Friday 30 August 2013

Wednesday 21 August 2013


well if it's good enough for Cara D and Rihanna, it's good enough for me

MY NEW BEANIE... bring on the snow!

 
Channel 9 interview August 19th 2013 - for the Australian publication of The Ministry of Thin!

If you're ever asked to appear on Aussie breakfast television, be warned my friends - it's the middle of the night our time, and it's very hard to make sense when you've had no sleep and seventeen coffees and your ear-piece is falling out so you can't hear the questions #hoho

WARNING: PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU ARE 'TRIGGERED' BY SKINNY IMAGES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tP3NbvsMlU

 
Some inspirational musical snippets I've been playing non-stop lately. For anyone who's feeling lost, lonely, sad or stressed-out - or if you just need a boost - I promise these beauties will do the trick.

First is Enya's version of How Can I keep From Singing, which I'd never heard. I'm not religious, but this is spiritually uplifting & joyful... makes you want to weep, but in a good way.

Pour some wine, turn it up loud and close your eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RHt3ElEvHQ

Second is this amazing mash-up of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold (c.1850) with drum & bass & electronic jiggery-pokery, with thanks to Nick Breakell and his soundcloud. (Why don't I have a soundcloud?!)

https://soundcloud.com/nick-breakell-1/dover-beach

Again, LISTEN LOUD

 

Monday 19 August 2013

Latest column for the fabulous Daily Beast, Women in the World, Newsweek! I'll be interested to see if/how the reaction to this version differs from the hysterical Guardianistas...

‘How dare you call me lazy, slobby or undisciplined?’ read the stranger’s tweet. I have never written, spoken or thought those words, but that’s beside the point. These days, simply being slim can be enough to cause offence.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/08/19/emma-woolf-on-the-view-from-london-why-is-skinny-shaming-ok-when-fat-shaming-is-not.html

 
Discussing drug addiction on Stephen Nolan's BBC show...

Had about five minutes to formulate my entire world-view on drug policy, decriminalisation and economic deprivation for this interview, which explains my slightly scrambled line of argument :-)

Also I had no idea until I just listened to it that the other feller was a LORD, like a peer of the realm... I thought he was some random angry-caller #hoho

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1554734-should-drug-addiction-be-treated-as-medical-issue-england-s-chief-medical-officer-thinks-so-lord-morrow-emma-woolf-discuss

Sunday 18 August 2013

In a manic insomnia-fuelled reading phase at the moment. And in the interests of doing something on my blog other than drivelling about myself, I thought I'd recommend a few of the very best books I've read recently...

  • Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig. And if you love this, read another Zweig, below
  • The Casual Vacancy - J.K.Rowling. No I've never read the Harry Potter series, I don't want to, and always thought JK was pants. Then I read this and realised I was wrong: she's a good novelist, and this is a page turner...
  • Flight Behaviour - Barbara Kingsolver. If you love The Poisonwood Bible - and let's face it, who doesn't - then you'll enjoy this. 600 pages is excessive, but I assume with an author at this level, you daren't tell them to cut :-)
  • The Post-Office Girl - Stefan Zweig. As always with Zweig, utterly bleak. But beautiful.
  • Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn. Again, another one I've been resisting because of the hype. But resist no more.

Saturday 17 August 2013

“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you...it means that you do not treat your body as a commodity with which to purchase superficial intimacy or economic security; for our bodies to be treated as objects, our minds are in mortal danger. It means insisting that those to whom you give your friendship and love are able to respect your mind.

It means being able to say, with Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre: "I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all the extraneous delights should be withheld or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.

Responsibility to yourself means that you don't fall for shallow and easy solutions - pre-digested books and ideas...marrying early as an escape from real decisions, getting pregnant as an evasion of already existing problems. It means that you refuse to sell your talents and aspirations short...and this, in turn, means resisting the forces in society which say that women should be nice, play safe, have low professional expectations, drown in love and forget about work, live through others, and stay in the places assigned to us.

It means that we insist on a life of meaningful work, insist that work be as meaningful as love and friendship in our lives. It means, therefore, the courage to be "different"...The difference between a life lived actively, and a life of passive drifting and dispersal of energies, is an immense difference. Once we begin to feel committed to our lives, responsible to ourselves, we can never again be satisfied with the old, passive way.”

Adrienne Rich
 
“How wrong to have been so negative, how wrong to have been so gloomy, how wrong to have run away from life, how wrong to have said no, again and again, instead of yes.”
 
Jonathan Franzen
 
    

Friday 16 August 2013

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” 

Haruki Murakami

Thursday 8 August 2013

 
 
 Ridiculous diet coke picture


Oh, and here's the original article I wrote for The Guardian: 5th August 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/aug/05/skinny-shaming-fat-size-appearance

It seems we can't have a rational debate about the reasons for, and the experience of, obesity – fat is still a feminist issue, and a fraught one at that. But I'm fed up with being judged for being physically disciplined, for watching what I eat, and for exercising five times a week. Other things a thin woman is not allowed to say: "it takes willpower to stay slim"; "of course it would be easier just to eat anything I wanted but I don't"; "yes, I'm often hungry mid-morning but I wait until lunchtime". Above all, a slim woman must never say: "I prefer being slim."
Radio interview on the Nolan Show: August 8th 2013

Sparks were flying on the radio this morning, with a discussion about fat and thin, body fascism, and so-called fat-shaming and skinny-shaming... It reinforces my original argument in The Guardian about the impossibility/irrationality/futility of trying to have a rational debate around weight and health.

Anyway, there's nothing like starting the day with a good-natured row - have a listen here!

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1540070-why-is-skinny-shaming-ok-if-fat-shaming-is-not-that-s-the-question-author-emma-woolf-asked-emma-and-kathryn-szrodecki-talk-size-and-acceptance

Monday 5 August 2013

So, two exciting pieces of news about Supersize vs Superskinny:

  • The first is that I'm coming back for the new series! I'll be filming this autumn - in between writing a new book and going on a Shamanic Retreat in deepest France to change my life... Series 7 will be on Channel 4 on your television screens early in the New Year, which you have to admit is SUPERcool.

  • The second is that Supersize has been nominated for a National Reality TV Award <now there's something I never thought I'd be saying> However, in order to SMASH THE COMPETITION (competitive, moi?) we need your votes. Please vote for Supersize, and I promise to invite you along to the awards ceremony haha.





 
At photo-shoot this morning for Sunday Telegraph article on 'Why 30 is the New 40'

I really wanted to run off with this necklace...