Letters to the Editor
Teensy
Published Letters: 183 Editor's Choice: 7
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could be a set up...
[Read the article: I left an abusive marriage, and now I'm in love with a thief]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]my abusive ex was very forthcoming with the confessions about his history of battering his girlfriends. of course it was in the distant past. he was over it. it just so happened that despite years of sobriety, therapy and meditation he found me exquisitely irritating to the point that it brought out his abusive tendencies, making him feel bad about himself all over again (poor guy).
on the other hand, it's possible that he was only stealing because opportunity met desperate circumstances. one of the posters cited a study which showed that children were always dishonest under the same circumstances. perhaps those circumstances will never occur again in his life. for one thing, he will never be that age again. young people interpret circumstances differently. when i was in school i cheated on math tests (i can hardly believe that now). my self-esteem was caught up in being amazingly good at math. i wouldn't cheat on a math test now, because i have a bigger life, and a lot more to lose. are there other circumstances under which i might not be completely honest? even i don't know that. life is unpredictable in some ways...
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i agree
[Read the article: Creepy panties for the 'tweens on your list]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]this doesn't really rise to the level of a serious feminist issue. it's the sort of thing that invites criticism of feminism as being irrelevant.
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interesting...
[Read the article: Las Vegas gym case tests "Ladies Night law" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]i agree that it's not a very important problem in the grand scheme of things. i agree it's typical of our absurdly litigious society, and i agree that the practice is discriminatory. here's a thought though, i've experienced an astonishing array of sexist piggery in gyms, from the impatient "come on lady, i'm trying to work out here, can you please move along" to the asshole who came into the steam room wearing wearing an old, worn-out speedo with holes in the front who kept grinning at me and my friend. there is sort of a sense in the gym that it is a man's domain, and in my experience, complaining gets nowhere. additionally, the gyms i've been to which offer special areas only for women offer us their older equipment and less of it, and almost never free weights. so what do we do to make it fair, and make women want to join?
i don't know a good solution, but it would be good to come up with one. people are fat. they need to work out. i don't belong to a gym right now, and i can't imagine what could draw me back. it would take more than a low fee. i mostly get my exercise by doing rock climbing, a remarkably friendly and egalitarian sport, and doing yoga. both the climbing hall and the yoga studio give me a student discount. is that discrimination?
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heh
[Read the article: Las Vegas gym case tests "Ladies Night law" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]ok, lucky you, i guess...
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"they tyranny of thinness?"
[Read the article: Lose pounds, pad your paycheck?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is that a joke? i'm not buying the poor victimized fat people story. 75% of americans are clinically overweight. 30% are obese. the correct answer is to stop blaming thin people. exercise is not a punishment. it's good for you.
"Obesity doesn't make people lie or manipulate or rage or steal or rape or violate boundaries."
well, maybe not rape, but i've known some majorly manipulative, lying, raging obese people. it starts with all the lies about how they can't exercise for this or that reason, or how they can't eat healthier because it's too expensive, and it's all so unfair, and it's not their fault, and it quickly turns to rage when you offer them substantive proof that they can do better. there was a woman on dr. phil who was too fat to go to the toilet, and made her daughter empty a urine bucket every day. i'd say that's lying, manipulating and violating boundaries.
it's not that i'm not sympathetic. i'm sympathetic to all people who can't see the reality of their self-destructive behavior. i just don't think there's any sense whatsoever in colluding with the mythology that it's not their fault. the latest research from Brookhaven National Laboratory has shown that the brain's dopamine system is triggered when obese people are exposed to food. "This activation of the brain’s dopamine motivation circuits is distinct from the role the brain chemical plays when people actually eat, and may be similar to what addicts experience when craving drugs."
http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/2002/bnlpr052002.htm
i'm not out to demonize fat people. i just think the only way to approach this problem is truthfully. allowing fat people to inhabit a position of victimhood, and put the blame on thin people (ridiculous) is not getting us anywhere. to be addicted to food must totally suck. it's easy to know when you've relapsed with cocaine. you're putting white powder in your nose again. it's much harder to establish rational boundaries with something that you need to do to live. i get that. it's tough, but it's not the fault mcdonalds or the supermarket or television or thin people. get real. for your own good. if you don't care about your own good (a position to which you are perfectly entitled), at least accept that fact (celebrate it, if you like, like other hedonists), and stop maligning people who do care to eat properly and exercise regularly.