Adventures in Picky Eating

The number of kids that are on a 'do not photograph' list isn't large, but it is a non-zero number. If that kid is even out of focus in the background, we do not use that photo.

If a child shows even the tiniest bit upset that there's a person in the room with a camera, I do not take their photo.

At pop culture conventions, I ask people if I can take their photo. Or if I take a candid of them, I track them down and give them my info and get th3ir consent before posting.

At events like parties, concerts, performances, consent is generally implied because these are photographed events, but if an attendee approaches me and tells me to crop them out then I crop them out.

This makes street photography tedious, but I learned in my very first job as a camp counselor that people have very good reasons for not wanting their photo publicized. There are kids in the foster system with abusive parents. There are adults with stalkers. There are people who might be a witness to a crime.

Even outside of this- I've seen how private persons become memes against their will just by going out in public. Some people are super not normal about meme fame.

The world is complicated.

Make your own content.

sleep

sleep

and sleep

I really wish I could tell more people about my eating disorder.

I wish SED was as well-publicized as anorexia.

I wish that when people ask me why I eat the way I do, I could just say “I have selective eating disorder”. And it would shut them up.

I wish I could go one day without either being stared at in a restaurant, or being pestered by friends during special occasions. 

I wish I could eat normally.

But I can’t.

And since I can’t, I wish that people could accept me for who I am, and not what I eat. You could have a fucking elephant drizzled in mustard on your plate for all I care, and I wouldn’t constantly bug you about it because it’s called common courtesy and staying out of other people’s business.

I wish I was somebody important so I could raise awareness about SED. And in the good way, not the TLC, “Freaky Eaters” way. 

I have an eating disorder. And even though I’m not anorexic or bulimic, I go through the same struggles with food as other people with eating disorders.

And therefore, I would like respect when talking about what I eat. Just as you wouldn’t constantly laugh at someone with anorexia, consider how it must feel to constantly be picked on for what you eat.

Imagine if every time you ate a certain food (say, turkey - fairly fitting for today) someone stared at you like you had two heads. Imagine not being able to eat in peace because you’re too busy answering questions of “why don’t you eat normally?”

Next time you consider asking those questions, let that thought run through your head.