Yay!

I am now gainfully employed in a quaint little not-for-profit organisation. I won’t say too much, as I am very aware of the dangers of blogging about work, but I’m loving it, especially after 10+ years in the corporate world. Oh, and I’ll enjoy my first pay packet when I get it, too :)

A (somewhat belated) announcement of a short break

Everything is fine, just taking a short break from blogging to deal with life issues. I’m still job hunting, and on top of that, our landlord has given is a termination notice so we have to vacate our rental property. Finding funds to move (rent, bond, removalists) is a bit challenging but I keep telling myself it will turn out. Anyway, suffice to say that although I am keeping abreast of the fatosphere, I am not finding the mental energy to post on my own blog. I shall be back, though.

Bridges

Sorry, Ms Rudstein, I know your job as his lawyer is to put the best spin on things, but a “devoted and loving father” doesn’t throw his young daughter off a bridge. His actions automatically negate that description.

How can this happen?

How can it happen in this day and age for police to be called out to a domestic violence incident and then walk away without making an arrest because the man lies and tries to divert attention from his actions?

That’s what happened yesterday to my sister. She was viciously assaulted by her husband (in front of her 3.5 year old and nearly 2 year old), prevented from ringing the police by him unplugging the home phone and throwing her mobile phone on to the roof, prevented from leaving by his throwing her purse and keys onto the roof. When she finally managed to call the police from the home phone, he threw her against a bookcase and she hit her head. He also when they were outside pushed her violnently to the concrete where she hit her head badly. She managed to get up and push him away into the fence and then the police turn up.

My sister was suffering amnesia and confusion from, not suprisingly, concussion – so she couldn’t remember what happened to tell the police. You would think that would ring alarm bells with the police, wouldn’t you? Really, wouldn’t you?

But no. They listen to my fuck-wad of a brother-in-law who tells them only that my sister pushed him into the fence (and not that it was her doing it in self defence). And he told them that she was “off her medication”. Anti-fucking-depressants for Post-Natal Depression. She gave birth nearly 2 years ago. Off her medications, give me a break. Ooh, she’s a dangerous psycho and must just be making trouble for the poor man. Fuck off.

So what do the police do? Not arrest the fucker. Not clue into the fact that my sister could be is brain injured. Oh, no. They believe his obfuscations and leave. Oh, and they gave her a card and said she could call if she wanted to. And left her there with him.

Apparently he eventually got her keys and purse etc down from the roof. So my sister left to go to a friends.

It seems the police turning up calmed him down enough to do that. But my question is: What if he hadn’t? What if, after they had left, the situation had escalated? Where the fuck was their duty of care?

But she was confused and dizzy all night. I wanted her to go to emergency last night to get checked out, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Dad got there this morning and has taken her to the hospital now. She is being treated for concussion and checked for skull and spine injuries.

I will be heading up later. We will be going to the police and charging the motherfucker and getting an AVO.

But really, what the fuck was wrong with the officers who attended last night? Do they have no training in DV? Do they not know how to assess a person’s basic medical condition? Do they have no fucking idea about basic mental health issues that they think a mother who once suffered post-natal depression is unreliable and unstable? Do they have no idea that men who commit DV will lie and obfuscate and divert attention from themselves?

I want to scream at the police officer who left my sister without medical attention and in a potentially dangerous situation with her husband. I want to charge down to the police station and ask what their god damned DV policy is, because last I heard police had a duty of care when called out to DV incidents.

But of course I won’t, because that will not help my sister’s situation at all.

We will support her when she makes her statement. And we will support her when she, as she says she is going to, leaves the cunt who did this to her.ent

Forbidden Regions

Of all the ads cashing in on the MUST-LOSE-WEIGHT New Year Resolutions, this one from Contours, an Australian franchise of gyms targeting women (as if you couldn’t tell by the name) cheeses me off the most.

Oh sure, the women in it are ‘normal’ (read: they aren’t Hollywood thin or gym junkies). They are happy. They are having fun in an energetic way. So why to I hate this commercial so much?

Simply because, with its cheerful chant about “arms, bellies, bums and thighs”, it blithely forbids women to be happy with any of the listed parts. After all, they are our Trouble Zones, aren’t they ladies? It simply isn’t socially acceptable to be happy with one’s Forbidden Regions.

• If you think you are happy with your arms, think again. Haven’t you heard of bingo wings?
• If you think your belly is just right, think again. Got a bit of a muffin top, there, haven’t you love?
• If you think your bum is perky, think again. God, look at that cottage cheese.
• And don’t even mention your thighs. They are like hams.

So get thee to a nunnery Contours and do thy (happy! energetic!) penance in only 29 minutes!

(As an aside, have you ever noticed how much of the terminology used to shame women about their body parts is food related? Food is shameful. Bodies are shameful. Bodies that consume food are anathema. AAAARGH!)