Dr. Deah ja Vu All Over Again

Every January, for the past 4 years I have posted this video on my Facebook page. Each year, I hope it will be obsolete. Each year I DREAM it will be the last time I blog about this and that I will get flooded with emails, texts (and now tweets @dr_deah ) begging me to, “Drop it already Dr. Deah. That’s old news!!! It doesn’t happen anymore. Move on to another cause.” With Healthy Weight Week around the bend on January 20^th and not enough change to render this video extinct, I find myself in the position to once again post this classic video from the Tri Delta folks.

I am not saying that this year has been void of remarkable strides by the size acceptance and HAES® communities. We can feel proud of the inroads made into the bastions of bigotry otherwise known as the media, fashion, health, and big pharma industries. These successes are due to the hard work of an ever-growing list of people and organizations, including: NAAFA, About Face, The Body Positive, ASDAH, NORMAL, Fierce Freethinking Fatties, Dr. Linda Bacon, Paul Campos, Darryl Roberts, Jon Robinson, Jay Solomon of More of Me to Love, Ragen Chastain, Golda Poretsky, Marilyn Wann, Dr. Deb Burgard, Virgie Tovar, Kim Brittingham, Frances Berg, Joanne Ikeda, Angela Meadows, Kathy Kater, Peggy Elam, BEDA, Andrew Whalen, Jeanette DePatie“¦ and I would continue except they are playing the, “Get her off the stage before she starts thanking everyone in the Academy by name,” music. But as the recent petition generated by Ragen Chastain and Jeanette DePatie to stop the kid version of “The Biggest Loser” indicates, we have a long way to go.

What is great about this Tri Delta video is how it reminds us that we don’t need to be visible or famous enough to infiltrate the news, magazines, or halls of congress to make a difference. Any activist knows that changing other people’s minds is difficult; indeed, most of the time, it is impossible. As Ragen Chastain of Dances with Fat says, “I can explain it to you but I can’t make you understand.” But activists also know there are changes we can make on our own that may cause a ripple effect and eventually a wave, and ultimately a CONSTRUCTIVE tsunami of attitudinal adjustment in this society.

In the spirit of throwing that first pebble in the water, I ask you to please take a moment and watch this video. Even if you’ve seen it before, consider it a booster shot and go into the New Year loving your body, nurturing your body, and not taking crap from anybody about your body.

And maybe in January, 2014, I won’t have to post this again?

I can dream can’t I?

End Fat Talk

Til next time,

Dr. Deah