Awesome (Queer) Ode to Emotional Eating...

I assume this post may scare some of you away, for good.  I hope not, because I will always continue to read and support your blogs despite your beliefs and lifestyles that are so very different from mine. I do need to honor the parts of me that are different, and that this video has inspired some serious feelings regarding my own journey to a normal relationship with food and my body.

Part of the reason I went with "The Angry Inch..." as a blog title is because I am queer, though partnered with an (also queer) man, and part of a lovely and vibrant artistic community full of queer and queer-friendly people. "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is one of my favorite movies of all time, an amazing musical about a transgendered rock star. So fair warning, this video and article and blog entry are going to offend you if you have issues with this. But you'll also be missing out on a funny and thoughtful piece piece of art about something that I think is something rather universal, in the end.

I came across this little gem recently, and it's where my weight-loss/body image world meets the other parts of my life. Rocco is a trans-man, and he and his friends, including Margaret Cho, made a fantastic, hilarious and extremely queer song/video about emotional eating.:



It was originally posted as part of this article about Valentine's day and emotional eating:

Rocco Katastrophe: Eat Everything

The article and the video both stir up a lot of feelings in me. One thing that keeps emerging for me is that it makes me NOT want to eat mindlessly ever again. The way the food is being treated in the video, the bingeing and grossness of it all reminds me of how I feel when I do act like that anymore. It also reminds me of how much more I love myself now because I am taking care of myself the way I deserve. This has NOTHING to do with being fat, thin, or anywhere in between. It is all about feeling my feelings, knowing whether I'm actually hungry or bored or trying to make myself feel better. I'm not saying I don't occasionally eat from boredom or emotional need, but I know now that I'm CHOOSING to do so instead of doing it mindlessly. It's getting easier all the time. So great to be healing in so many ways at once.

I am feeling a figurative lightness at this point. So unchained from what now seems like such slavery. Feeling like I needed to eat all the time. Feeling so trapped and unsexy. Instead, eating is something I get to do to be healthy and happy and sometimes for fun. I feel sexy, happy and so much more open to people. I am not done; I haven't got it all figured out by any means. But overall, life is very good.

Lastly, I'm really really happy and proud that my state (and several others, hurray!) has legalized gay marriage. So my queer friends and family don't have to eat their feelings, they can express them and live together as officially recognized families with their basic human rights intact like we all have deserved to all along.