Links

[elisi]

Still busy Cleaning All The Things, although was v. unmotivated today. Possibly because the weather was gorgeous and sunny and properly spring-like. Anyway, a swift round-up of links (some from my flist, some from elsewhere) so I can close some of my open tabs:

My Body Is Wildly Undisciplined And I Deny Myself Nearly Everything I Desire.

How Dante Saved My Life.

A 13-year-old eagle huntress in Mongolia.

Also watched Frozen last Saturday and have had Let It Go stuck in my head ever since. Not that I mind, really. And it's probably got a lot to do with Impish Girl practising it on the piano daily...

Comments

[elisi]

And I suspect this is true for a lot of other people as well, which is why I think the ultra-thin body ideal is so cruelly unrealistic for most women. We're leading lives that hardly encourage thinness. A lot of people are working long hours, or more than one job to make ends meet, and I daresay there are a lot of people who are enduring long commutes because they can't afford to live closer to where they work. Throw in responsibilities to home and family, and where do you find the time to exercise? Unless you have enough money to live closer to where you work, or to hire someone to take care of errands/ cooking/ housekeeping, even finding 30 minutes a day for yourself is close to impossible.
*nods a lot* Plus, the poorer you are, the less healthily you'll be able to eat. That's a convoluted sentence. But good, wholesome food is not that cheap. And the food industry wants to sell people pre-prepared stuff full of fat & sugar... It's a vicious circle and I don't know the way out. :(

Plus the media scrutiny is the icing on the cake, adding insecurity and paranoia to everything else.

[eaweek.livejournal.com]

And to top it off, poorer people are apt to live in unsafe areas where getting outside is actually dangerous (kids on playgrounds in Boston's poor areas have been killed in drive-by shootings). Or there's no sidewalks. Or no neighborhood playgrounds. Add in an overabundance of cheap, readily-available food that's high-calorie but nutrient poor, and yeah, you have the perfect conditions for obesity. Then the media steps in and tells people just how fat and lazy and horrible and ugly they are. Talk about rubbing salt in a wound!

[elisi]

This.

Sadly it's not that much different over here. Well, not so many drive-by shootings, but rough areas are *rough*. I can just imagine the reception someone would get if they tried to go jogging or joined a gym...