Maggie Goes on A Diet by Paul Kramer, is due for publication in the US in October but is already listed on many bookseller’s websites. The book tells the story of 14-year-old Maggie who “is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal-sized girl who becomes the school football star”. “Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self-image,” it adds.
Really? Really?
Because Maggie obviously can’t develop confidence and a positive self-image until she’s “normal”-sized!
The comments at the original article are vom-worthy. Fattism and sexism: alive and well the world over. Remember ladies, no one will ever love you unless you’re thin and beautiful. Even ugly chaps want nothing to do with chubbies. Your chance of engaging in FB schmoopiness declines exponentially with each pound you gain.
ETA: Here’s the publisher’s website: http://www.alohapublishers.com/. Feel free to contact them to register your dismay and urge them not to publish this, for lack of a better word, book.
Not seeing the big deal… Obesity is a serious problem, and some people DO need to stop building this idea of a “positive body image” when they’re extremely overweight. It’s not helping them at all. (I can say this cuz I used to be 215 lbs, and it sucked. I was really insecure about it, and developing a positive body image wouldn’t help me get healthy, it would just make me comfortable with being overweight, which isn’t good. Then, I lost a lot of weight, and I feel a lot better about myself.)
I agree with Idris on this completely. The description of the book is literally the most wholesome one that I have ever read. “Through time, hard work, and exercise, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self-image.” Doesn’t exactly scream “fattist” or sexist to me. Do you remember back in the ’90s when everyone was encouraged to be themselves and love themselves the way they are? That was a great message back in a time when kids were still socially and physically active and didn’t have so many many distractions in the form of personalized technology and the internet. BUT we live in a much different time now and people NEED to face the reality that obesity is a serious health concern and is one that appears in children at an alarming rate. Furthermore, this book, if the description is any indication of its contents and quality, is a prime example that encouraging kids to be active and healthy =/= being sexist nor is it aimed at debilitating a child’s self-esteem. It merely encourages kids that being healthy should be a priority for everyone. Nobody cries foul when Michelle Obama tells kids to stay active, and nobody should when this book is released.
^ Kind of agree. Can’t say for sure if it’s got a good or bad message unless I’ve read it, but if it’s just encouraging being healthy? How is that a problem?
I think that the title being “Maggie Goes on a Diet” is probably the most off-putting thing; its purpose would be better served if it was, like, “Maggie Exercises” or something. Also, the cover is reminiscent of all the anorexia pictures of a deathly thin girl looking into a mirror and seeing an overweight girl (although in reverse). But the message, “exercise and eat healthily” is not at all something to get mad about. Being super overweight simply because you don’t exercise or eat well is not something that is “okay” for kids to be. Obviously, don’t make them feel bad about it (“You’re so fat! Gross! Lose weight!”) but I can imagine this being a helpful book for kids whose doctors put them on a diet, for example.
I’m not saying that if you’re overweight you’re not beautiful or automatically have self-esteem problems, but I am saying that child obesity is a super serious problem. I’m not okay with making kids “love themselves for who they are” to the point where it’s actually damaging their health.
Also, how is this sexist? Because she’s a girl who needs to lose weight? Because she’s holding up a pink dress? THAT IS NOT SEXIST HOLY FUCK THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH GIRLS WEARING PINK DRESSES
* SHE’S NOT DOING IT TO GET A BOY. That would be sexist, okay. But she’s the one who becomes the soccer star afskjaflkafkljafs.
