I don’t know who Alesha Dixon is. I know that she is British, smokingly hot, and according to her extensive and detailed Wikipedia page, she danced her way to fame in the television series Strictly Come Dancing, the show that became Dancing with the Stars in the U.S. She’s also a model, was a singer [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Feel Good Friday, International, Media | 11 Comments »

The Guardian runs a feature called Private Lives, in which readers write in with their problems, and the Guardian’s expert provides her expert advice, along with a healthy helping of the peanut gallery’s remarks. The audience is encouraged to write in with their very helpful ideas on how to fix these people’s problems, and then [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Health, International, Media, Question, Weight Loss | 10 Comments »

Recently, a reader sent along Gina Kolata’s article from the New York Times discussing some obesity myths that are not news to us, exactly, but good to see in print nevertheless. I think I read it before, but really, it was worth reading again. Many of the so-called facts about obesity… amount to speculation or [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fat Positive, Media, Science, TV | 23 Comments »

Jennifer Love Hewitt has gone through a tremendous amount of shit in the past couple of years–after daring to appear in a bikini with a fabulous body that was, nonetheless, less-than-Hollywood perfect, she was soundly mocked and ridiculed and called fat. She defended herself, said she was happy with her curvy body and proud and [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Gossip, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Magazines, Media | 15 Comments »

Susan Orbach, the feminist psychologist who wrote Fat is a Feminist Issue, is coming out with a new book called Bodies. In it, she’s examining how our relationship with our bodies has reached a crisis point, not just in terms of the fear and phobia of fat and the size-zero culture, but how the endless [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Books, Eating Disorders, Feminism, International, Media, Tidbit | 8 Comments »

I love Jenna Fischer, which is why I haven’t picked up that issue of SELF. I know it would just piss me off. I mean look at the cover: two of the most promiment headlines are “LOVE YOUR BODY SECRETS (Feel Sexier At Any Size)” and “LOSE INCHES ALL OVER (You’ll Be Slimmer In Just 18 Minutes A Day).” I think I love my body more because I don’t read SELF. And Jenna doesn’t address the issue of being photoshopped at all, even though it seems pretty obvious that they did in fact photoshop the hell out of her.

Filed under: Gossip, Magazines, Media, Photoshop, TV, The Office | 9 Comments »

It’s 2009, and the dichotomy between “feminine” and “tough” still exists. Of course, a lot of that is a problem of vocabulary–feminine evokes flowers and sweetness and ruffles and sunshine, and tough evokes rough-and-tumble, down-and-dirty, strong and powerful, and you could argue that it is difficult to slay your enemies in a pinafore while carrying [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fat Positive, Feel Good Friday, Feminism | 9 Comments »

The people over at Lifetime Television are doing their part in the smart versus beautiful war that rages on, with their new series, Drop Dead Diva coming out this summer. You can be beautiful and thin, but not bright, or you can be fat and brilliant, but not beautiful. So what would be crazy, see, [...]

Filed under: Brooke Elliott, Fatism, Gossip, TV | 21 Comments »

Originally uploaded by mo pie Allow me to introduce you to the Chubby Maid Café, an establishment in Japan, started by a woman who worked at a “regular maid café” until she realized all the other women who worked there were much thinner than she was. In researching what a “maid café” is, I discovered [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Feminism, International, Magazines, Sex & Romance, Work | 5 Comments »

my bellybuttonOriginally uploaded by mo pie Happy Inauguration Day! The picture is an Obama-fied version of this picture, where I got all excited about the mountain and accidentally flashed my belly button. (I am also fond of the companion photo, which shows jenfu doing a little dance of some sort.) I was going to say [...]

Filed under: Personal, Politics | 6 Comments »

I ran across this news in my google reader, and at first blush, it made me happy–a picture of a little girl with a hula hoop! The idea of a small sponsoring an exciting activity day for kids, saying Hey, kids, it is cool to go out and play and run and be active and [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Exercise, Health, Kids, Media | 13 Comments »

From the set of… Pearl Harbor? Eight years ago? Well, I guess Kate Beckinsale just did an interview with SELF and talked about the stars being forced to lose weight, and her resultant dizziness. And they did it to Ben Affleck, too! “I remember going to the fitting and trying on a few swimsuits for [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Exercise, Gossip, Magazines, Movies, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 3 Comments »

An adoption agency in Britian is likening an obesity to smoking, drinking, drug addiction, alcoholism. Damien and Charlotte Hall, who have been pursuing the adoption of a baby, had their application rejected because his BMI was too high, and was considered to violate the agency’s “suitability criteria.” His BMI is also considered evidence that he [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Health, International, Kids | 10 Comments »

I saw a thought-provoking post on suethsayings this week about a contestant from The Biggest Loser named Eric, who lost 214 pounds on the show and then went on Oprah to talk about gaining back 107 of them. (Oprah and The Biggest Loser in the same post! When categories collide!) Oprah had invited him a [...]

Filed under: Biggest Loser, Celebrities, Diet Talk Warning, Exercise, Health, Oprah, Personal, Question, TV, Weight Loss | 53 Comments »

My baby cousin, who I should not call my baby cousin because she is twenty years old and that is pretty much an adult, is just beautiful. She used to be a pretty little girl, but she has grown up into a spectacular woman–smart and funny and generous, but she also lucked out physically. She’s [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Feminism, Health, Kids, Media, Personal | 18 Comments »

Steps include “refrain from consuming food” and “cease to feel emotions of any kind.” The ninth step, however, is my favorite: Step 9: Self-confidence is the most attractive trait a person can have. For this reason, strive to love yourself and accept yourself exactly as you are. This will be difficult if you are overweight, [...]

Filed under: Humor, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 15 Comments »

Dita von Teese is known for being a beautiful bombshell with boobs and hips and a fabulous ass, who is comfortable with her body, who is glamourous and put-together, sexy and sexual in a way that is supposed to be inspiring, or at least make her a lot of money. I’ve always admired her for [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Exercise, Gossip | 47 Comments »

One of my favorite sites is Manolo for the Big Girl, because these are funny ladies, and one of my favorite weekly features is their Big Girls in Art series. They make me happy every time, but this time, especially so. Check out Kal Barteski who calls herself the “bulletproof positive attitude artist.” Her work is amazing, [...]

Filed under: Art, Tidbit | 5 Comments »

Ricky Gervais—creator of my favorite television show of all time and another show that makes me enjoy, of all people, Chris Martin from Coldplay—must you keep making me sad? I feel like we’ve talked about this before—his description of himself as a “fatty,” his standup routine where he mocks Dawn French’s weight, his self-loathing, and [...]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Humor, International, NSFW, Ricky Gervais, TV, The Office, Video, WLS | 15 Comments »

Out of the ashes of the late, lamented Elastic Waist, a phoenix has arisen. A phoenix with one feather that is me! It is a web portal called Dearest Mabel featuring the writing talents of Weetabix, Jen (aka Anne) and Kim from Elastic Waist, as well as me and Jennette. It will feature links to [...]

Filed under: Diet Talk Warning, Jenfu, Meta, Weetabix | 1 Comment »