Forthcoming diet book aimed at 6 year olds? Hmmmmm.

[CRIKRI]

Just when I think things can't get more bizarre, I read this book - Maggie Goes On A Diet

Okay, so perhaps the girl in the story discovers the way to lose weight and be heavy is through sports, but OMG, why this front cover? Why aim this at 6 year olds?

My immediate thought was of the clip in this article in June Girl 6, Worries That She's Fat

[CRIKRI]

Sorry, I read of this book - haven't read the book itself, sorry.

[CRIKRI]

Ha ha, and a Freudian slip if every I've made one - in the second paragraph "lose weight and be healthy" not heavy. :)

[queenofthemojavewasteland]

This is one point where I would totally agree with a book-burning. I can't belive that any writer, publisher or bookshop could ever condone this book. Yes, there are a lot more obese kids around, but that would be a matter for their families and GPs to deal with, this book would be out there for all impressionable children to view. My 5yo neice has already asked me once if she was fat and I feel ill thinking she might see this book somewhere. Horrified, just horrified.

[jennyvarnishessthewoodwork]

To be fair to the author, he may have been utterly stitched up by the publisher. I agree with the article, though, that this is one case where maybe judging a book by its cover is going to be allowed.

Diet and exercise are about health, not fitting into tiny dresses.

[mumwithdice]

jenny, I believe it was self-published. I think the guardian article says this somewhere.

[CRIKRI]

Yes, I believe that's correct, so I would assume the author had control of the title, cover art and everything else.

Hopefully, that means it won't get a very wide distribution. Even if parents gave the book a wide berth, if it were still on the shelves of bookshops and libraries, the image from the cover . . . well, I find it incredibly disturbing. I regularly see magazines with salacious headlines, models airbrushed beyond perfection and pap photos of celebrity women who are always too thin, too fat or doing something wrong. Even when I just catch a glimpse of them while looking for something else in the newsagent and even though I don't buy them, I remember stuff I've seen - like it gets burned into your brain!

I also don't "get" the comments from those who say the writer of the article shouldn't be "drawing attention to it" by writing about it. FFS, what's that all about?

[jennyvarnishessthewoodwork]

Should have read the whole article shouldn't I? Burn it.

[BertieBotts]

I have a horrible one someone got for DS from a charity shop which is called "Postman Pat Gets Fat" - Pat eats various foods, gets fat, his wife insults him, so he goes on a diet which basically involves refusing everything he's offered, until he comes across the doctor who tells him he's doing great

At the end of the week when he can fit into his suit again his wife says a sinister "That's better"

It was published over 10 years ago, but still!

[Molasses]

If the book is really intended to tackle obesity, the author could bring out another one with a boy on the cover, looking in the mirror forlornly, holding up... holding up... what exactly? What can't he get into that is every boy's wish?

This book and its cover doesn't pass the gender/sex reversal test.

Oh, and it's body fascism.

[jennyvarnishessthewoodwork]

Well, the sports team kit Molasses, but I suspect I'm not being helpful.

Inferiority in boys is often related to sports, sadly, and not academic achievement. Equally girls (at school) swoon over the 'jocks' and ignore the 'goody-goodies...'. Not true in all cases I'm sure and I'm several decades out of date, but that's how I remember it.

[Molasses]

What is a boy's sports team kit? Shorts and a t-shirt?

[jennyvarnishessthewoodwork]

It's irrelevant what the pieces of cloth are. How many girls know what it's like to suffer the indignity of playground soccer when you're the last to be chosen? Male culture is instantly competitive in a way that very few women could possibly understand. I'm not sure I understand and I've been examining it for years.

[CRIKRI]

Jenny, I experienced the indignity of being last to be chosen for most sporting activities when I was in school. Have you listened to the lyrics of Janis Ian's song "At Seventeen?" I don't think that experience of feeling "bottom of the pile" is solely a male one and I don't agree that "being last" is inherently more humiliating for a male than for a female.

I think there is competition between girls and women just as there is between boys and men, although it can take on a different form. Crudely put, the competition between women and girls may be for the attraction of/validation from males, but it's still competition. Women and girls can be excellent at policing each other's behaviour just as well as men and boys do.

[jennyvarnishessthewoodwork]

CRIKRI - I agree with everything you wrote there. I don't see any of it contradicting what I posted. The Janis Ian song is playing on youtube as we speak. Thank you for the introduction!