I’ve been going through my mailbox from when I was out of town, and here’s one of the stories that I missed: sixteen-year-old Chloe Marshall won the title of “Miss Surrey” and is the first plus-size girl to compete for the title of Miss England. “Everybody thinks you have to be a tall, slim blonde [...]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, International, Meta | 41 Comments »

When I was in junior high, I read V.C. Andrews and The Baby-sitters Club, not Sweet Valley High. I do remember seeking out the one where someone named, I think, Regina dies of a cocaine overdose. But beyond that, I wasn’t interested. I just couldn’t relate to Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. I was neither the [...]

Filed under: Books, Feminism, Kids, Personal | 41 Comments »

venus of willendorf Originally uploaded by mo pie Last week, I was in Vienna. One of the things we did there was to visit the Museum of Natural History, specifically to see the 25,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf. (I had no idea this piece was in Vienna; my husband was the mastermind behind the pilgrimage.) I [...]

Filed under: Art, Feminism, International, Old Timey, Personal | 16 Comments »

Our guest post today comes from the delightful Sara, who writes in with a question for all our readers: I am fat. I have diabetes. The two are in no way related to one another. Interesting how that works, huh? I have type 1 diabetes, so my pancreas is going to be dead regardless of [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Guest Post, Health, Personal, Question, Science | 14 Comments »

Here’s Leah McClaren’s unique criticism of the show How To Look Good Naked, which we talked about a while back. Each episode begins with a regular chubby gal, clad only in underwear, crying in front of a three-way full-length mirror as Kressley stands behind her, pointing out the positives. “Look at this gorgeous décolleté,” he’ll [...]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, TV | 23 Comments »

Ezinearticles.com just made a list of the “Top 40 BBWs of all time.” Sounds good, right? Sure, until you get to the list, and you realize that some of the women on it are not all what most people would consider “BBW”s. Mo’nique, Camryn Manheim, Mama Cass, Rosie O’Donnell… sure. But Jamie Lee Curtis? Sophia [...]

Filed under: America Ferrera, Celebrities, Fat Positive, Kate Winslet, Marilyn's Law, Queen Latifah, Question, Rosie O'Donnell, WLS | 35 Comments »

Like the Movies recently liked to the Body Image Project, describing it as a blog “where people anonymously write in about their perceptions of and struggles with body image.” Age 17 In middle school I remember being happy. No one talked about their weight or their body. I am now in high school and the [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Eating Disorders, Feel Good Friday, Tidbit | 5 Comments »

Sometimes I feel that items for this blog are self-explanatory. Like the description of this Japanese video game. A young woman who was once svelte and lovely has binged on too many sweets and pastries. As a result of extreme indulgence, her waistline has blossomed and her weight has surpassed 220lbs (100kg). When she reaches [...]

Filed under: Fatism, Feminism, International, Kids, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 30 Comments »

In 2004, Aishwarya Rai was called the most beautiful woman in the world. And hey, I’ve seen Bride and Prejudice; I don’t disagree. But apparently, she’s… well, Bollywood Fat. In 2005, one source posted a picture of her showing her belly and said in tones of shock and horror: Is this is the petite, pretty [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Gossip, International, Movies | 29 Comments »

I’m loving the reader questions and the BFDivas’ and BFDudes’ answers—keep ‘em coming! Today’s question comes from Loren, who writes: In the last year I went from 235lbs to 185. I just took up running and moved to a country where I hate the food, the weight loss was not really intentional. I liked myself [...]

Filed under: Question | 24 Comments »

In the comments to this post, a number of people brought up Chris Farley and the Chippendale’s skit he did with Patrick Swayze (we love you, Patrick) on Saturday Night Live. (Video is here.) Bina said: the joke in that was that the fat guy took his dancing and mad skillz seriously but was obviously [...]

Filed under: Humor, Question, TV, Tidbit, Video | 34 Comments »

A fun list of the 25 most ridiculous diets of all time. The tapeworm diet appears, of course, but the baby food diet does not. Egregious oversight! My favorite one on the list is number twelve: The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to Know About: This diet gives the tapeworm a run for [...]

Filed under: Feel Good Friday, Personal, Question, Weight Loss | 56 Comments »

Apart from times when I’ve been tracking Weight Watchers points, I haven’t really been in the habit of tracking my eating. And I found myself becoming curious about exactly what I was eating—how many calories, how many grams of protein, vitamins, etc. So I signed up for a free account on FitDay, a site that [...]

Filed under: Food, Health, Meta, Personal, Science | 59 Comments »

A very interesting and sad story about eating disorders within the Orthodox Jewish community, from Jezebel. Evidently, in arranging their marriages, one of the criteria for some Jewish men is that their brides be below a size 8. And in a move reminiscent of that Ben Stiller movie, sometimes they take the mother’s dress size [...]

Filed under: Eating Disorders, Feminism, Health | 27 Comments »

There is a rumor going around that Mo’Nique, author of Skinny Women Are Evil, is having weight loss surgery. Even though it’s just a rumor, I think the responses to this news are really interesting. Once again at this point it’s just a rumor, but if proven to be true it will amount to yet [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Gossip, Mo'Nique, Queen Latifah, Question, WLS | 81 Comments »

Language is power. Which is why this Utne Reader story is so fascinating. [T]he language we use to describe fat people smacks of race, class, and gender stereotypes. More euphemistic words for fat are used to describe those in higher-paying professions… [A] Google search for “portly” resulted in descriptions of doctors, lawyers, and professors, but [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Feminism, Race & Ethnicity | 17 Comments »

This month was an exciting one here at BFD headquarters. We started a Facebook group, which as of this writing is at 151 members. I’m planning to have some exclusive content for Facebookers coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that. (Right now, there’s a thread where you can suggest new taglines.) The other [...]

Filed under: Meta | 2 Comments »

the big ballet Originally uploaded by mo pie In the comments, msruth mentioned Russia’s “Big Ballet” and on her advice, I went to go take a look and read all about them. The Big Ballet is a troupe of dancers from Russia who weigh a minimum of 220 pounds each. I highly recommend clicking on [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Art, BFD Classic, Exercise, Fat Positive, Feel Good Friday, International, Theater | 18 Comments »

My friend La Wade, the BFD commenter and obesity researcher you all love to debate with, has started her own blog about fat and science called Phat Science. The first few posts are chock full of interesting topics for discussion, including artificial sweeteners, yo-yo dieting, and how to decide whether or not to believe a [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Meta, Science | 15 Comments »

Manolo for the Big Girl linked to an awesome snappy comeback story from Dancing Down the Moon that will warm the heart of any fat person who has found themselves in the embarrassing position of having someone say something mean about their size in public. That was kind of a convoluted sentence, but… well, go [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fat Positive, Fatism, Tidbit | 20 Comments »

So, apparently Kevin Federline has gained some weight and the gossip blogs are buzzing about it. In a way, it’s refreshing to see people care about the weight of a male celebrity for a change. His publicist had this to say: “Since when does a picture qualify the New York Post to assume someone is [...]

Filed under: Britney Spears, Celebrities, Feminism, Gossip, Tidbit | 18 Comments »

hyacinth hippo Originally uploaded by mo pie Those of you out there who have seen Fantasia and who fondly remember the hippo ballet sequence might appreciate this rare glimpse into the history of Disney animation: photos of actress Hattie Noel, who was the live action reference for Hyacinth Hippo in the film. I don’t know [...]

Filed under: Art, Fat Positive, Fatism, Movies, Question, Race & Ethnicity, Theater, Video | 17 Comments »

In the comments, Stacey Stardust asks: how do you know a guy is flirting with you? This may sound like an incredibly dim-witted question, but I never got hit on a lot when I was a size 12-14 (my ’skinny time’ ;)) and I certainly don’t think I get hit on at all now. When [...]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Personal, Question | 35 Comments »