Woman aims for 1,000 pound weight goal

[Soft*Silver]

http://www.youtube.com/user/MuggleSa...78/fULtU2NfPQA

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by Random

I don't know about that... Think about all the flack that thin *Stars* get for being too skinny...

I don't think people would be talking about having her kids removed if she was going for the record of being the most under weight...

I agree, I have never heard talk of removing people's kids for being too thin.

Too fat stuff makes me twitch.

[SuperFemme]

I've got nothing.

[Medusa]

I need to dig up an article because I seem to recall that Texas (?) had an initiative on the ballot a few years back about how people who were deemed "too fat" couldnt adopt or foster children.

Lemme see if I can find it

[SuperFemme]

Gary Stocklaufer weighs 500 pounds. He said a family court judge ruled this week that he wasn't fit enough to be an adoptive father."It's out-and-out discrimination," Stocklaufer said.Stocklaufer is a state-certified foster parent. He and his wife, Cynthia, had taken in baby Max from a cousin who couldn't raise him.

The couple also has an adopted son named Bobby.Stocklaufer said he and his wife wanted to formally adopt Max, so they went to family court and expected quick approval.They didn't get it.

"We had Max for three months. He was taken away around the 13th of last month," Stocklaufer said. "He means the world to us, and our world has been taken out from underneath of us."

Stocklaufer said his weight should remain immaterial to his being an adoptive father."I mean, if I'm able to be a licensed foster care parent and we've had lots of kids in this home, then why would I not be able to adopt my own cousin?" Stocklaufer said. "We tried to follow all the legal steps, not knowing my weight would ever be an issue."

The ruling has shaken the couple's faith in the state's system."We're hurt, sad, frustrated," Cynthia Stocklaufer said. "We've tried to raise our child to believe the justice system will work for you.""

"We understand they're out for the best interest of the child, but the state should not have this kind of authority," Stocklaufer said.

Coincidentally, the judge who ruled Stocklaufer unfit is the same judge who allowed the adoption of Bobby seven years ago.Meanwhile, Stocklaufer said he plans to continue fighting to get Max back.

A representative of the Jackson County Family court said she couldn't comment on the case because of children's privacy laws.

Late Thursday afternoon, the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri released a statement that said: "Missouri law restricts the disclosure of any information in adoption cases to very specific circumstances. Court files, records and information in adoption proceedings are closed and, aside from the parties in the case, can only be released by court order."

"The particular case that you are inquiring about is still an ongoing case. Additional proceedings may still occur in the case. While the petitioners are free to talk about the case, court personnel cannot discuss any of the facts involved in the proceeding."

"Under Missouri law, the court is required to consider the welfare and best interests of the child when determining whether or not an adoption should be approved, which is a complicated determination ... Factors to be considered include the petitioner's educational, financial, marital, medical and psychological status and criminal background check."

http://www.wmortv32.com/family/13767506/detail.html

[SuperFemme]

Here is a better breakdown of the story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3429655&page=1

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Apocalipstic

I agree, I have never heard talk of removing people's kids for being too thin.

Too fat stuff makes me twitch.

I disagree with both of you and the comparisons made here about what would happen if a woman decided to try to become the most underweight woman on record. I would actually argue that society deems women who are anorexic and bulimic as more mentally and physically ill than a woman like the subject of this topic who is trying to achieve the 1000 lbs mark. Both anorexia and bulimia have been pathologized to a far greater extent than obesity as far as the medical community is concerned, in much the same way as self-mutilation and other inflictions of bodily harm and self-deprivation. If a mother were attempting to become the most underweight woman on record while also being the mother of young children, I honestly think they would have removed the children from her long ago and hospitalized her, because anorexia and bulimia are taken seriously as severe illnesses.

In comparison, something like excessive eating to the point of what this woman is trying to achieve is considered by society and medical community more along the lines of a "lifestyle choice" that someone has control over rather than a serious compulsion or illness. This is, of course, entirely the fault of society, its traditions and the way it has always deemed self-deprivation as a form of punishment on the body vs. over-indulgence as simply the inability to control "cravings." Of course, that is the result of a severe misunderstanding of why people either eat excessively or deprive themselves of food. But I do think it's dangerous to pit one against the other (overeating vs. bulimia/anorexia). Both are equally severe and its very important to recognise that, imo. But I see the opposite happen on this forum a lot when it comes to these discussions about weight. Because people have been hurt by society's negative stereotypes and behaviours towards those who don't fit the narrow social stereotype of "beauty," (here I mean that North American society seems to think that certain weights and body types are "more attractive" than others. It's totally wrong, imo, but don't know how else to express society's stereotypes/rigid perspectives that affect everyone negatively. Or even if we talk about methods of dress/self-presentation etc. Society always wants people to fit that rigid "role" that I think the queer community often defies.) they seem to exaggerate society's support for excessively thin women. Yet society is also extremely unkind to thin women, and I think it's wrong to assume that an anorexic woman wouldn't have her children taken away. In fact many anorexic mothers have had exactly that happen, because it was believed that their inability to feed themselves would negatively affect their ability to feed their children.

There is definitely a "range" that society has created, where people on either end, either "too thin" or "too big" get a lot of shit for being who they are and I don't think either side should be alienated from the other. Body image and negative social judgement is something both face perhaps more severely than other portions of the North American population, and should face together, imo.