I remember reading about this around the time. It was all pretty bloody shocking. Not sure if you read the interview he had with that reporter shortly before his public apology – I will post it up sometime.

One of the things that gets me about it is that *if* is was a hoax, even then there were probably some people reading it and actually thinking he was right. People reading it thinking “actually, yeah, I need to lose weight” and doing it and becoming anorexic.

I say *if* it was a hoax as he appears to have registered the domain name “thesizezeropill.co.uk” on 9th January. Why do that for a hoax?

Well-written and clearly needs to be said, regardless of Mr Tong trying to sweep it under the rug as “an experiment”.

I am plump and was quite shocked at the things he was saying. If only I had known that I should be miserable because I wasn’t a size 0. There are, I’d always thought, lots of more valid reasons for me to be a grump.

Read on Twitter, btw, that Johann Hari did an interview with him where Hari ripped Tong’s arguments to shreds. Tong later released his statement that this size 0/managed anorexia stuff was all a hoax.

Hari, despite Tong’s pleas, will still be putting the interview out there tomorrow (Evening Standard and then Twitter from 2pm). Should be fascinating…

I was amazed when I read this story. I can understand that people can be charged for wasting police time. However, given the complexity of the case and the fact the woman in question probably “changed her story” because of pressure from her husband and his sister, her actions are understandable. Under such duress, it is hard to imagine anyone staying strong enough to resist it.
There are false claims made. In good old Essex, Samantha Merry has recently been sentenced for falsely claiming rape against a man as a favour to her drug dealer, in order to clear her drug debts.
However, these are relatively isolated cases and to put this case in the same category as the woman allegedly raped by her husband 6 times is, to say the least, a false equivalence.

A very brave and honest post
I agree – it’s not something you “recover” from. You get a bit better at coping with it, but it’s always there, the elephant in the room.
I understand about the dark thoughts. For me, in the past, they’ve been a coping mechanism, a means of imagining a “what if?” scenario which I can pull myself back from.
Let me know if you fancy a chat or anything. It’d be nice to see you soon anyway x

Hello from a Second Life escapee!

I never got the hang of Second Life, I’m afraid – my first experience of it involved hearing two guys arguing about God (well, one was arguing. The other guy was making barking noises).

However, I can see the allure. The clubs I briefly signed up to were intriguing. It’s a very creative place and there is a freedom on there which you rarely find in real life.

CUNTS.

Thanks for your kind words. You are absolutely right; blogging is cathartic, it really helps to vent sometimes and the positive response lifts me during dark days. I enjoyed reading your blog too and will check back to read more.

Randomness:

I get annoyed with people who seem to think swearing unfairly picks on female genitalia. Those people are just dicks and assholes, and their claims are a load of balls.

My theory on the violence/sex front is that the people who say talking about violence is okay, but sex is bad, are working on the principle that they’re tempted by sex, think it’s evil, but might fall be lead astray by talking about it too much.

Whereas with violence, they feel less temptation, so they think it’s less risky to talk about it.