Feministe posts something deeply insightful

And I'm not even being sarcastic:

Again: we should not determine the worth of a person based on hir body shape or size, or other visible physical traits. But attempting to replace this value system with one based upon the health of a person is a dangerous move.

There are many of us whose bodies do not work the way the ideal body does. They process food differently, they grow differently, they respond to physical exertion differently, they follow different patterns of thought.

And if we are to give up the pursuit of thinness and replace it with a pursuit of healthfulness, those people will be as left-out as fat people are today.

As a smoker for whom disability theory is a family affair, I couldn't agree more.

The poster goes on to admit that she doesn't have a well-fleshed-out alternative to the yardsticks of either health or beauty. I'll offer her one she probably won't like, which is to keep in the front of our minds that our bodies were created with a purpose. My body, like my life, is not my own; I should not abuse it. My body was meant to be the way it is; I should not reject my gender, my talents, and my disabilities.

Scrap health and beauty (and authenticity, too, for good measure) and replace them with fidelity.