“Gosh, You’re a Big Fella” and Other Manifestations of My Privilege



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Cinderella VBACs and Gestational Age

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Image: Disney "At my last doctors appointment I went in and asked my doctor if I could continue with the pregnancy past 40 weeks if I were still pregnant. He said No because the risk of uterine rupture goes up past 40 weeks."   source "Gestational age greater than 40 weeks alone should not preclude Trial of Labor After Cesarean."   ACOG   Many women planning a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) are told by their providers that they will be supported for a VBAC, but their doctors often conveniently forget to mention ahead of time that they enforce arbitrary rules that require  women to go into labor by 40 weeks or be forced into a cesarean, like the woman quoted above. Some even insist on a repeat cesarean by 39 weeks . This is what author Henci Goer calls a " Cinderella VBAC ." The doctor claims to support VBACs, but puts so many limits on VBAC labors that almost no one gets one. Examples: the mother must go into labor before 40 weeks, the baby has to...
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9th Turkey Awards: Obesity Eugenics Media Campaigns

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A fairly recent article in an Australian newspaper ─ October 2016 ─ had the inflammatory headline, " Call to stop obese women from having babies. " The picture below it featured a woman with a slight double chin and said, " Experts warn obese women should not have children. " Well, here we go again with the Obesity Eugenics Wars. This incredibly discriminatory movement is the winner of not one but two Turkey Awards. It's time to call these egregious practices out. If you aren't familiar with them, the Turkey Awards are the "prizes" I hand out to highlight fat-phobic treatment of people of size from care providers, biased attitudes or studies from researchers, or troubling trends in the care of fat pregnant women these days. In past years of the Turkey Awards, we've talked about: #1:  fat-phobic care providers #2:  scare-mongering and shaming tactics #3:  jumping to conclusions about risks #4:  scorched earth tactics #5:  prenatal weight gain e...
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I’m Not Fingernails, But I Am Fat

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You’ve probably seen the meme on social media:  “You are not fat. You have fat.  You also have fingernails.  But you are not fingernails.”  I’ve seen this in plenty of versions and I think it’s problematic on a lot of levels. It’s come up in a number of conversations recently and so I’m re-posting my response. First of all, as regular readers have probably already sussed out, I would be much more comfortable if this was written from the perspective of how someone feels about/for themselves instead of dictating to others how we should feel (ie: “I’m not fat, I have fat” instead of “You are not fat, you have fat”.)  People are allowed to look at their bodies this way because, hey,  underpants rule .  That said, I think it’s an idea worth some exploring. Let’s consider some other examples – can you imagine Facebook memes that say “You are not brunette, you have brown hair” or “You are not tall, you have above-average height.” You’re not thin, you have thi...
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