So, Donna Simpson belongs to the feeder fetishist sub-culture and she's trying to get famous by become the world's fattest woman as recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. She makes $750 per week via her feeder website in order to pay for the 12,000 calories a day she must consume in order to reach her goal. Her 150lb hubby is also part of the community. She is currently the record holder for fattest woman to give birth four years ago.I read the Daily Mail piece, which you can read here and I read Jezebel's short take down, which the comments are way more interesting and indepth than the article itself, here. The Daily Mail, which never fails to take the most grave issues and turn them into some sort of parody of chattering biddies, once again is sensationalist and limited in its ability to dig one teaspoons depth into what really is going on here.
The comments section of Jezebel is for the most part remarkably sensible and thoughtful. That this behavior is certainly part of the ED spectrum is apparent and that it is not about basic rights for fatties is certain. If she were trying to become the world's thinnest woman and she had a pro-ani site, most would certainly say she is sick. The same is true for Ms. Simpson, but anti-fat bias has the comments on the Daily Mail in an uproar.
Feeder fetishist have been around for a while, but this piece is bringing them out of the shadows. I don't know how I feel about that. Its a dependent/codependent relationship gone to extremes and it preys on mentally and physically ill or at least compromised individuals. If mental health treatments can be designed to help out individuals engaged in this destructive behavior (which is a dubious option considering that binge-eating is only recently being classified as an ED in the latest DMV). For now, it looks like the media (for the most part) is much happier as showcasing these sub-cultures as freaks to be looked on and ridiculed rather than as mentally ill people in need of treatment.
