Caroline Rothstein Performing 'Fat'
The following (e-mail readers will have to head to the site to see this) is a short poem called “Fat” by Caroline Rothsteiin, a 29-year old spoken-word poet and writer who lives in New York.
This raw and personal poem, in which Rothstein describes her struggles with her bulimia and body-image issues, was ‘discovered’ by Lady Gaga and has since received over 30,000 hits on YouTube.
As anyone moved by this piece will appreciate, the power of art (in this case a poem) to change heads and hearts is far greater than any scientific study that I could ever hope to publish.
Please feel free to repost this video so that others can see it – appreciate your comments.
AMS
Edmonton, Alberta
In The News
October 2nd, 2012 at 7:26 am
Thank you for this posting – I wouldn’t have caught it otherwise, and found it fierce, heartfelt, wise, born out of painful experience, and so very articulate and hopeful.
October 2nd, 2012 at 7:34 am
Thank you for sharing this poem. There is so much power and beauty in it — but I have to admit, I wish she wasn’t rejecting the word “Fat.” I think there can be even more power in reclaiming words that have been used to stigmatize. Especially a word like “fat,” which can just as easily have a morally neutral meaning (as a component of the body or a macronutrient) as opposed to other derogatory slurs against minority groups, which usually don’t have another meaning.
October 2nd, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Too bad it is neither captioned or in text form. I guess it doesn’t matter to her if people with hearing loss hear her message or not.
October 2nd, 2012 at 5:22 pm
SLCCOM, Are you kidding me??????? It does matter that “She” didn’t do that…. really?, Why don’t you caption it for her or put it in text form for thoughs hearing loss people so the message gets out. Oh by the way……I am hearing impaired and I managed to get the message given to me. Get a life.And thanks, I have friends, family and clients that also struggle. Thanks, thank you and bless your heart.
October 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 pm
In the same vein, I saw this today a reporter who got an email stating she was fat and her response.
http://www.upworthy.com/bully-calls-news-anchor-fat-news-anchor-destroys-him-on-live-tv?g=3
October 2nd, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Deb, how exactly is a deaf person supposed to caption a video? It is the responsibility of the creator to make things accessible. Or do you think that a wheelchair user needs to pour the ramps?
October 3rd, 2012 at 8:51 am
Beware the e-mail about “fat” anchor above – to access it you have to click on one of two options, – it’s not cybersafe to do that. (The person submitting it prpbably didn’t realize that, no shame on him)
October 3rd, 2012 at 10:38 am
She’s incredible.
October 3rd, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Wow! Very powerful and thought provoking. When will our collective societal focus shift to health at all sizes and the devastating effects of all-consuming dieting and media messaging. If your body weight is causing health issues address it, but if you are healthy and larger than the ‘media ideal’… embrace your health and continue living a healthy lifestyle and being the best you can be. All the attention on weight loss as the goal pushes the health envelope for both ends of the spectrum. We create societal climates through weight biases and prejudice that spawn the increased development of eating disorders. You can be just as ‘unhealthy’ and be at a ‘normal-looking’ weight as you can be ‘healthy’ and appear to be ‘fat’!