Fat Is A Feminist Issue

In 1978 Susie Orbach published a book called Fat Is A Feminist Issue. Its a great book, and thirty or so year later I still consider it very relevant.

In it she writes "I wish that every bite of food were a wanted bite, not eaten to fill up emotional longings that don't get met, or to stuff down feelings too difficult to feel ...I wish that size did not matter, that bigness and smallness were equally appreciated... I wish that...all women could wake up feeling good in their bodies and embrace the day savoring their longings and their appetites, confident in the knowledge that what they go towards will not hit back at them"

I have always felt that the most discriminated group of people in western society are fat people. How many role models and idols from your teen years, or your own children are fat? Do we vote for fat political leaders? Are you happy to be the fat mother of the bride, or a fat bride? Would you be wary of the advice of an obese doctor?

Sexual equality is still a long way off, acceptance of size is even further away than that. The question remains in my mind though, is this something that most people actually want? There is a stereotypical ideal of thinness that equals happiness, propagated by many different areas of the media and marketing; there is this ideal that we are supposed to measure up to regardless. The influence is everywhere and all pervasive. The wish of Susie Orbach is highly unlikely to universally take place. There are, and always will be, some who rise above the influence, for the rest of us, the perception of happiness equals thin, remains

There is a paradox here too, for many women they wish, desperately so, to be thin, to conform, and to fit in. All the while ignoring any benefits or pay offs being fat gives them. For most people who I see, being fat, compulsive overeating, binging or obesity is not the problem, it is the perceived solution to a different problem, a problem that is never addressed head on. A fat person craves to be thin as much as they crave the food, they scratch around inside their self made fat/thin prison seeking the solutions to their varied problems "If only I could give up the chocolate, I know my husband woud love me more."

The never ending merry go round of diet and fail, diet and fail is not a happy road to take. A new relationship with food is a very real possibility, and it is easier than you think; for diets do not work. Happiness is not thin, happiness is is the healthy weight and size that is appropriate for you, happiness is an appropriate relationship with food in the context of your life around you.. Happiness is embracing the pleasure of eating on an empty stomach, the sensual pleasure of taste and texture, the pleasant feeling of satiation. Happiness is a co-operative coexistence with hunger and fullness, taking food for the single reason of a physical need, and in doing so embracing the pleasure of eating to a happy fullness.

Hypnotherapy is not a miracle cure; for many people it is a great way to regain Eating Control, and to take care of what ever drives you to behave as you do. Give me a call and I will give you an honest answer if Hypnotherapy would be good for you. 0208 647 7441