We were able to choose what we'd like to complete a final project on and since I had started dabbling in the blog world a few months prior, I thought it would be really fun to explore more about Perez Hilton. For those of you that know me, you know I HAVE to read his blog at least once a day for all my entertainment news. In my mind, who needs Entertainment Tonight when you have all the juice on the celebrities with a couple clicks of your mouse?!?! Well...I kept that topic for all of 2.5 seconds. I soon discovered what I'm going to label as "the weight blogs."
It's been a really intriguing process that I think has really helped me better understand how blogging has affected the lives of certain people. Through this process I've chosen to focus on three types of blogs:
- Fat Acceptance
- Weight-loss and Maintenance
- Pro-Ana
The sense of community between bloggers [most notably the weight-loss and maintenance] has been almost overwhelming to me!
Weight-loss and maintenance blogs: The Anti-Jared, Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit, Prior Fat Girl, Escape from Obesity, *Bitch Cakes* A Neurotic Glamour Girl's Weight Watchers Experience and Fitness Adventures
I started following The Anti-Jared and was really impressed by what he had done and how far he had come on his weight-loss journey. A couple of weeks later my Google reader recommended Prior Fat Girl and Escape from Obesity to me. I read their blogs pretty much independently of each other, but then I made the connection that they all "knew" each other. When I say "knew" I don't mean they are all from the same area...they are hundreds of miles apart, but they have been connected through blogging.
Fat Acceptance Blogs: Living ~400 LBS, Fat Heffalump, The Rotund, I AM in shape. ROUND is a shape., The Pervocracy
I first stumbled upon Living ~400 pounds after I'd heard the story about the woman trying to become the fattest women on earth. After reading through tons and tons of posts on a variety of Fat Acceptance blogs I've found that people responsible for the phenomena really and truly believe they are healthy individuals. Most of the blogs have disclaimers stating they will not tolerate any commenting that suggests otherwise.
Pro-Ana Blogs: The Looking Glass, Yummy Secrets--A Proana Blog, CHOKE ON AIR
The Pro-Ana blogs are perhaps some of the most intriguing of all the blogs I've been following. The sense of community is rather strong within this movement and all the girls seem to reach out to one another. The support system usually includes "thinspiration" photos and tips on how to deceive people into thinking you are eating more than you actually are.
I have a pretty awesome T.A. for my class and she's given us a ton of freedom when it comes to our final project. This would be great if I were a more creative individual. I couldn't for the life of me come up with any type of structure for the project. I just knew I had a ton of ideas and a running lists of fun/interesting/weird/crazy/stupid/etc. things that I'd uncovered during this process. I really didn't know how to put it all together. I met with my T.A. and she helped me figure it out. If I'm studying blogs WHY THE HECK DON'T I JUST BLOG ABOUT IT!?!? As soon as she suggested that, I thought "God almighty I'm the dumbest person alive for not thinking of that sooner!"
So with that said over the next few days I'm going to be blogging about things I've discovered and learned about over the course of the semester.
Would it have made more sense to be blogging about this all semester...YES, but I have to start somewhere right?!
