Kjerstin Gruys's Blog, page 3

Paperback Release of Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall is July 1st!

I'm so excited to share the news: the paperback release of Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall is July 1st. Join me that evening at 8pm EST for a kick-off live TweetChat hosted by the Academy for Eating Disorders (#AEDchat). More info at the end of this post.
Check out the fabulous new cover design! 
Here's the scoop on the AED TweetChat:


It's easy to join in the #AEDchat! - Try it!1. Login to Twitter with your Twitter account.*

2. With your Twitter account already running, you'll open up Twubs at: http://twubs.com/AEDchat. ("Twubs" is the site you can login to and use during the chat. It will allow you to participate and watch all the action!)3. At the bottom of the page, click the Twitter badge that says “Log in with Twitter,” and then click “Authorize app” to allow Twubs to read/send your #AEDchat tweets.Note: Twubs will automatically add the #AEDchat hashtag at the end of everything you tweet, so no need to do this. However, you will need to check the length of all of your prepared responses to make sure there is room for Twubs to add the #aedchat hashtag at the end (in other words, Twitter allows you 140 characters for each tweet, so you’ll have to subtract eight characters for "#AEDchat" hashtag in order to be under the limit for your tweets).*Don't have Twitter account yet? You can create one here. #AEDchatSee you there!

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It's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week! (And I'm on TV!)

Feels great to officially kick off NEDAwareness week. Don't forget to join me tonight at 8PM EST for a Twitter party hosed by Adios Barbie and the National Eating Disorders Association. I'll be one of the four panelists, tweeting at #AdiosED!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, check out my interview with San Francisco's ABC7 "Beyond the Headlines" show. I'm featured in "Part 2" of the four segments, but all of them are worth watching. See below for my segment, and click HERE for the full show on ABC's website!


What a great turnout of San Francisco's finest body image activists! :)

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It's almost National Eating Disorder Awareness Week and I'm Getting Psyched!! (and busy)

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAwareness Week) 2014 is almost upon us! The official dates are February 24 - March 2, and I've got a busy week lined up.

Expect timely blog posts right here, of course, and please mark your calendars to join me for the #AdiosED Twitter Party on Monday 2/24, from 8-9PM EST. I'll be joined by a panel of other activists and mental health professional who can answer your questions and help clarify common misconceptions around eating disorders. The other panel members are Brain Cuban (@briancuban), Melissa A. Fabello (@fyahmfabello), Anne Wennerstrand (@endgrdbodiesnyc) and Mae-Lynn Reyes Rodreguez (@MLReye_PR). Feel free to tweet any of us directly during the chat with your questions about our work, or field of expertise. To learn more about the panelists, click here.

Finally, at the end of the week I'll be hopping on a plane to Tennessee, where I'll be giving a set of talks at UT Chattanooga on March 3rd. In addition to a luncheon and book club meeting where I'll discuss my book, Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall, I'm leading an event titled "Feel Good Naked with Kjerstin Gruys." Yeah - you read that title correctly. Grandma's Ruth and Rita, have no fear. I will be fully clothed, as will my audience.  I'll be talking about body image and body confidence. Can't wait!
Also, while we're on the topic of UT Chattanooga, I just found out that my fabulously brilliant sister-in-law, Mandy A., has been accepted into UTC's competitive veterinary residency program. Soooo.... GO MANDY and GO MOCS! That is all.

Oh wait, sorry: that's not all.

How will YOU be celebrating NEDAwareness Week 2014?  See you there!

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Tuesday Morning Body Image Inspiration

Sometimes all we need is a new perspective!

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Tuesday Morning Body Image Inspiration!

I came across these vintage pin-up images over the weekend and just HAD to share them. Not only are the images sociologically interesting (more on that below), but they are also absolutely joyful to look at. (Thanks MessyNessyChic.com for bringing these out of obscurity!)







Meet "Hilda," America's forgotten pin-up girl.  What makes Hilda so special? Well, for starters, she's chubby. (Yes, I know "chubby" isn't exactly a scientific term, and that Hilda might be "thin" or "fat" to other people, but let's just go with it for now...)  Chubby and fat women are unusual in the pin-up world .... and even more unusual in contemporary media images. It's always nice to see more than one (extremely rare) body type represented in our cultural products.




But what I like best about these illustrations of Hilda is the zest for life, the quirky personality, and the numerous hobbies and passions that have been built into her character. The first Hilda illustration I saw was remarkable to me because of her fleshy body, but with every image I saw after that, her body size became only one characteristic of many. 




In contemporary society, larger women are often viewed as "fat" before anything else, save for gender and race/ethnicity.  Fatness and thinness are so morally loaded that being very fat tends to overshadow - and, as a result, make invisible - all of the other characteristics and quirks that make up a whole person. I see this with my students all the time: they tell me that it doesn't matter how successful they are at school, how smart they are, how interesting they are, or how loved they are by their partners... if they aren't thin, the rest matters little. 




"A man can be successful and fat," one student wrote, "but a woman with the same achievements is successful but fat." It broke my heart to read this, because it's true.





Hilda thinks this is B.S.





So let's get back to Hilda. As an illustrated character, Hilda is a cultural product rather, not a real human being. Yet she was clearly designed to be more human than most. She's an avid reader, a guilt-free food lover who eats cheese and crackers in bed, a painter, a musician, an animal lover, a chore avoider (after my own heart!), a bicyclist, and a dancer-when-nobody's-looking... and chubby. She is active, adventurous, funny, independent,  confident, sensual, clumsy, and - yes - sexy... and chubby. 




One of the biggest and most harmful myths in our culture is the idea that only thin women can be happy, loved, and successful.  In The Beauty Wolf, Naomi Wolf famously explained, 

"A girl learns that stories happen to 'beautiful' women, whether they are interesting or not. And, interesting or not, stories do not happen to women who are not 'beautiful.'" 

But it's not. true. at. all. That's why we call it a myth. The truth is something we don't see, or allow ourselves to see, often enough: 

Interesting women lead interesting lives, period, 

no matter what they look like. 




Take a look around you and you'll find Hilda's everywhere, among your family, friends and acquaintances. You might even find one in the mirror.




You can find a larger collection of Dwayne Bryers' Hilda illustrations HERE, and some of my favorites are below, for your enjoyment. 



































Cheese, crackers, salami,  sliced onions, and a book of poetry: THIS is joyful eating! 


Seeing these images fills me with joy! Can you relate? 

Which ones do you like best?

Finally: do you think my future first daughter would mind being named Hilda? 

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Reporting on The Colbert Report

What a trip! FYI, Colbert has some weird random stuff back there!


So... YUP! It really happened. I was interviewed on The Colbert Report and lived to tell the tale! It was surreal, nerve-wracking, and kind of fabulous (well, I felt fabulous once it was over and I hadn't screwed up).  I'm pleased with how it went, but SO glad to be back at home, entertaining my cats instead of the nation!




To see the full clip of my interview, go HERE. 




And here are some photos of the night. Enjoy!





The door to the "green room" was personalized. I want one of these
signs on my office door! Oh, wait... I don't have an office door. :P





Showtime!! GULP. He was really nice, by the way.





I look calm and professional on the outside, but I was trying so hard to not fidget!







The moment after Colbert asked me to comment on Geraldo Rivera's "naked selfie."







Here is the TOP half of the "selfie." You can google the rest.
If only we all wore rose-colored glasses when we saw ourselves!





Me, apparently making an excellent point. On what, I have no idea!





And finally DONE! Celebrating w/ Michael back at the hotel.


Thanks to all of you who sent encouraging wishes! I got through the interview by imagining that the only people watching would be my friends and family. (Probably true anyway!)

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Tune in to The Colbert Report TONIGHT!

At long last, it's finally happening. Tune in tonight (Monday) to watch me being interviewed/verbally eviscerated by Stephen Colbert.  :) 

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Monday Morning Body-Image Inspiration Poem

Happy Monday, from the delightful folks at QueenofYourOwnLife.com. Enjoy!

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Eat, weigh, love? Why pre-wedding diets can lead to unhappily ever after.

Image by Eleanor Davis for the Washington Post. Original here.

Check out my latest op-ed, published in this weekend's Washington Post. 


"Eat, weigh, love? 

Why pre-wedding diets lead to unhappily ever after"  


Here's a teaser, but you'll have to go HERE to read the rest!

After a bride-to-be says yes to the dress, she often starts saying no — to carbs, desserts and other high-calorie foods. 

When I was planning my 2011 wedding, I felt the pressure to do all I could to look my most beautiful on my wedding day. In our culture, beautiful usually means thin. Indeed, a glance at the top three national bridal magazines published this month found an abundance of weight-loss advice, including “clever ways to shed those last few pounds,” tips for choosing a low-sugar juice cleanse and lists of “bloating” foods to avoid.

But dieting is exactly what brides shouldn’t do if they want to be happy, healthy, calm and confident on their wedding day. Sure, there are plenty of great reasons to be more mindful about your diet and exercise habits, but looking like a twig for your nuptials isn’t one of them. In addition to not working 95 percent of the time, dieting makes us poor decision-makers, depletes our willpower, darkens our mood and can be toxic for our intimate relationships....

Did YOU diet before the big day? Was it worth it? Did anybody else out there manage to resist the hoopla? 

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About-Face Protests Victoria's Secret... In Their UNDIES!

Bravery and joy! So proud of my About-Face team!


As most of you know, I'm a long-time volunteer at About-Face, a nonprofit organization that helps girls and women develop tools to combat harmful media messages. I'm donating 5% of my book royalties to this organization to help keep their girl-positive programs strong. 




I'm feeling the urge to brag: Last Saturday About-Face pulled out all of the stops with a brave and inspiring protest outside of the Victoria's Secret in San Francisco's Union Square... WEARING ONLY OUR UNDERWEAR! 




If clothing companies refuse to show us non-photoshopped bodies, we'll show them ours! 




Go HERE to sign our About-Face Body Acceptance Pledge!




I couldn't attend the protest, thanks to my concurrent trip to NYC, but I've got the scoop. We received (international)national coverage in Huffington Post , Jezebel, and The Daily Mail (UK) , and I'm cross-posting this amazing first-hand account of the experience, written by Annika Branson, one of our amazing undergraduate interns.  Enjoy! 






Never Did I Think I Would Be Standing on the Street Half-Naked: A recap of About-Face's most recent and gutsiest action yet! by Annika Branson





On Saturday, June 15th, 2013, I was with About-Face and supporters as we stood scantily clad in front of Victoria’s Secret on Powell in San Francisco for our latest action, calledOperation Real Bodies Real Love.




Wearing only our bras and underwear, we were making a statement about what real bodies look like (and how much we love them) in the face of the violently unrealistic, Photoshopped images we see in the media every day – Victoria’s Secret models included. These images can be extremely harmful to young and old minds alike, causing issues such as negative body image, low self-esteem, lowered or negative moods, dieting, and eating disorders.




We wanted to represent the public and fight for more accurate representations of bodies in the media,so we were hoping for people of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, abilities, genders, and gender expressions to join us.




From the outset, the action received a lot of positive attention as passers-by cheered and shouted comments such as, “YES! This is so great!” and “I’m so glad that you’re doing this!” The Powell Street Cable Car even stopped so that the conductor and passengers could give us cheers of encouragement and praise! Then, of course, there were lots and lots of pictures taken, as people wanted to pose with us as we held up signs with statements like “I Pledge to Love My Body” and “Fat and Fabulous!”




Our main goal was to bring light to the fact that all bodies are beautiful (yes, and also the thin ones!) and ask people to sign a Body Acceptance Pledge (you can take it online here!) that read:

I pledge to love my body, inside and out, with every dimple, scar, freckle, lump, roll and curve I have.
I pledge to try to start loving my body however I am feeling, however I look, and wherever I am.
I pledge to stop negative self-talk and to fight back against those negative thoughts with new, positive ones.
I pledge to resist the messages of the media telling me that I must change my body to be happier.
I pledge to keep my body healthy by feeding it when it’s hungry and refrain from hurting my body by committing violence against it and not taking care of it.
I pledge to appreciate what makes my body different from anyone else’s.
I pledge to remember that my self-worth is not determined by my appearance.
I pledge to accept the changes my body goes through.
I pledge to accept and love the skin I’m in.


Once signed, they were given a reminder of the pledge they took and tips on how to follow through with their pledge:

Give myself confirmations about how great I am to myself in the mirror.
Concentrate on the things that I do well.
Remind myself that bodies are always changing and that every body is different.
Voice my opinion on the practices of advertisers, media outlets, the fashion industry, and diet companies.


By the end of the action, we had received 66 signed body pledges, and many people talked of how they were going to pass the tips along to others! Even so, we were surprised at how many people didn’t sign the pledge, making comments such as, “I already love my body!” You can take the pledge online by clicking here.




After they signed the pledge, we asked people if they had any demands for companies such as Victoria’s Secret, known for their stick-thin (but somehow buxom), unrealistically Photoshopped models, and Abercrombie & Fitch, which has refused to make clothing for larger bodies.






Is this really the ONLY way to be beautiful??

We received statements such as:

“Hire real people to show your products and act in your movies.”
“Stop Photoshopping everything and let us see what real beauty is.”
“Stop the negative and self-hating articles and start writing about people who are doing good things in the world – no matter how small as that is what really changes the world.”
“I want to see more people of color in advertisements/fashion.”


Once a large list has been compiled, we will be sending this list of demands to various advertisers.





Since the day of the event, About-Face as a whole has received an overwhelming response from people who are happy, shocked, proud, and amazed at our bravery to stand half-naked in public as a sort of protest to companies who refuse to show or accommodate real bodies. We have also made appearances onJezebel, The Huffington Post, ABC 7/KGO-TV, KRON 4 News, and various other sites. Success!



Participating in this event was a huge moment of empowerment and confidence for me and others who were with me or have seen the event. We at About-Face want you to know that we love your bodies just as they are, and you should too.

Operation Real Bodies Real Love: Complete.



Annika Branson is an undergraduate student at University of California, Berkeley majoring in Sociology and Media Studies. An advocate for media and eating disorder awareness for more than seven years, she is currently an intern at About-Face.

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