after being pleasantly surprised by the david ward mental wellness wednesday post on my feed (thx @mrswhymrhow), i just have to say something about “i am in eskew.”
i only recently got into it. i finished it and am re-listening for the innumerable details i’m sure i’ve missed the first time. i haven’t posted about it before.
that episode that starts with the psychiatrist is my absolute favorite, because it really helped me deal with the onslaught of fatphobic advertisements as the diet industrial complex engages in a post-quarantine feeding frenzy. i’ve listened to that one over and over.
the episode has nothing to do with fatphobia, but (not enough context for spoilers) what happens to david regarding the railway bridge is really exactly what those ads feel like to me. the fatphobic ads are inescapable, they’re abusive, they use deeply personal manipulation tactics, they induce shame and panic, and they physically harm people. if you buy what they’re selling, their products and regimens will fry your metabolism to hell, even if they appear to temporarily “work.”
i know the invocation of ad tactics in the episode is intentional, but it’s the utter bluntness of the metaphor that got to me. i no longer have a visceral reaction every time i see one of those stupid fatphobic ads. my brain translates all the garbage into a single, repeated word: an absurd directive that i can comfortably ignore.
