Michelle Fonville speaking out about her treatment at the nail salon reminds me of another form of speaking out: writing a letter of complaint. Recently(ish), BFD reader cb wrote in to share part of a survey she’d filled out after shopping at the Gap’s online store, and the response she received. She rated her online [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fashion, Old Navy | 23 Comments »

It’s actually not often that I get emails from more than one tipster on the same subject, but Kari, Leigh, and Amy all sent me links to this story! A woman in Georgia was told she would have to pay $5 extra for her manicure because she was fat. Michele Fonville claims she was charged [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Cold Hard Cash, Fatism | 23 Comments »

We have another great Ask BFD question, this time from Barnardgirl! She’s wondering about the cognitive dissonance of being an advocate and still not accepting yourself fully. Bolding mine: Dear BFD, First, thanks for adding an Ask BFD category. I love your blog and the FA blogosphere so much- I wish I’d known about it [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Ask BFD, Eating Disorders, Feminism, Magazines, Question | 6 Comments »

1. Photographic proof that fat people existed in the past, from Manolo for the Big Girl. Some really cool pictures. 2. Lesley at Fatshionista is doing Huge recaps, and tackles the latest episode here. Also, the cast signs a Body Peace Treaty, but… there are some problems, as The Rotund explains: “Oh, hi, y’all, love [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Food, Huge, Kids, Music, Old Timey, TV | 6 Comments »

This email landed in our inbox this week, and it inspired me to add a new category called “Ask BFD” to file this post under. I’m going to try and go back and tag some of the terrific posts that have sprung from reader questions. In the meantime, I think this is a great question, [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Ask BFD, Exercise, Question, Weight Loss | 31 Comments »

On Twitter, Jen_Lee alerted me to this Ask Metafilter post entitled “I want to be a brain in a jar.” The letter-writer is married to a guy who says he doesn’t want to have with her because she’s fat (among other charming qualities). And it gets worse: they are (read: he is) poly*, and the [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Feminism, Sex & Romance | 14 Comments »

This seems to be the week for celebrity women to advocate for body positivity—or at least, it’s the week I found all these links! First off, from Becky on Twitter comes this story about Penelope Cruz, who says you don’t have to be thin to be pretty. “I would close down all those teenage magazines [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feel Good Friday, Feminism, Gossip, Hayley Hasselhoff, Huge, International, Kids, Magazines, TV | 7 Comments »

The Body Project is a collection of writing about the body, some of which are sexually explicit so might not be work-safe. Here’s their mission statement: Our body project is a collection of personal narratives written about bodies. They range from broad declarations of body and experience to small intricate pieces focusing on body parts [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Art, NSFW | 2 Comments »

1. Stella Ellis, of BettyConfidential.com, put together a story all about how to stay hot when you’re hot (via Shine). It’s a beauty and fashion round-up that’s got a ton of gorgeous dresses I covet, and some very cheering words about being comfortable in your skin and whatever you put on it. The important thing is [...]

Filed under: Advertising, Advocacy, Celebrities, Fashion, Fat Positive, Humor, International, Media, Photoshop | 2 Comments »

It seems we can’t go a month without talking about Meme Roth, but she’s a bit of a media fruit fly and never seems to stop buzzing around the blogosphere. This time, BFD Reader Leslie alerts us that she popped up on the Penn and Teller show “Bullshit!” during a segment investigating fast food. Leslie [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, TV, Video | 13 Comments »

1. We talked about April Flores, the plus-size pinup and adult film star awhile back. She’s in the news again, criticizing the ridiculous American Apparel for their sizing prejudices, and talking about her work, body confidence, and fat prejudice. As if you needed more evidence that she’s both gorgeous and awesome. I now know that [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Art, Beth Ditto, Celebrities, Comics, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Humor, Media | 11 Comments »

1. We all know I get ridiculous PR spam, but a real doozy landed in my mailbox yesterday, featuring the top five “Flabulous Celebrity Love Handle Offenders” who can fix their “offensive” love handles with a Spanx-type product that we should all run out and buy too! (Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of mentioning the [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Art, Beth Ditto, Beyonce, Books, Britney Spears, Celebrities, Crystal Renn, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Health, International, Jessica Simpson, Kirstie Alley, Links, Music, Nikki Blonsky, Science, TV | 8 Comments »

1. It doesn’t “make economic sense” to make clothes in many different styles for fat people. So, if fat people just stuck to wearing muumuus, that would be great, then? I would ask why are thin women allowed to want different kinds of clothing and fat women are not? I’m pretty sure all of the [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fashion, Health, Humor, Kids | 9 Comments »

Jezebel republished an essay by Tasha Fierce at Red Vinyl Shoes called “As Fat As I Wanna Be,” articulating the idea that if you eat junk food, and are lazy, and don’t exercise, and are fat, you still don’t deserve to be shamed and concern trolled and vilified for your fatness. The Jezebel post is [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Carnie Wilson, Celebrities, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Health, Kirstie Alley | 16 Comments »

This post at Racialicious (originally posted at Red Vinyl Shoes) is about black plus-size models in mainstream fashion, but the part that really struck me was this (bolding mine): A popular (white) misconception is that fat is more acceptable in the black community. This is patently untrue. Hip-hop culture is often pointed to when one [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Fashion, Fatism, Gabby Sidibe, Question, Race & Ethnicity | 7 Comments »

1. The new Oprah biography contains a shocking allegation about pecan pie (and, perhaps, an opportunity to become educated about food addiction). From Michelle Coppola: Oprah once ordered two pecan pies from room service and *shudder* ATE THEM BOTH!! And what, Kitty Kelley? The earth tilted on its axis from Oprah’s subsequent weight gain? As [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Eating Disorders, Feminism, Food, Kids, Links, Magazines, Meta, Oprah, Race & Ethnicity | 17 Comments »

Raymond de Felitta, writer/director of the film City Island, discusses his film’s attention-getting subplot in this article in Salon. A subplot involves the Rizzo family’s youngest son (the brilliant Ezra Miller) who is secretly ashamed of his adolescent yearning for the woman next door, an Internet “goddess” named Denise who is 400 pounds and a [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fat Positive, Kids, Movies | 7 Comments »

An excellent post about being fat and dating at The Rotund, where a reader wrote in, “So, how do we open ourselves up to almost certain rejection pointed directly at weight, without sliding backward on the FA?” Marianne makes a bunch of great points, so I recommend reading the whole thing: 1. The best place [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Sex & Romance | 40 Comments »

Trabb’s Boy suggested this title in our previous links roundup. I can’t decide if it’s cute, scientific, or terroristy! In the meantime, here are some links for you, and a picture of cute animals, after the jump.

Filed under: Advocacy, Fashion, Fat Positive, Food, Links, Meta | 15 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 [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Gabby Sidibe, Health, Kirstie Alley, Links, Meta, Mo'Nique, TV | 12 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, [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Art, Eating Disorders, Fatism, Health, Kids, Movies, Personal | 47 Comments »

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 [...]

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

I knew about Madison magazine from Project Runway Australia, as it is the Elle/Marie Claire of that show (“The winner of Project Runway will receive a spread in Madison magazine…”). Now Beautiful You has a post about the plus-sized celebrities who posed nude for their October issue. More pictures at the link; mildly NSFW. The [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Biggest Loser, Celebrities, International, Magazines, NSFW, Project Runway, TV | 8 Comments »

Continuing the “we here at major women’s fashion magazines care about fat people and their happiness!” trend, Marie Claire, major women’s fashion magazine, has started a once-a-month column by Ashley Falcon, Plus-Size Stylist. Hooray! Quick, do not notice that her columns appear next to their regular “From Fat to Fit” series. Or maybe that’s just [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Magazines, Media, Question | 11 Comments »

We’ve talked about the separate-but-equal thing in fashion, but have we talked about it in the wider world, in social situations? Because here we have an article on Plus-Size Nightclubs–night clubs that are, as perhaps indicated by the term “plus-size nightclub,” set up and run specifically for plus-size patrons. “When you’re not what they consider [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Cold Hard Cash, Fat Positive, Personal, Politics, Question | 42 Comments »