A note on language.

I have a question!

Image: Key Note Speech, John Himmelfarb, 1998, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund. Used with permission.

Hi friends! So as many of you know, I'm working on a writing project tentatively titled "A Binge Eater's Rapid Recovery Guide". It's full of sticky little questions for me. Here's one I'd like your help with:

🧐 How does the word "binge" hit for you? (Please use Contact page and LMK.)

I use "binge" because 1. I guess I just like plain language. I kind of hate the language of "expertise". Even sciencey language often reads like fake fanciness to me. (I guess I'm talking about bullshit, yeah that's the word.) I like the word “binge” because it hits like normal conversational English.

Also 2. because it's flexible. The word "binge" can cover whatever range of eating behavior you experience as a problem you haven’t been able to solve. So: problem eating, secret eating, compulsive eating, "emotional" eating, nighttime eating, out-of-control eating.

It can include diagnostically qualified Binge Eating Disorder—that's a phrase that almost needs a ™, isn't it?—but you don't have to take a test to use the word. "Binge" can mean a brownie you said you weren't going to eat and couldn't not eat and now regret eating. Flexible!

And. Just to make the obvious explicit, as my therapist might say: that term is hella loaded. The word "binge" is loaded with shame and self-hate and more. There are not many things worse in our culture than not meeting the beauty standard for weight and also not doing what we know must be done to achieve it, i.e. restrict the shit out of our eating.

So here are my questions for you this week: If you read this newsletter because you struggle with eating,

-> What does the word "binge" mean to you?
-> Do you use "binge" to describe your own issues?
-> If not, what do you say instead?
-> Would you be drawn to a book with the word "binge" in the title? Or would it repel you?
-> Anything else you want to say about this.

Let me know your thoughts! MANY THANKS.

Other things are...

Writing: Jami Attenberg's #1000wordsofsummer is underway and I'm using it to revise my manuscript. If you want to get you some words written, it's totally fre e and not too late to join.

Reading: All Systems Red; Artificial Condition; Rogue Protocol; Exit Strategy: the Murderbot Diaries 1-4, by Martha Wells. You guys! THESE BOOKS ARE SO FUN. They're more adventure than SF, informed by golden age detective ficiton. But they're also about sovereignty and humanity. So very fun. Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, by Lisa Donovan. I almost stopped reading after the first couple pages, they were so dadgum lyrical. I CANNOT STAND me a book that can legit be described as lyrical. But I'm glad I kept reading. RIYL revenge memoir. Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart, by Carrot Quinn. A different story of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Making: A hand-sewn t-shirt! I'm taking a class from Louisa Merry Owen Sonstroem. It's surprisingly nice-looking. So far.