JK Rowling, my favorite author, on "Stupid Girls"

[wavydaby 1]

For those of you who dont know, JK Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter books.< /p>

Recently, she came out with this statement on her website.

For Girls Only, Probably...

Being thin. Probably not a subject that you ever expected to read about on this website, but my recent trip to London got me thinking...

It started in the car on the way to Leavesden film studios. I whiled away part of the journey reading a magazine that featured several glossy photographs of a very young woman who is either seriously ill or suffering from an eating disorder (which is, of course, the same thing); anyway, there is no other explanation for the shape of her body. She can talk about eating absolutely loads, being terribly busy and having the world's fastest metabolism until her tongue drops off (hooray! Another couple of ounces gone!), but her concave stomach, protruding ribs and stick-like arms tell a different story. This girl needs help, but, the world being what it is, they're sticking her on magazine covers instead. All this passed through my mind as I read the interview, then I threw the horrible thing aside.

But blow me down if the subject of girls and thinness didn't crop up shortly after I got out of the car. I was talking to one of the actors and, somehow or other, we got onto the subject of a girl he knows (not any of the Potter actresses – somebody from his life beyond the films) who had been dubbed 'fat' by certain charming classmates. (Could they possibly be jealous that she knows the boy in question? Surely not!)

'But,' said the actor, in honest perplexity, 'she is really not fat.'

'"Fat" is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her,' I said; I could remember it happening when I was at school, and witnessing it among the teenagers I used to teach. Nevertheless, I could see that to him, a well-adjusted male, it was utterly bizarre behaviour, like yelling 'thicko!' at Stephen Hawking.

His bemusement at this everyday feature of female existence reminded me how strange and sick the 'fat' insult is. I mean, is 'fat' really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive', 'jealous', 'shallow', 'vain', 'boring' or 'cruel'? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I'm not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain...

I went to the British Book Awards that evening. After the award ceremony I bumped into a woman I hadn't seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? 'You've lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!'

'Well,' I said, slightly nonplussed, 'the last time you saw me I'd just had a baby.'

What I felt like saying was, 'I've produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren't either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?' But no – my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!

So the issue of size and women was (ha, ha) weighing on my mind as I flew home to Edinburgh the next day. Once up in the air, I opened a newspaper and my eyes fell, immediately, on an article about the pop star Pink.

Her latest single, 'Stupid Girls', is the antidote-anthem for everything I had been thinking about women and thinness. 'Stupid Girls' satirises the talking toothpicks held up to girls as role models: those celebrities whose greatest achievement is un-chipped nail polish, whose only aspiration seems to be getting photographed in a different outfit nine times a day, whose only function in the world appears to be supporting the trade in overpriced handbags and rat-sized dogs.

Maybe all this seems funny, or trivial, but it's really not. It's about what girls want to be, what they're told they should be, and how they feel about who they are. I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don't want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before 'thin'. And frankly, I'd rather they didn't give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons. Let them never be Stupid Girls. Rant over.

Bravo Mrs Rowling!

This got me to thinking on how I will change my the way I see my self.

Yes, I am fat and I WILL be doing something about it. But my main goal will no longer be to be some size I have never been before in my life, but to be healthy. To walk a flight of steps and not suck all the oxygen out of the air in a 2 mile radius. To run around like a chicken with my head cut off like my daughter.

In the mean time, I will buy those cutesy slinky underwear, in my size and feel sexy not gross.

I will be confident that I am doing something about my health and not hold my head in shame because I am fat.

Why? Because I am fat, not mean, not evil, not manipulative. I am kind, I am fun loving, I am generous.

I am ME.

This has given me more to think about why I want the Lapband than any after picture.

I will be healthy and smaller because of it. I will no longer be ugly to myself.

[MiaHalliwell 4]

I read that she got heck for that. I think she is right on with that.

She is my favorite author as well.

[vinesqueen 2]

Oh Wavydaby! you GOT it! Fat does not equal ugly! This is something that I've faught this fight my whole life.

I decided when I was 18 that I was going to be happy with my body no matter what the size, I was never going to put off being happy until I'd reached some mythical size that I might not ever reach.

[Hedwig 0]

I loved that article. J.k Rowling is a wonderful write that helps expand the mind and add some adventure to our everyday lives. My neice is 13 slender, tall, and very pretty. I worry about her alot. I find her being like all teenagers. Which is fine. But at the same time she reads the potter books and she relates to hermione. She wears glasses and still can't see her beauty. But sometimes she sees lindsey lohan and says she wants an outfit like hers, or she wants that bag. Once someone told her that her auntie was really fat. She told them "yep. she is chubby, but has a beautiful face, heart, and mind. Which judging by what you said you have none of those things. Oh and watch out for you boyfriend because men love her." lol. I mean how smart and amazing is this kid. What was my point? See if I start talking about her I lose track. oh yeah, I hope that she grows up understanding that thin and rich are not what makes a person special, or loved. I have to show her this article. She loves JK. And vinesqueen I love your attitude and energy. I wish I could feel that way.

[K@t 38]

I love the Stupid Girls song, and the video is even funnier. Good to know there are still some sensible people left in high places.

[Alexandra 55]

I have a whole new respect for JK Rowling after reading that. She's 100% right on.

[Bensmum1109 0]

Vines, I agree with you. Not only does fat not equal ugly, but thin sure as HELL does not equal beautiful.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard (or overheard) someone (like a co-worker or my Mom), say "even though she is big/fat/large/overweight(insert any decription equaling "not thin" here) she is really a beautiful woman" about me. THIS IS ALLEGEDLY SUPPOSED TO BE A COMPLIMENT.