level of unhealthiness. Whether this be mental or in terms of health, ultimately this post was about a woman eating herself to death.
The question of whether this is a mental health problem is what needs to be looked at. IMHO I don't relate this to any other eating disorder, not even binge eating.
This is an attempt to break a record and it is extreme.
More often than not Mia will post on a subject that is extreme and that is eye opening, what is wrong with that?
I don't see how her comments being highlighted previously is offensive. I see it as her perhaps being shocked and in disbelief about this woman and her extreme behaviour. Because when Im trying to get a point of importance across, often I USE CAPITALS (When I do this the voice in my head yells).
As the writer of this post, Im sure Mia was angered and upset by the attacks made before she had a chance to explain or correct whatever it was that made certain people tick.
I don't blame her for doing it abruptly, Im sure others didn't think before they posted scathing comments. Because there were some rather scathing comments left.
Ultimately what Im trying to say is that some of us are forgetting what this post is about. It would be nice to see the conversation back on topic, not about how someone has taken offence to the post because of how they have perceived it.
Sorry for the long post, I just hate the conflict here, it's a complete turn off for me.
And here's an example of what this kind of article encourages.
Yet where is Mia calling this person angry or crazy?
Oh wait, you're allowed to suggest that fat people are ugly, stinky, crazy, angry, slanderous or picking fights... but you're not allowed to say "I disagree with you Mia and this is why, and this is what concerns me." Cos if you do, you've had a big bowl of crazy and are angry.
Thank you Anonymous Lee for highlighting just why we know that Ms Freedman has a very arbitrary view of what's ok for human bodies.
Sleepydumpling have you read the several comments that suggest this may not be Mia in the comments section? Just wondering you if you usually read her comments in the comments section, or only the posts, her comments are usually brief - even on controversial topics (longer and general responses get added to the usual post), unlike in this post, personal attacks do not happen, her comments are usually their own special colour which some people aren't seeing, people have faked being her before, the writing style is different, it is all abit suss. Please don't take anything in the 'comments' section personally just yet, I really think clarification will come either way eventually. Don't stop posting, just maybe keep it in mind the things said in the comment section under 'Mia' may not be true. : ).