One of my favorite Project Runway designers, Jay McCarroll, was on Celebrity Fit Club this season, which I only knew because they show clips of it on The Soup. The Project Rungay boys interviewed him about the experience. A few quotes, which I’ll put behind a jump because there’s a bunch of diet talk.

Read more…

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Carnie Wilson, Celebrities, Diet Talk Warning, Fashion, Kirstie Alley, Project Runway, TV, Weight Loss | No Comments »

Back from vacation and trying to catch up! Did I miss anything exciting? If so, leave a comment or Tweet me up!

In the meantime, here’s the Fug Girls’ take on Gabby Sidibe’s dress at the Oscars. I have to say I don’t love it; I don’t love the color and I don’t love the applique business. On the other hand, I love this insane jumpsuit being worn by Beth Ditto, so I might just be crazy. I wouldn’t rule it out.

Speaking of the Oscars, Kate Harding wrote a piece for Salon in defense of Mo’Nique’s Oscar speech that I thought was very thought-provoking. And also, I am so happy that Kathryn Bigelow won. (Even if every recipient of a Scientific and Technical award appeared to be a white dude.) I hope she inspires other little girls to be directors. I really, really hope so.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Beth Ditto, Celebrities, Fashion, Feminism, Gabby Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Movies, TV, Tidbit | 9 Comments »

No, I still haven’t committed to a name that isn’t Fattie Quickies, although I did enjoy your suggestions. (And Emily also came up with the Round pun in the comments. Yay, Emily! E-mail me; I’ll send you a present.)

Anyway, I’m going out of town this weekend and am teaching classes up until the very last minute, so posting may continue to be light until next week. In the meantime, here are some links for you! (I think there are a few potential juicy conversations in here, so I may pull out some comments and start spinoff posts if it seems like we want to talk more about something.)

The Oscars, cutting calories, Kirstie Alley, schisms in the fatosphere, and a feminist take on LOST coming right up…
Read more…

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Gabby Sidibe, Health, Kirstie Alley, Links, Meta, Mo'Nique, TV | 11 Comments »

As I was looking up some info on recent awards fashion, I came across this story, about the NAACP Image Awards, where Precious director Lee Daniels made a comment about Gabourey Sidibe’s weight.

“No one in Hollywood told me they wanted to see a movie about a 350-pound black girl who had HIV,” Daniels blurted out during his acceptance speech, before realizing that he’d possibly embarrassed his full-figured star. Trying to cover up his mistake, the director stuttered at Sidibe and the audience, “She’s not 350 pounds. … Gabby… But the book says. … “

According to the article, this “mortified” and “noticeably upset” her, and it was a “stinging blow.”

“Daniels kept apologizing in front of the crowd, and even though Gabby was upset by his comment, she still accepted his apology. She was like, ‘Okay. I wanted that in there. Thank you,’ ” says a source. “It’s not like this was the first time someone has made a hurtful remark about her weight, even unintentionally.”

I guess I’m a little confused that this is seen as a “hurtful remark.” I have no idea how much Sidibe weighs or how tall she is, but does the number really matter? Maybe it’s just the automatic idea that 200+ pounds = enormously fat and 300+ pounds = immediate explosion and death. Which, as we all know, is crap. I wonder what a Gabourey Sidibe guessing game would look like.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Gabby Sidibe, Gossip | 34 Comments »

Commenter Punchy says, how about a round-up of plus-size fashion options? and we said, hell yes! Let’s do this thing! Fashionable plus-size dressing tends to take more time, energy and creativity, because options are way more limited, and generally you have to hunt through offerings to find what you want and what you need. There’s a rotten signal-to-noise ratio in the plus size fashion world, but it’s getting better.

Forthwith, links to some great plus-size shopping options. The size range of these places vary, but I did my best to include places with something for everyone. And remember, before buying always check measurements—a 3X in one store is often nothing like a 3X in another.

And if you’ve got an incredible place that I’ve overlooked in this list, or any exciting shopping tips (do I sound like a women’s magazine yet? just wait until I get to the part about the casseroles and keeping your man happy in the sack), please please share them in the comments!

Read more…

Posted by jenfu

Filed under: Fashion, Feel Good Friday, Jenfu | 42 Comments »

I just had to share something I noticed as I was browsing ABC.com.

The picture they use to promote their “Is It Okay To Be Fat?” story is of two “faceless fatties” (better than the headless fatties, for sure); the picture they use to promote a story on “Fat Acceptance” is… of two rail-thin models. (To be fair, the story focuses on model Crystal Renn.) Kind of interesting, no?

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Media, Tidbit | 8 Comments »

People are still letting MeMe Roth say things on TV, whereupon fat people say things back. Ah, memories. Thanks to Rosemary in the comments and KMc in e-mail for reminding us that the Nightline piece is on tonight!

From plus-size to big boned, pleasantly plump to succulently shapely, and Rubenesque to curvy, no matter how you dress it up, for decades, the world “fat” has been associated with laziness, filth and inactivity. It’s become a pop culture punch line…But has it all gone too far?

I Twittered a link to Fat in NYC’s taping report:

Every time Meme or the other women spoke about working on getting folks to lose weight, I thought to myself, why doesn’t someone mention that diets don’t work 95% of the time. Well when question time came I asked the question, I asked Meme if her concern was about health care costs, why would she want to support an intervention with a 95% failure rate. Meme clearly articulated that she has a real problem with people choosing to be victims, that our country accepts a defeatist attitude about this. That everyone should try even though 95% will fail.

Marianne Kirby is also on the show tonight. I teach an evening class, so I will unfortunately miss it. But my DVR will be ready to go. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Go, team!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: TV, Tidbit | 20 Comments »

I just want to shake Carnie Wilson when I read articles like this. She had weight loss surgery a while back and since then has regained some of the weight she lost. And she’s still flagellating herself for it.

The Wilson Phillips singer, who currently weighs 212 lbs. despite undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 1999, tells People Magazine, “I need help.”

I keep thinking of how celebrities are allowed to be fat if they’re also very apologetic about it. (At least we have Gabourey Sidibe on Team Unapologetic.) It’s the same dynamic behind The Biggest Loser: beat yourself up, and we’ll forgive you for being fat. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

“I have to be a teacher to my daughters…Lola [her four-year-old daughter] started to notice commercials on TV with people who are trying to lose weight, and she looks at me. She’s thinking about this stuff, and it’s getting to her.”

Here’s where I want to shake her, because I’m afraid for this poor four-year-old of hers, watching weight loss commercials and hearing her mother constantly apologizing for her size. I don’t think you’re teaching your daughters the right thing unless you teach them to love themselves. Please, please, whatever else you do, teach them that.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Biggest Loser, Carnie Wilson, Celebrities, Gabby Sidibe, Kids, Magazines, TV, WLS | 11 Comments »

I have a lot of experience with body acceptance but, it turns out, not so much with age acceptance. I almost titled this post, in all caps, AGE ACCEPTANCE: PLEASE HELP ME.

In approximately a month, I’ll be turning 35. I’ve been noticing more gray hairs, a few wrinkles on my face. 35 is a big age for women because our eggs officially become geriatric, and so that’s happening too. And it’s freaking me out, you guys. I have fallen for all of those “you must look younger!” ads and actually purchased something called anti-aging serum that is probably not even real. And yet there’s no denying that next month, I will officially be one year closer to death. And it’s pretty sobering.

You see, the thing with “growing old gracefully” is that there is the whole mortality thing to consider, and it’s not some societal pressure, it’s an actual thing. It’s a thing that has preoccupied human beings (particularly poets) from time immemorial. So I’m not freaking out about nothing, exactly. But I still feel that I’m overreacting just a tad. There’s nothing I can do about it, after all, other than to live life to the fullest. And freaking out about wrinkles and gray hairs is just vanity, isn’t it?

So on the one hand, I’m turning to you for advice: how do I grow older gracefully? I already know that I should be more Helen Mirren than Melanie Griffith, and I won’t be injecting butt fat into my lips anytime soon. But coloring my hair seems harmless, wearing sunscreen seems like a wise idea. Where does one draw the line in the quest to extend one’s youth? How old are you, and how you feel about it? Do you accept your age, or do you rage, rage against the dying of the light?

And on the other hand, I’ve decided my theme for Year 35 is going to be carpe diem, and to that end, I’m going to try and cross 35 items off my lifelong to-do list. Carpe diem, man, it’s a classic. I mean come on, I don’t have that poetry degree for nothing!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Personal, Question | 62 Comments »

Maria sent in this piece, called “Bigger Than My Body,” which she wrote “after spending a great deal of time lurking BFD.” She graciously said I could repost it here. There are references to sexual violence, so consider this a trigger warning. Thank you for your bravery, Maria; thank you for sharing this with us.

I love my body. I am no sex kitten. I am not a supermodel. I am fat, and generally regarded as unattractive because of it. Vanity is not the most important function of skin and muscle, as some would believe. I love my body because when my spirit is beaten down into the earth and my mind does not want to work through another day, it perseveres. My legs, pale and large as they are, carry me faithfully through each day. They carry me through triumphs and tragedies. They carry me through crowds that would hate me because of my double digit pant size, and they carry me towards the future with unwavering strength. The dangle over the side of the bed each morning, begging to touch the ground and move through the motions they have grown so familiar with over nineteen years.

My spine keeps straight, and climbs under my skin gracefully. It keeps my head held high when I am ready to crack, and keeps my posture hopeful when I would rather curl up and sleep. It is framed by broad shoulders that have held the weight of the world many times over, shoulders that will not fall in fear of a world that will not relent. Underneath are my arms, scarred with souvenirs of teenage angst. The skin stretched across them is marked and discolored, covered many times over by lines that speak more clearly of my anger than my voice ever will. Those scars hold stories that my lips keep hidden far behind my teeth. They hold stories of my body being ripped apart by a man much older than me, forcing his own body into mine. They hold stories of my rage, my hope, and my resilience. My arms are scorned for being so torn, but they have succeeded in holding me together when I was absolutely certain that my life was falling apart.

My heart pumps blood whether I want it to or not. When my father lost his own body to a savage cancer, it worked and worked, urging me to keep moving. It built itself back together when the realities of a harsh life threatened to rip down the very foundations of my family. The rib cage protecting it holds what hope I have left in the world. Those bones hold more than I would like to admit. They hold the heart, of course, but more intangibly they hold my spirit. They hold every memory, even those I would rather forget. They are wrapped with a mind that does not work in terms of black and white, only shades of gray. They hold happiness and sorrow juxtaposed. They hold insecurity and strength as one.

My brain tells me when being rational is more important than giving up. It carries information like a vault, never letting anything slip through. It locks conversations and old friends deep inside, waiting to relay necessary bits to my mouth. It helps me sort out the good from the bad, the fact from fiction. It helps me to realize that other people cannot control my happiness. It forces me to think ahead, always with the idea that someday, I will be able to overcome what life has thrown in my direction. It tells me that someday, memories of sexual abuse, family violence, a rotting father, and losing faith will be fodder for the fire that burns inside me. It tells me, simply, that someday everything truly will be alright.

My body may not glide gracefully down a catwalk. It may never be draped in high fashion clothing. It may not ever feel the touch of a man with my mouth’s consent. Those things are not important. My body has done much more than I ever could have asked for it. It has carried me through hell and back. It has survived levels of darkness that some people never dream of. It has taken me to happiness, and never has it failed me. My body is mine, and I love it, stretch marks and all.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Fat Positive, Guest Post | 22 Comments »

I just caught wind of this on Kate Harding’s Twitter feed (asking how many followers the average fat person would need to have in order to garner the same, apparently apologetic, response). Then I went over to Kevin Smith’s feed and saw his Tweets, some of which were in multiple parts, outlining the situation:

Dear @SouthwestAir – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?

Dear @SouthwestAir, I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn’t give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a “safety risk”. Again: I’m way fat… But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as “Silent Bob.”

So, @SouthwestAir, go fuck yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no “safety risk” (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was wrongly ejected from the flight (even Suzanne eventually agreed). And fuck your apologetic $100 voucher, @SouthwestAir. Thank God I don’t embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training). But I don’t sulk off either: so everyday, some new fuck-you Tweets for @SouthwestAir.

Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR.

@pigz “I know several people bigger then u who have flown on other airlines” I saw someone bigger than me on THAT flight! But I wasn’t about to throw a fellow Fatty under the plane as I’m being profiled. But he & I made eye contact, & he was like “Please don’t tell…”

And, hey? @SouthwestAir? I didn’t even need a seat belt extender to buckle up. Somehow, that shit fit over my “safety concern”-creating gut.

Hey @SouthwestAir! Look how fat I am on your plane! Quick! Throw me off! http://twitpic.com/1340gw

(This is a picture of Smith on a later Southwest flight.)

The @SouthwestAir Diet. How it works: you’re publicly shamed into a slimmer figure. Crying the weight right off has never been easier!

At least he hasn’t lost his sense of humor! I’ll be interested to see what happens next, especially since I had been a loyal Southwest Airlines customer. Keep watching Twitter for updates.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Kevin Smith | 37 Comments »

I do link roundups from time to time, to try and cover links people send me or things I might otherwise miss. I was thinking of making it a regular feature, especially given how much I enjoy the Morning Shots at Monkey See and Fugs and Pieces at Go Fug Yourself. But I have a big problem: I can’t think of a name for them! Fat-themed? Food-themed? Random cleverness? I think “Fattie Quickies” is an obvious loser, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Please help me out in the comments! If I use your name for the column, I will send you a present!

And now, on to the things that are definitely not called “fattie quickies.”

1. Oscar-nominee Gabby Sidibe has an awesome designer.

What Hall is saying is something many women, regardless of the size, already know about fashion (high and otherwise): designers aren’t designing clothes to make women look good, they’re picking women to make their designs look good.

2. And speaking of Gabby Sidibe, she was left off of the cover of Vanity Fair’s “New Hollywood” issue, along with anyone else who isn’t thin, young, and white.

In the accompanying article, Vanity Fair writer Evgenia Peretz calls out the young cover stars by their best attributes: “downy-soft cheeks,” “button nose,” “patrician looks and celebrated pedigree,” “dewy, wide-eyed loveliness,” “Ivory-soap-girl features.” Roles for black, Asian, and Latin actors are scarce in Hollywood, but surely Sidibe, Zoe Saldana of “Avatar” and “Star Trek,” and Freida Pinto of “Slumdog Millionaire” are having their moment.

3. Adipositivity is doing a (NSFW) Valentine’s Day series in February. That’s right, pictures of couples getting it on in which at least one partner is fat.

Every day through Valentine’s Day you’ll see another Adiposer couple gettin’ at least semi for ya. But remember, most of ‘em are in pre-, mid-, or post-canoodle, so some photographs may be even more NSFW than usual. Hope they make you smile as much as they do me. Happy Valentine’s Day!

4. I really enjoyed Snarkysmachine’s post on Shapely Prose about black women and the beauty ideal.

I bought some of the, “Black women can be fat and still be desirable” snakeoil often peddled by white people, never seeing it as a form of subjugation. Not hearing, the rest of the sentence, “…for black women.” Not realizing my existence was still being framed as less than. And then there’s the Black Don’t Crack meme now utilized to sell botox and wrinkle creams to women of other races. Again from an unexamined perspective it feels like progress, but, of course, it’s not. It’s using the cult of youth to force women into obedience.

Also in the comments were links to If Black Women Were White Women and Extremely Flawed Social Experiment, both of which I also read with interest.

5. Thinner Whole Foods employees get higher employee discount. Um, gross. I will not be going to Whole Foods anymore, I guess!

By rewarding a BMI of 24 — a full point below what is considered the benchmark of “overweight” — Whole Foods is not-so-subtly indicating its preference that a lower BMI is better and ideal, thus contributing to an atmosphere in which employees who do not meet this standards are made to feel ostracized and targeted. These blanket standards also ignore genetic, gender, age and ethnic differences across groups, thereby directing this sense of corporate hostility, however passive, toward those employees who may already be among the most vulnerable in the workplace: minorities, women and senior citizens. Would we tolerate this kind of “incentive” if it were directed at other groups of workers?

Talk about any of these in the comments!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Art, Celebrities, Fashion, Gabby Sidibe, Humor, Links, Magazines, Meta, Movies, NSFW, Race & Ethnicity, Sex & Romance | 23 Comments »

This article from the L.A. Times runs down some recent examples of fatism, such as the save-the-whales PETA ad, the mandatory “fat class” graduation requirement, and the proposed bill outlawing restaurant dining by obese people in Mississippi.

The pattern, the Times posits, is that slim people are “fed up” with the obese. Some choice quotes, bolding mine:

Michael Kellner, a trim, 37-year-old public relations professional who lives in San Francisco, is among the disgusted: “I am completely and utterly frustrated with rising healthcare costs due to the deluge of fat Americans taxing the healthcare system. I’m in shape and have been all my life because I don’t soothe myself with food all day.”

Way to snap judge, there, Michael Kellner! And you’re so right on. In fact, after reading your quote, I had to go “soothe myself” with a can of frosting, which I licked off my fingers because I couldn’t be bothered to find a spoon.

Actually now I’m thinking about the whole issue of self-medicating with food. I’ve done it: gained weight during periods of great stress, partially because I learned to associate food with comfort and love as a child. I’m sure I’m not alone. But it doesn’t mean some asshole like this Kellner guy knows what the fuck he’s talking about, or has a right to judge fat people on that basis. Sometimes self-medicating with food in response to legitimate stress is a better alternative to things like suicide or alcoholism. And you can’t, obviously, assume that thin people never do something and fat people always do something, which I think is the salient point. Anyway, moving on. Read more…

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Advocacy, Art, Eating Disorders, Fatism, Health, Kids, Movies, Personal | 39 Comments »

I just set up a dedicated Twitter account for BFD, which is @bigfatdeal. I’ll be Tweeting links and news, and following all of you! And hopefully this will make it even easier for you to forward links that you find that we might want to post about.

Follow me here!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Meta | 1 Comment »

I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything since last Friday (it’s been a crazy week), but here’s a follow up that I was happy to read this morning:

So Carolyn, about an hour after your chat last week I called up my nasty bridezilla friend (the one who dropped another bridesmaid for being too fat) and told her that I wouldn’t be in her wedding. She asked me why and I told her that I thought her treatment of B was beyond the pale and that I can’t stand somewhere in support of it. So she got supremely angry (I believe the exact quote was “are you [expletive deleted] kidding me? Who the [bleep] are you to judge me?”) and told me in no uncertain terms why I was a bad friend. I learned that I was the third bridesmaid to drop out! She said she was trying to provide B a reason to lose weight. So I said, “so you’re a humanitarian?” which I probably shouldn’t have, though at first she didn’t catch that I was not being sincere. We ended the conversation super-acrimoniously.

“So on Sunday my mom calls me – A’s mom had called her to tell her that I was being flaky by dropping out of the wedding. Are we 6? I told my mom that A was a psycho hosebeast and my mom agreed, and then told me to remember to take the high road. So I sent her mom a check to cover the cost of my dress, and I sent a letter telling her that I value our friendship but can’t stand by her when I think she’s making bad choices that she will regret. And then at home, I cackled with glee when I heard from C that A is telling everyone that I ruined her big day and organized a bridesmaid revolt. I guess the other two who dropped before me made excuses, whereas I told her straight up. Is it bad for me to not feel any remorse that 3 of her 4 bridesmaids, and two groomsmen, dropped out (fourth bridesmaid is bride’s sister)? Because I feel really good.

Awesome.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Advocacy, Feel Good Friday, Tidbit | 19 Comments »

So the first part of this story isn’t so much Feel Good Friday fodder. A bride has apparently dropped one of her bridesmaids for being too fat, according to a letter sent to advice columnist Carolyn Hax.

The feel good part is that the letter-writer is one of the other bridesmaids, who is so appalled by this that she’s considering dropping out of the wedding party. Here’s the Q and A (bolding mine):

Bridezilla: So I just learned today that my college friend, A, disinvited another college friend, B, to be in her wedding in two months because B is fat (she’s about 5′3″, 200lbs) and would ruin the pictures and how everyone looks at her on her big day. She did tell me that if B lost some weight, she’d let her back in the wedding party. I can’t communicate in polite enough terms how offended and appalled and disgusted I am by A’s behavior. Her rationale is that B promised to lose the weight by the wedding but didn’t, and that whenever there is a big bridesmaid everyone is looking at her and not the bride. I am so angry about her nastyness that I can’t even think straight. Is it kosher for me to drop out in solidarity with B (with whom I am actually not that close)? What is the best way for me to communicate back to A that she is a gigantic [beyotch]? I am stunned. I don’t know if I even want to be friends anymore. FWIW, B hosted a bridal shower, has come to all the food tasting/clothes fittings/other assorted crap. She’s a good egg – we don’t click personally, but I am really at a loss for how someone does this. I heard from mutual friend C that B spent the morning crying her eyes out. I would too! What can I say to B that will help her?

Carolyn Hax: Everything you hope to accomplish, you can accomplish in one move: End your friendship with A (which obviously includes dropping out of the wedding). When A asks, tell her exactly why. B doesn’t even need to hear it from you; it’ll make its way around. I hope C follows your lead.

Good answer, Carolyn, and good for you, offended bridesmaid! (Via Snarkfest)

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Feel Good Friday, Tidbit | 35 Comments »

At least according to OK! Magazine, which grabbed a photo of her, photoshopped all the baby weight off her, and slapped it on the cover with a headline reading “MY DIET SECRETS: LOSE 10 LBS IN 10 DAYS.” Must be seen to be believed.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Magazines, Photoshop, Tidbit | 9 Comments »

A fascinating article in the Boston Globe, called Fattened by Pills, discusses the often-unspoken correlation between taking antidepressants and gaining weight:

Many [psychiatric drugs], which are used to treat emotional problems including depression and anxiety, cause weight gain — often of the rapid and massive sort — as one of their “side effects,” that brilliant marketing term for what are simply negative effects of a drug. It is striking that the weight of many Americans has ballooned just as the prescribing of psychiatric drugs has surged.

And from the “holy shit” file:

Another disturbing link could be on the way. The fifth edition of the major psychiatric diagnostic manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), is expected to be released in 2013. One proposal under consideration: listing obesity as a mental illness. That would be a mistake, since obesity can be caused by metabolic and other physical problems that are often undiagnosed. And because obesity can also result from psychiatric drugs, calling it a mental illness would create a vicious cycle: Someone is troubled, put them on drugs, they become obese, therefore diagnose them as mentally ill, give them more drugs.

This post at Big Fat Delicious discusses the article at greater length.

What do you want to bet that studies have never been done to determine how many fat people are taking those drugs? What do you want to bet that the reason those studies have never been done is because pharmaceutical companies don’t want anyone to know how many people went from average-size to “overweight” or “overweight” to “obese” because of those psychiatric drugs? After all, if those numbers were known, pharma just might have to figure out how to come up with drugs without those nasty “side effects” of weight gain (not to mention that they then couldn’t push their weight loss drugs, with all their nasty “side effects”, on fat people).

The whole post is worth reading. Pretty scary, actually.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Health, Science, Tidbit | 26 Comments »

The health risks of obesity may be exaggerated by (or in part caused by) the discrimination of health care professionals. Particularly, of course, when their patients are women. I’ll quote at length; the article really speaks for itself. (Shoutout to Suzy Smith, my Facebook friend, who is mentioned in the article.)

Recent studies have found, if you are an overweight woman you:

• May have a harder time getting health insurance or have to pay higher premiums
• Are at higher risk of being misdiagnosed or receiving inaccurate dosages of drugs
• Are less likely to find a fertility doctor who will help you get pregnant
• Are less likely to have cancer detected early and get effective treatment for it

What’s going on here? Fat discrimination is part of the problem. A recent Yale study suggested that weight bias can start when a woman is as little as 13 pounds over her highest healthy weight.

“Our culture has enormous negativity toward overweight people, and doctors aren’t immune,” says Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Jerome Groopman, M.D., author of “How Doctors Think.” “If doctors have negative feelings toward patients, they’re more dismissive, they’re less patient, and it can cloud their judgment, making them prone to diagnostic errors.”

With nearly 70 million American women who are considered overweight, the implications of this new information is disturbing, to say the least.

Indeed. Very unsettling.

Via @TheFWord Twitter feed.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Fatism, Feminism, Health, Science, Tidbit | 19 Comments »

This morning I was enjoying my morning coffee with Brad, and he told me about the Christina Hendricks controversy. (I mean, first we talked about how she is hot, then we moved on to the controversy. I mean, come on.) She was wearing a dress by Christian Siriano that got a lukewarm response from T. Lo and a thumbs up from the Fug Girls, who had great comments, as usual:

Christina Hendricks has the kind of fabulous bod that most designers wouldn’t know how to handle. Any time Project Runway throws the contestants a challenge to make clothes for mothers, or divorcees, or generally people who aren’t 5′10″and 100 lbs, they all start wailing and moaning that it’s not what their designs are about and it’s so haaaard, and blah blah blah. I always want Tim Gunn to come in and yell at them that if they can’t handle actual people’s bodies, then they have no business making clothes at all, because guess what? Sometimes people who eat carbs also want to shop and wear things on their bodies.

The New York Times, however, didn’t like the dress.

Cathy Horyn, a style blogger at the Times… quote[d] a stylist who said, “You don’t put a big girl in a big dress. That’s rule number one.” And seemingly to drive home the point of just how terribly big Hendricks really is, the Times ran an altered photo of her (left image) making her appear broader than normal.

After complaints from readers, as well as some bad press, the original photo was replaced (right photo) along with an update explaining that it “was slightly distorted inadvertently due to an error during routine processing.” Sure. Forget the distorted photo; I’d like an explanation for Ms. Horyn’s distorted view of the female body.

I think it’s clear that the photo was distorted and it was probably inadvertent. But would we call her a “big girl”? And if we did, is that so bad? And do you hate the dress on her? (I love the dress, but not so much the color on her.) And is she the hottest woman alive, or what? Discuss!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Christina Hendricks, Fatism, Mad Men, Media, Project Runway, TV | 42 Comments »

I’d never heard of The Book Group, which is apparently a British show about, well, a book group. The second episode features a nice moment with an actress who presumably would be considered OMG FAT by the standards of American television, but is allowed to be sexy in Britain!

You can see her at around the 6:40 mark in the shot below. She’s beautiful, as you’ll see. Also, there’s a shot panning slowly down her body, she’s shown as she walks away, she’s covered in drops of water… the whole thing. (And incidentally, she also mentions just having swum 50 laps.) Here’s the episode clip:

H (who sent me the link) said that at first she was waiting for a joke based on the actress’s size, then for some kind of self-congratulatory meta-reference about how open-minded they’re being, but there was nothing. She gets to be a hot chick, no strings attached.

H also says the show is worth watching, and as a lover of books, book groups, and British television… sign me up! Thanks, H.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Fat Positive, International, TV, Video | 22 Comments »

Rachel has a great post up about making donations to help Haiti, with a list of reputable charities. I hear that Doctors Without Borders is doing especially good work on the ground; right now they are working on setting up an inflatable hospital. But there are also stories out there of people posing as charities to scam money. So make sure you donate through their website directly.

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

More celebrity gossip, only not in blind item format this time. Marissa Jaret Winkour is leaving as the host of Dance Your Ass Off. She will be replaced by Mel B., of Spice Girls fame.

This is what Marissa had to say: “Marissa’s reasons for not returning to season 2 are the following: the format of the program did not allow her to interact with the contestants and offer them encouragement and support, and criticism she received from producers regarding her appearance.”

To me that means the producers thought she was fat and probably told her this more than once. This is a show about people embracing who they are as people. Sure, the idea is to lose weight, but to throw someone up there like Mel B who weighs what, 85 pounds kind of defeats the whole purpose. Was Marissa the best host in the whole world? No, but allthe producers are doing is telling the world they don’t believe what they are trying to sell on the show. They are trying to sell that all people no matter their size are beautiful, but then kick off Marissa and replace her with someone who is not typical and instead is probably a size zero and has fake breasts and says this is the ideal.

The producers’ official statement is that the core fans of the show grew up Spice Girl fans so this is what they really want. Uh huh.

Here are some of the comments about the change:

Marissa’s personality makes me want to rip my eyeballs out. Mel B is more engaging, I believe. If this is a program about weightloss via dance, than I would think Mel B is more inspirational than Marissa since Mel B has successfully shed some pounds.

Marissa was one of the big girls on DWTS and I was always embarrassed for her whenever the male partner had to lift her. I didn’t think it was possible to do it without him getting a back ache and dropping her. She was heavy and certainly not graceful enough for the dances. Also she’s very bubbly but in a way that I find annoying.

This is one of my guilty pleasure shows. I love dancing and I love seeing everyone’s journey through the weight loss. I must say though, Marissa was one of the bad points of the show, as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t think she did that great of a job of hosting, but what really was disturbing is just how TIGHT the clothes she wore on camera were. Seriously, she looked like she was going to pass out from not being able to breathe most of the time. She always looked extremely uncomfortable in the clothes. I’m no fan of Mel B. but to be honest, I care more about the contestants than who’s hosting it, so it doesn’t matter to me. The contestant’s stories were always very inspirational to me. But I must admit, it does kind of send a bad message to get someone thinner to host.

I don’t watch the show myself, because the weight-loss component seems shirty to me. Your thoughts?

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Dance Your Ass Off, Hairspray, Music, TV | 9 Comments »

Ah, the 1-800-GET-THIN billboards. Although I’m sure they’re all over the place, I seem to only see them all over Los Angeles. I can’t help but imagine a sinister undercurrent. Dear Aspiring Actress Who Just Moved To Hollywood… Have lap band surgery, which is a total breeze, obviously, and be transformed into the ideal thin blonde movie star type! Become the next Charlize Theron today! Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Anyway, if you’re a longtime reader, you know my weakness for celebrity gossip, and when I saw a recent blind item, I was reminded of those billboards. This tidbit comes from from Lainey Gossip:

Our perfect parent found a permanent way to keep the weight down – with a lap band installation a few years ago. At the same time, she thought she’d help out her little girl too. By pretty much forcing her teenage daughter to have one put in as well. The child protested but to no avail. And better still, instead of paying out of her own pocket, she insisted that the surgery be funded out of her precious’s bank account. Well in hindsight, no wonder.

It’s hard to imagine this could refer to anyone but Courtney Love, who recently lost custody of 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain. There have been rumors floating around for a while that Courtney had this surgery, and the references in the blind item to her being out of money (and dipping into Frances’s trust fund) also make sense.

Also, Frances’s medical records were reportedly sealed because they “reveal details of Frances’s relationship with her mother.” Hopefully Courtney can get it together and Frances will keep a good head on her shoulders. I wish nothing but the best for The Bean, and for Courtney too, for that matter.

One would also hope that WLS would be viewed as a serious undertaking, not a way to drop a few pounds from an already slender frame. And that a teenager wouldn’t be forced into having lap-band surgery without her consent. And furthermore, that there would be plenty roles for actresses of all shapes and sizes and races and body types in Hollywood. I mean, while I’m wishing for things…

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Courtney Love, Gossip, Kids, Music, WLS | 8 Comments »

It’s Feel Good Friday, and as such, I’m going to throw out some links to a few things on the Internet I read this week with pleasure.

I already recommended this on Twitter, but Roger Ebert’s essay about no longer being able to eat or drink is fantastic. The man is a national treasure. (Via.)

When we drive around town I never look at a trendy new restaurant and wish I could eat there. I peer into little storefront places, diners, ethnic places, and then I feel envy. After a movie we’ll drive past a formica restaurant with only two tables occupied, and I’ll wish I could be at one of them, having ordered something familiar and and reading a book. I never felt alone in a situation like that. I was a soloist.

After I saw The Princess and the Frog, which I loved, I of course had to go see what Racialicious had to say about it, especially since I had read this essay, discussing some concerns.

I had been on the fence about our heroine’s role as a southern belle’s maid. Yes, it’s [canon] for fairy tale protagonists to begin their stories having low status, but a black heroine who is a domestic could be legitimately read not as a fairy tale trope but a reinforcement of real world racial denigration. Some may claim that it would be historically accurate for a 1920’s black woman to be a maid, but Disney doesn’t even care about historical accuracy when animating actual history (for example, Pocahontas.) Disney films often include generic European landscapes and eras and anachronistic details and social conventions. Let’s consider Beauty and the Beast. Did French peasants like Belle’s dad really have the time and resources to invent complicated gadgets? Should Belle have had access to so many books or even have been literate?… Deciding to suddenly be historically accurate while telling a fairy tale about a black princess seems a little suspect. Not to mention after decades of singing candlesticks and flying carpets, it’s a little late in the game to start claiming a commitment to realism.

(Another good essay about a recent movie is this one, which articulates some problems with Avatar.)

And finally, while we’re all smartypantsing around thinking about things like feminism and race and privilege and gazes, Linda Holmes at NPR has a great piece up about how transforming Penny from an object of the male gaze to a protagonist in her own right has made The Big Bang Theory a better show.

This is, in maybe the most literal form in which you’ll ever see it, the male gaze. She exists relative to Leonard and Sheldon’s arrival home (just standing there reading a magazine in profile with the door open!), relative to their door, relative to their apartment. It’s a comedy, but it’s still true. This is it; this is the thing. This is the thing people talk about where she’s not really herself, she’s just the lady standing in the doorway.

How about you; read anything good lately?

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Celebrities, Feel Good Friday, Feminism, Movies, Question, Race & Ethnicity, TV | 9 Comments »