Eat A Cheeseburger (EAC) is heading into its fifth month now. EAC has come to represent a lot in the short time it’s been alive and we were just wondering what the phrase has come to mean to you personally. So here is the question we are posing to you: “What does Eat A Cheeseburger mean to you?”
Here are a few things it means to us:
1) It means challenging the status quo and not accepting the mainstream’s narrow definition of beauty as true and right.
2) It means that beauty really does come in all shapes and sizes.
3) It means allowing ourselves to enjoy food (we do eat other things besides cheeseburgers:-) )and not constantly counting calories and being worried about gaining weight.
4) It means not over-exercising, under-eating or forcing our bodies to fit into an ideal that is impossible to maintain, but rather accepting ourselves for what we look like.
5) It means spreading the joy of eating and body acceptance to others who are still living a life of restriction and body criticism.
Those are a few of our things, what about you?
…4) It means not over-exercising, under-eating or forcing our bodies to fit into an ideal that is impossible to maintain, but rather accepting ourselves for what we look like…
Not to beat a limping horse (not *quite* dead), but this particular point, for me, would apply to MEN forcing their bodies to fit an impossible-to-maintain ideal (a WOMAN’s body).
Why is it that “transgender people” have so much difficulty accepting what they (naturally) look like? Is self-acceptance as hard for them as it is for fat people?
You may reply that this is not an appropriate forum for discussing this topic, or demonstrate such by removing my comment, but I feel that it IS relevant. If we are talking about peoples’ relationships with their bodies, why not explain to me why a ‘transgender person’ cannot accept his or her body as-is, with the gender and sex-indicators it was born with, i.e.
Breasts and vagina for a girl, penis and testicles for a boy.
Accepting those parts of our bodies as natural and real seems pretty important – why can’t the transgenders ACCEPT themselves and their bodies?
Hmmm well the first thing that came to mind for “EAC” was “East Australian Current” but then again I just watched Finding Nemo again
For me “Eat a Cheeseburger” is about letting go of that media-induced, society-reinforced guilt around what we eat. It is about finally saying “I don’t CARE what anyone else thinks about what I’m eating” and trying to listen to the bodies we have; and learn what they need. It is a powerful message and frankly I’m glad EAC is here to bring it up.
(hope505,
i genuinely look forward to your comments here on EAC. while i understand that your defending your point (and freedom of speech really) from the last post and presenting a valid argument, unless you are transgender, then id also like to hear what EAC means to YOU- not what it should mean for other ppl)
EAC means feeding myself with something other than what the worthless magazines display at the grocery store check out line. it means having thought provoking threads about body acceptance (and accepting yourself in general), not reading mindless garbage about some >100lb “celebrity” and how she “got her body back”, lost weight, or *heaven forbid* gained weight or what not
if people actually had something more *filling* to read (like EAC) theyd choose u guys too–i did
To me, EAC is an open door to learning more about what it means to accept oneself, as-is, right now. Also a watchdog for bogus media, “weight loss” scams, and the perpetuation of wrong-headed beliefs about womens’ bodies, the effect of dieting, eating disorders, et cetera. EAC, to me, stands for challenging the status quo and debunking “popular” thought about womens’ relationships to their individual shapes and sizes. (like, ‘if I’m fat, I should diet.’)
You summed it up well i think
Hope 505 – I really like what you say most of the time. But I believe you are taking this body acceptance issue WAY OUT of context when you start thinking of transgender people in the same light. Also Im thinking that your confusing drag queens (ie gay guys that dress like woman for fun and glamour etc) and transgender people (who are born biologically as one sex but are in their mind another). The implication is that they are doing it for superficial reasons. However, in reality they feel that they are another sex. They feel that by having the operation they are simply aligning themselves to what they already were mentally. I have had a chance to meet many transexuals and their desire to change their sex is NOT in any way about looking good!!!!!!!!!!! Its this kind of thinking that can be extremely damaging and harmful to their movement of acceptance in society and I think we should respect that fat acceptance is completely different.
Well, as long as you don’t have anything against exercising (which I don’t think you do), I’m quite fond of EAC. I’m a student, so I find proper exercise necessary for the “blood flow” to my brain. It also helps to have good strength and stamina when you’re running away from the lions….
Oh and EAC is to me the concept of being healthy and liberated, breaking free from the social norm. The beauty ideal is bound to change within the next century or so, so why bother really?
hope505, why are you so obsessed with this topic? Why don’t you talk to some individuals who have gone through the process of changing their sex? Most of these individuals suffer from a disorder which starts in childhood, called gender identity disorder.
What do you suggest “intersex” individuals do, since they are born into a state where they cannot be defined as a female or a male?
You are trying to simplify a very complex issue here, and it’s making you look ignorant.
Thanks Dan…I’ll respond briefly because I think the mods prefer that we not talk about this topic here.
…transgender people (who are born biologically as one sex but are in their mind another). The implication is that they are doing it for superficial reasons. However, in reality they feel that they are another sex….
What about body dysmorphia?
In reality, I feel that I weigh about 300 pounds. But I don’t. And I’m not going to begin taking deliberate steps so that my outside matches my inside, dig?
Some people feel that they are, in fact, amputees. It’s just that they still have all their limbs. So some of them appeal to physicians (and psychiatrists) to cut off their arm or whatever.
“Drag queens” and crossdressers are not all gay. (so I hear!)
“Tranny” is a word that can be used to describe a Transvestite.
“Transsexuals” are people who are dissatisfied with their gender/biological sex, right? And some of them go so far as to have gender reassignment surgery or whatever it is called when a person of one sex is surgically and biochemically manipulated so that they can assume a life as the opposite sex.
Crossdressers, ‘drag queens’, transsexuals and transvestites get on my nerves in equal degrees, for different reasons.
It makes me uncomfortable to hear about their surgeries, as it makes me uncomfortable to hear womens’ childbirth and labor stories. I don’t respect mens’ choice to present themselves as women.
But, you know…f a man wants to dress up like a woman in the privacy of his own home, well that’s just dandy. He isn’t hurting anyone. When it all comes down, everyone is an individual, so I’m not making any blanket statements here….on the other hand, I don’t really support men getting surgery just because they feel girly on the inside. Or dressing up and trying to “pass” as an actual woman.
And vice versa.
Women who wish they had a penis? Buy one and strap it on like the rest of the girls do. Refuse to wear dresses. Stand up to pee. But don’t call yourself a man just because you’d like to be one. Or even if you feel you should be one.
I realize my opinion is not a popular one, but there it is. The fact that you have met “quite a few” supposed transgender people amazes me. What do they do about it, if they aren’t wealthy? I do not feel that it is “society’s” responsibility to accept their transgender-ism…is it a “movement” like feminism? That would imply a choice.
Well I won’t take up any more space here…as I said the mods will likely disapprove of using this forum to discuss the plight of transsexuals and crossdressers.
The common denominator between them and me is that we are all more or less uncomfortable in our skins a lot of the time. And I can feel compassion for them without fully supporting what they’re doing. Thank you for engaging me, Dan.
* : )
& to Sarah: no, I’m not obsessed with the topic. I did introduce the topic and others just sort of ran with it.
I don’t have a suggestion for “intersex individuals” and frankly it isn’t my problem, nor is it a problem for my family members, nor for anyone I have ever known very well, or THEIR friends or family.
I have met crossdressers, “sissies” (they call themselves this!), and exactly two post-op transsexuals (male to female. imagine that.)…I don’t hate them, however, I’m not required to like them or even to be comfortable around them.
If you feel I “look ignorant” because I’ve opened a discussion which has no simple answers, well, then, you are even less tolerant than I.
I actually agree with hope505. But i preface with a digression so, EAC means to me is that people can challenge and divert from what the world tells us to be–mainly women but nowadays it’s men too. EAC is not just about eating what I want or about body image alone. It’s also about just trying to feel good about yourself no matter what you struggle with. EAC is about healing…
i think that EAC is a worthy feminist website (if that term is helpful), but just one quibble – food is only half the deal, and EAC seems surprisingly teetotal. a cheeseburger often seems a good idea at 3am, after a few pints of Guinness. a cheeseburger is good, but it’s a lot better washed down with a few drinks, eh?
I’m a vegetarian, so I don’t take the “eat a cheeseburger” part literally. What I do take it to mean is that it’s OKAY to eat what we want to eat…food isn’t BAD or good, it’s amoral. We feed our bodies, and sometimes our bodies darn well want a cheeseburger! And it’s okay! And you know what? That cheeseburger shouldn’t be eaten in shame after going through a drive through window someplace while speeding down a highway and hiding the evidence before you get home, either. It should be eaten so you can actually taste it, enjoy each bite, feel satisfied, and if you feel satisfied before you finish, so be it. And if you want to eat the whole thing, so be it. And be unashamed.
And as for us vegetarians, this applies for us with the food of our choosing. Eat. Eat well. Don’t be ashamed. Eat when you’re hungry, eat what you desire, eat in appropriate environments, don’t feel you have to hide what you eat, and eat until you are satisfied.
This is a great blog.
Ok so one quick more point because this is related back to fat acceptance. When you say that transexuals should do it in there own home as long as I dont have to see it. Isnt this similar to someone saying ‘you can be fat but I just dont want to see it’? Cant you just stay at home and not come out so we dont have to see you fat body. Both are just as ridiculous. Also all the transexuals I know would love nothing more than to be able to walk down the street and NOT be noticed by the public. So they dont exactly want you to see it either. Why should we be hostile to something that clearly no can understand unless you are in that situation. No one understands what it is like to be fat unless they are, or have been, fat. So surly we can accept that neither you nor I will fully understand what it is like to be a transexual and so we shouldnt try and pretend that we do. Over and out:)