Sanity Watchers

Dodai at Jezebel reports that Isabelle Caro, French model turned anti-anorexia activist, died last month. Caro’s billboard campaign was controversial in part because it relied on the visual shock of her naked body, thematizing one of the biggest fears of a person with anorexia: that one’s body will be uncontrollably exposed to the scrutiny of the world at large. 

Kate and I both wrote about Caro’s campaign at Shapely Prose. I’ll repeat the challenge that I issued in the wake of Caro’s campaign: stop lying about your weight and your body. 

If we want to live in a community in which people are not vilified for the size and shape of their bodies, then we have to be part of creating that community. One way of doing that, as I know many readers have seen for themselves, is by speaking up when you see fatphobia in action. Another way is to deflate and correct unrealistic expectations that are imposed upon us — doing a scaled-down version of what Isabelle Caro has done in the anti-anorexia campaign: telling the truth when we expect to see lies.

Rest in peace, Isabelle Caro. Thank you for your activism.