Warning: This post contains a great deal of sex and violence

[beandelphiki]

The internet is annoying tonight. I'll provide you with some links to demonstrate.


When I logged on, this came up on my homepage: And so on and so on: Obesity 'socially contagious,' study finds

A landmark study has found that whether those closest to you are overweight or slender can significantly influence your own body shape and that of others in your social group - and that could have huge implications for public health measures to battle the growing obesity epidemic.

THIS JUST IN: DUMPING YOUR FAT LOSER FRIENDS AND HOOKING UP WITH SOME SKINNY PEEPS WILL MAKE YOU LOSE WEIGHT!

...And damned if the article don't say just that while assuring you, the reader, that this isn't the idea at all.

The article criticizes how having larger friends (I won't say "fat" in this case because I'm sure this includes people even I wouldn't consider fat) might relax your attitude toward bodies of various sizes and your own self-image, so that you aren't as bothered if you gain weight.

"In the past we've had this great stigma associated with obesity and overweight," Janssen said from Kingston, Ont. "But when you're around that all the time, it becomes the norm and it becomes more acceptable to you perhaps."

"And maybe it would contribute to weight gain or you're not as concerned if you are starting to put on the pounds, because . . . a lot of the people around you are looking like that as well."

With an estimated 60 per cent of Canadian adults being overweight (including 25 per cent who are obese), he said, "Obviously the stigma associated with obesity is going away."

...Except that I would say NOT, when this article refers to obesity as being "transmitted" as if it were a cold or the clap. WTF?



And in other news, look what LJ and Six Apart are doing THIS time (courtesy theclamsman) - the latest lj_biz post (note: several pages of comments, may load very slowly):

Just another clarification of our previous clarifications, that's all.

Seriously, what?

1. First they apologize for Strikethrough 2007, and promise to set things right, i.e. restore the targeted journals. Which they mostly seem to do.

2. Then they promise and swear that it will never, ever happen again.

3. Then they provide clarification after clarification of their policies. Which actually clarify...not much at all...and which don't seem to be different from the policies that led to Strikethrough in the first place. Except maybe they'll try actually READING people's bios next time.

4. Then (as theclamsman pointed out) after promising so many times to be good, they hold the Permanent Account sale.

5. Finally, just before everyone gets their HP books and are therefore avoiding the internet (credit again to the same clam-whatever guy for noting their timing), they come out with MORE clarifications:

They want to apply the fucking MILLER TEST to underage sex in fanfiction to decide if it's appropriate or not.

ON THE INTERNET.

WHAT. THE. HELL.

PLZ TO BE DEFINING "COMMUNITY STANDARDS" ON THE GODDAMNED INTARWEBZ, MR. BARAK.

You want community standards? I know where you can find some.

It's called:

F.A.N.D.O.M.

No, really.

Yeah, I know - greater fandom has fairly loose standards in general. (RPS, chan, non-con...the list goes on.) The standards vary from fandom to fandom as well.

But you know something, they're OUR standards. We fen are the ones IN the damned fandoms! WE are the ones that read the stories, WE are the ones who decide amongst ourselves what we believe has literary and artistic value, and WE are the ones who self-police when we believe something is obscene.

Which is not to say that everyone agrees on what's obscene in fanfic. There are some types of fic which are marginalized and considered squicky by most. Thing is, if there's an audience for it, then yeah - there will be a small corner of the internet for it.

But really, so what? The only people who read fanfiction are the fans. I have a really hard time believing that there's some pedo out there digging through fannish discussion posts on lj to find nuggets of Snarry chan. Come on now.


So some of fandom is upset over this. (At least, some of those who've caught wind of it, anyway.) Personally, I don't know that I'd be deeply worried just yet. (Witness self-reporting of an adult/minor NC-17 Snarry fic result in absolutely no action from LJ Abuse. We'll just have to see if that's their reaction when the heat isn't on them.)

What is mainly bothering me here is the fact that someone sees a need for this anti-obscenity stance to be voiced. That they felt they needed to call out fanfiction specifically. That, "we'll take down obscene material that's reported to us," in the TOS we all agreed to apparently isn't ENOUGH.

I'm sick of Six Apart throwing its weight around, really.

People on this site's staff have this striking resemblance to Canadian politicians. It's bizarre, really.

STANDARDS!

Comments

[teyla]

*facepalm*

I'll be over there, hiding under my blanket.

Seriously, wtf? ff.net went down this road, and it ended in what people now call The Pit. And they're not done yet over there. I'm still waiting for them to outlaw slash fanfiction on their site. The wary, sort-of-shocked way the readers on ff.net already treat slash, I don't think that many people would even complain.

LJ, if you're heading down this road, I am leaving am going to cry don't know what I'm gonna do. Just... don't, okay?

[ratkrycek.livejournal.com]

Went to read the article, only to get:

ADODB.Field error '800a0bcd'

Either BOF or EOF is True, or the current record has been deleted. Requested operation requires a current record.

/include/breadcrumbs.inc, line 33

Breadcrumbs... hmmm.

And the whole Strikethrough thing is really a mess. I wonder what's actually goin' on.

THERE IS A MOUNTAIN OF SAND IN MY VAG ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND I'M GOING TO SHARE IT WITH YOU NOW

[hry2007.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, the study has a point, it's more common to be overweight and this is making it more socially acceptable. On the other hand, it's basically suggesting discrimination as a means of addressing a public health issue. Researchers are supposed to describe situations. If they have a need to recommend solutions, it should be a variety of possible answers, not the one or two biased answers, let alone that are known to cause emotional damage.

I'm getting really burnt out on the term overweight as defined by the BMI being used to berate EVERYONE who isn't a size 6. Doctors and nutritionists I've talked to have said, and I'm pretty sure I've read the same online, that the overweight range is a fairly recent addition to the BMI. It was put in not because being overweight itself is unhealthy, but because overweight people tend to gain weight over time and become obese, which is unhealthy. It's basically a warning to get in shape, not a problem in it's own right. Furthermore, it ignores more recent research that factors in bone structure. For instance, hourglass-shaped women have healthier hearts, a waist-to-hip ratio greater than 80% is considered unhealthy, and being chesty isn't harmful unless you have back issues because of it. It's extra fat on the abdomen that's the biggest factor, IIRC women should have waist <35 inches, and men <38. Also, those in the overweight category are better able to fight off infection, particularity seniors, and women with extra meat on their bones are much less likely to get osteoporosis.

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I don't know if this is so much Six Apart throwing their weight around, or if it's them caving like a house of cards under an angry mouse.

Ok.. that didn't make sense, but it has always seemed to me that whatever right wing christian coalition fundamentalist fear mongers that instigated Strikethrough 2k7 in the first place are continuing to put the screws to Six Apart, and they're running scared.

It's... well it's like everyone was screaming about in ST2k7, that a tiny group threatens a corporation with public defamation, and they scramble to create a defensible position.

Like Youtube.
Like U.S. television
like broadcast radio, and then satellite radio

they've found this power, and they're wielding it ceaselessly, and unless we get some sort of supreme court help, which is impossible in its current configuration, they will continue. (sorry, I got tired of capitalizing about halfway through this)