Picture Perfect at Any Size...Lending a Face to Obesity

It was the kind of event that made the back of my neck tingle with excitement and joy.

I've long felt exhausted by the faceless 300 pound, three scoop ice cream cone holding, hamburger consuming torsos accompanying today's obesity stories.

As one of the few remaining prejudices, obesity discrimination and stigmatization has become so entangled in the fabric of obesity reporting that even the most genuine media story about this chronic condition is undermined by image pollution through the use of unflattering, demeanig and often offensive stock photos.

I strongly believe that it is our responsibility as a society to resist, oppose and address weight bias in all of its hideous guises. I am proud to say that we got a head start today:

Two members of the Canadian Obesity Network, myself and Meredith, as well as a good friend from a special place within Alberta Health Services' pediatric obesity program, Thea, teamed up with photographer Rob Tinga to take a stand against the negative reinforcement of obesity stereotypes. Surely this endeavour required models...and we got the best we could have asked for.

We spent the day on the grounds of the colourfully leaf spotted Hawrelak Park and welcomed six families who braved Rob's camera to help us launch a "Picture Perfect at Any Size" image gallery. The idea was to create an image resource made available to all Canadian Obesity Network members as well as the media where they may now access royalty free, beautiful, positive and reality reflecting stock photos of people living with obesity.

The result is everything we had hoped for and more. CTV came and covered the story. They watched us as we picnicked and played...shared stories and laughter.

The mood was infectious and I truly felt that I was a part of something ever so necessary and novel.

I tip my hat and bow in gratitude to all of our wonderful models, as well as to all of their families and friends. We held hands today as we took baby steps in the right direction. Thanks to Robert...this happened one click at a time!

Thank you all for sharing your smiles with us today! You inspired me and gave me hope.

Thanks also to the team...(to the right) you rocked!

Click here to watch the story on CTV...(search 'Picture perfect at any size') although it may only be up for a short little while.

Smiling,

dr eye candy

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcawnRIyeok&feature=related