Athika Ahmed (Welsh health ambassador) - Can we show her some love?

[SixSevens]

Once again, Twitter/X has sunk to new lows…

Athika Ahmed, an ambassador for the “Love Your Period” campaign is being widely bullied by thousands of men for her appearance. She’s a young woman and clearly doing good work. I hate that it’s acceptable to treat women like this.

Very few are standing up for her. Can we show her some love?

I do wonder who thought it was a good idea to appoint her as a health ambassador when she's so obese.
They could have seen that coming, poor girl

She's working bloody hard (pardon the pun) to improve access to period products for all and end the shame. Her campaign and position as an ambassador has nothing to do with her weight - or are only thin people allowed to not be ashamed of their periods? Fucking hell.

So because she’s heavy she doesn’t deserve to share her opinions on women’s health? Have a word with yourself.

Go Athika, thank you for advocating for girls and women. I hope you have a bright future ahead of you ❤️

And that's very worthwhile. But appointing her as a HEALTH ambassador and opening her up to public scrutiny all over social media was clearly going to attract the kind of comments she's getting.
Very unfair that someone in Welsh Government Comms has put her in that position.

She's a medical student at university; she is an ambassador specialising in supporting and educating young Muslim girls on stigmatised topics, she volunteers on the NHS Mental Health Youth Advisory panel, contributes to strategic planning for the youth board of an entire health board and has been recognised for her work by the Welsh government.

What the fuck had you done for women's health by the age of 23?

Because she's an ambassador for women's health - she helped create resources for things like endometriosis which causes... you know... weight gain. And there is a big issue with people of her ethnic background with not seeking help for women's health problems, so she's helping to break down that barrier by representing her community. But yeah, she's not a size 10 so that's apparently all irrelevant...

No one in comms did it! She's a member of the Cardiff and Vale Youth Panel and was selected because she's studying medicine at university!

I mean a two second google would have told you this! But sure spout nonsense with no actual evidence or effort to understand what it is that she is trying to do:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9yep3rlylo

Thank you - god the bloody irony of this thread being posted for support and then ignorance being spread all over it. It's worse than Twitter because you think people on here would know better than to speak without first doing a two second google... apparently not. Well done for being part of the problem you arseholes.

Do you understand how Comms work?
My bad, not Welsh Gov but CAVUHB, who have quoted her in previous campaigns.

By calling her a health ambassador, the comments she's getting were foreseeable. On Planet Reality, people don't look at nuance and the valuable work she's doing, they see her title and image and there's a disconnect.

It's not right and I feel sorry for her being put in that position by people who should have thought it through.

More WAG virtue signalling, she's being used by them to further their agenda as the Sanctuary Nation. The optics of someone of that size being promoted as a Health Ambassador was bound to backfire on her.

And her weight affects her ability to do a good job how? If she’s committed and keen, and makes a difference to girls and women why does it matter if she’s not a size 10?

To be fair, it’s only one arsehole. Everyone else seems supportive.

I work in comms and worked in NHS comms for a decade and government comms for a decade... so yeah, just a bit! This is in no way a 'comms' initiative. It's something that has been dreamt up by senior management - you clearly don't know comms if you think we sit around coming up with stuff like this - we are the ones who have to publicise it. But yeah blame away when you didn't even know that it was a health board initiative which ten seconds of googling would have told you. Do you work for senior management as they often like to spout off with no idea of the reality or 'nuance'!

Sorry it's just the level of their arseholery made it feel like much more...

Yeah. And it seems even more out of place on a feminist board. I think what she’s trying to do is brilliant andi really hope she succeeds.

Totally agree and the fact that she represents a community that traditionally does not engage with women's health services is hugely significant. Me too.

From what I can tell - and I may be wrong - she seems unbothered by the crass commentary of the ignorant peasants online and just wants to get on with the job.
Unless I've missed something (always possible)

Nobody is expecting her to be a size 10, but I wouldn't expect a "health ambassador" to be morbidly obese, any more that I would expect them to record a video with a cigarette in one hand and a can of beer in the other. Being a smoker or enjoying a drink doesn't affect her ability to do a good job but it is unhealthy, just like morbid obesity.

Ah, I see. You seem to be very close to this campaign. I wonder why you've posted here?

If the WAG had put some biology into the Sex and Relationship education that they made mandatory in all schools a while back, another first that they slapped themselves on the back for, the girls of Wales would be receiving a proper education on periods and they wouldn't need a Period Ambassador. Instead they subverted the subject and used it as a vehicle to brainwash the children with the genderwang batshittery instead.

The whole of the Youth Council is an exercise in virtue signally, and this young women is paying the price for the WAG's grandstanding.

I think WG are very wasteful but I have to say that period products are now readily accessible in schools, the national sports centre and in some public spaces. The national sports centre has info about periods & sports on the wide screen TV in the foyer. So good on her.

From my reading of the information available online about her, she is not a Welsh Government appointee, but has a role on a local health board’s youth panel (which I assume is a role people volunteer for). It is difficult to work out though because of the tirade of misinformation and racism directed at her.

Yes, she’s overweight, but she’s not advising on healthy eating - and even if she was, her own weight would be irrelevant to the accuracy of her advice & its ability to engage the community it’s directed at. She’s making interesting points about schools and health and I have no doubt the comments about her are motivated by racism and misogyny. Revolting. In particular as far as I am aware the right wing commentators abusing her (eg ‘Tommy Robinson’, ‘Catturd’) have not before this expressed any interest in women’s health issues such as breast self examination.

It’s also really sinister to suggest that people who are overweight should not be given a public facing role ‘for their own protection’ (however this is phrased). We should deal with racism & misogyny by criticising those engaging in it, not by ensuring that women at whom it might be directed are kept out of the public eye. Or, should only those women deemed to meet ‘Tommy Robinson’s’ beauty standards (young enough, blonde enough, thing enough) be allowed a public platform? Allowed to speak in public? ‘For their own good’, of course.

The policing of women’s bodies continues apace.

At least she's not male like the ill fated Scottish Period Ambassador. 😂

You know I think cynicism is starting to bed in for me. What with the Scotgov and Labour still, STILL failing to follow the law and Supreme Court judgment and respect the most basic rights of women in law.

Period products seem to be something politicians use when they want to signal they care about WAG.

We got free period products for a short while in Scotland. They've not bothered refilling the loos in months, though, I guess the photo opps are past now.

So, it'll take more than a box or two of tampons to convince me the Welsh govt give a fuck about WAG. They've been treating us with contempt for years.

But, to stick strictly to the OP, this woman seems to be doing good work, so all the best to her. I hope she gets good support.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11119419/Meet-macho-tobacco-seller-turned-PT-announced-new-36-126-year-period-officer.html

(Spoiler for those who missed this story: he subsequently sued the council for sex discrimination and settled out of court.)

Yes, she’s overweight, but she’s not advising on healthy eating

In the video I watched of her @NutritiousSardines (apt username ), Ahmed said that at school they should be teaching "things that are going to prolong my life" rather than just "how to get a job, because if I'm not living long enough, how will I get a job".

On that basis, her weight is an awkward 'hyopcrisy', for want of a better word. Because she's not just overweight, she is very obese. Which will affect her mortality and probably her periods too.

I say this as someone who is two stone overweight who is trying to lose weight for the sake of my health, and it's happening albeit slowly. I have a chronic health condition that is unrelated to weight but excess weight doesn't help it. The doctor is monitoring my weight and progress at my check-ins. If that doctor was morbidly obese and so more overweight than I am, I'd find it hard to look them in the eye.

I applaud her for doing the work she's doing, but she is not going to be fully listened to if she's demonstrably not healthy herself.