That Feminist Dyke

thisisthinprivilege:

Thin privilege is people commenting things such as “You’re so beautiful, I wish I looked like you, you’re stunning, you’re such a beautiful person, I love your fashion I love your style” etc. on your Instagram pictures.

My friend is very skinny and constantly posts pictures on Instagram , sometimes up to 20 a day. She has a lot of followers who post comments on her pictures and fawn all over her even though they don’t know her. They just assume she’s a wonderful and caring person even though they don’t know what she’s really like, just because she’s pretty and thin. It’s so hurtful when she tells me that she has more followers than me. When I see all the comments on her pictures and I get none I know it’s because I’m fat and my fashion isn’t like hers because I can’t find clothes that look like that on me.

Thin privilege is people telling you every day how perfect you are even if you don’t need to hear it because you already know it. I know not all thin people think that but my friend does. Sorry if this isn’t making sense but English isn’t my first language.

happyandhealthy29:

fitvillains:

We focus a lot on female body image here, but increasingly men are struggling with body acceptance. With rock hard abs and shirtless celebs everywhere, men are feeling more and more pressure to be ‘perfect’.

This was a great post from my friend Angie Gooding (Body Image Specialist) on men and the Adonis Complex. 

Via Angie Gooding

According to Chris Bell who directed the documentary “Bigger Faster Stronger”, “The Adonis Complex is a psychiatric disorder that occurs predominantly in men. It is associated with muscle dysmorphia, where the afflicted person feels that his muscles are underdeveloped and small when they are in fact large and strong, sort of like anorexia in reverse.”  Just as many women feel the pressure to be thin and beautiful, many men feel the pressure to be muscular, lean, and toned. The media glorifies this look, and many men work to achieve this look despite how dangerous it may be for them. 

Men who feel the pressure to be “perfect” are more likely to exercise excessively, groom excessively, abuse dietary supplements, become preoccupied with their looks, are more likely to experience anxiety and/or depression, and are more likely to abuse anabolic steroids.  Currently, the statistic is that 10% of high school teenage boys have experimented with or consistently use steroids. 

Many times, the pressure for a muscular physique escalates into an eating disorder including anorexia and bulimia.  In fact, 1 in 100 men between the ages of 20 and 30 has an eating disorder.  The eating disorder symptoms that men experience are similar to the symptoms that women experience.  According to Theravive.com, “Samplings of symptoms for men with anorexia are food rituals, preoccupation/obsession with food, depression, isolation, anxiety about sexual relations, loneliness, low self-esteem, tiredness, and muscle weakness. Symptoms for men with bulimia include repeated binge eating, hiding or hoarding food, weight fluctuations, depression, fatigue, perfectionism, and dental problems.”  Eating disorders and The Adonis Complex affect both gay and straight men equally.

For both men and women, eating disorders are not discussed enough because either men are ashamed, are unwilling to talk, or are in denial about their condition.  However, there are more outlets for women to share and express their body dissatisfactions or their struggles with body image.  For many men, talking or reaching out for help seems like an effeminate act, so most become reclusive, and tend to withdraw from friends and family.  In addition, men are unlikely to seek help because of the prevalent belief that an eating disorder is a “woman’s illness.”

(Source: inspirefitnesstraining.squarespace.com)

muchcloservvv:

amy-lynnnx:

randomstabbing:

In 2008, an 18-year-old woman in Washington State reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted. But they didn’t believe her. Lynnwood Police Chief Steve Jensen said that her story changed, her details were inconsistent and that people who knew the victim expressed doubts about her story.

So the police charged her with false reporting, and she pleaded guilty under a deal that included a fine of $500. The charge remains on her record.

Three years later, Marc O’Leary was arrested in Colorado for charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary and felony menacing. He is being held on $5 million bail. When the police raided O’Leary’s home earlier this month, they found photos of his victims.

The 18-year-old woman from Washington was in those photographs.

Welcome to rape culture. Try to tell me again that it doesn’t exist.

^one of many reasons rape victims chose to not go to police.

mindovermatterzine:

[Trigger Warning: Involuntary hospitalization, medical abuse, unsafe restraint, PTSD]

The Jimmy Savile Broadmoor scandal shows how important it is for us to protect vulnerable people on mental health wards. Yet Government has cut the only survey that checks how safe people feel in mental health hospitals. All of us know someone with a mental illness-we need to know our relatives and friends’ safety is taken seriously.

29 year old John* from Plymouth explains why his traumatic experiences in hospital mean he is supporting the No Silence campaign:

“When I was 18, I was hospitalised for mental illness. It should have been a therapeutic environment for me – but instead I endured experiences that left me feeling like I was being punished for my mental illness.

Being forcibly injected with medication was particularly traumatic. The nurses weren’t properly trained – they didn’t know how to restrain someone without physically hurting them. I was pinned down, face to the floor, my hands held behind my back.

It dredged up memories of a childhood trauma when I’d been treated in the same way, which really made the situation even more terrifying for me. It made my mental illness even worse and left me feeling very institutionalised. 

I certainly didn’t feel safe in hospital – experiences like mine must be heard and acted upon, not swept under the carpet.  That’s why I’m backing the No Silence campaign.”

Please sign up to this petition right now and urge the Health Secretary to reintroduce the inpatient survey for mental health patients – without these important checks many more cases like John’s will go on unmonitored. 

*John’s name has been changed to protect his identity.