One of our most commented posts ever is the “how do strangers treat you?” post linked in the sidebar. It’s been two years, and we keep getting responses that are so thoughtful and represent such a range of experience. I wanted to post some of the recent ones. First, Becky is mocked in front of […]

Filed under: Fatism, Feminism, Meta, Question, Sex & Romance | 17 Comments »

Thanks to Ian (who I’ve been begging to take me to the Harry Potter theme park) and @GinandPopcorn for alerting me to this story: some guests are being turned away from the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride for being unable to fit in the seats. Universal seems to have anticipated this issue, stationing […]

Filed under: Fatism, Harry Potter, Kids | 42 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 »

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know of my conflicted feelings about Ricky Gervais. But, the problem is, he keeps hating on fat people and making it more and more difficult for me to love him. (I have the same issue with Joel McHale on The Soup. I love his shows—especially Community—and I […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Drop Dead Diva, Fatism, Feminism, Guest Post, Humor, Magazines, Ricky Gervais, The Office, TV | 12 Comments »

This nasty piece of Fatism in the Wild comes from Portland, Oregon. Rose sent in her story, including a picture of the insulting note that was left on her sister’s car. I can’t believe anyone would write a note like this based on someone happening to legally park, one time, in front of their house. […]

Filed under: Fatism | 70 Comments »

The folks at Urban Outfitters (those owl-pushers) are now selling a shirt with the words “Eat Less” scrawled across the front—modeled, of course, by a very thin model. And it is pissing people off. People like Stephanie Hayes: It’s just mean, scary and damaging to all the poor innocent girls who ALREADY feel like Shamu […]

Filed under: Advertising, Eating Disorders, Fashion, Fatism, Humor | 43 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 »

Cindy in the comments alerted us to a couple of posts on SF Gate that I thought were worthy of their own post. First, an article with the headline Fat people deny their [sic] plus size: In the same way as anorexics may have a distorted self-perception of being fat, some overweight and obese people […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, International, Media, Movies, Queen Latifah, Sex & Romance | 40 Comments »

Last week’s performance of “Dream a Little Dream” on Glee reminded me that it’s been 40 years since Cass Elliott sang that song. She had one of the most beautiful voices of the mid-1900’s, right up there with Streisand and Karen Carpenter, but she almost never makes the lists of amazing influential female singers. I’m […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Old Timey, Video, Weetabix | 15 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 | 17 Comments »

We’ve talked about Passive Aggressive Notes before, when a woman sent a tragically misspelled note to some strangers at lunch, suggesting they should lose weight. Well, here we go again! Please do not take this the wrong way, I am just concerned for your health. Have you considered Weight Watchers? This was sent to a […]

Filed under: Fatism, Tidbit, TV, Weight Loss | 15 Comments »

I was driving to a meeting tonight, and flipped through my radio presets. When I got to Live 105, I heard a promo that went something like this: Music was originally used by cavemen… to drive fat chicks away. Just a throwaway bit, but it pissed me off. The implication that music is for men, […]

Filed under: Fatism, Feminism, Music, Tidbit | 9 Comments »

Emily alerted us in the comments about this TV pilot going into production. From the WSJ: The formula: “Mad About You” meets “The Biggest Loser” The plot: A romantic comedy about a couple that meets at a support group for overeating. The brand names: Co-creator Chuck Lorre can do no wrong for CBS lately with […]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Magazines, TV | 17 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 »

I had to snap a quick picture of this when I saw it on the cover of the National Enquirer at the grocery store. 200 pounds is DEADLY now. You will DROP DEAD if you hit 200 pounds! Out of curiosity I opened the magazine and there was some article about how she got married […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Magazines, Mariah Carey, Music | 27 Comments »

I got an email this morning about a controversy brewing at ABC, who is refusing to air a lingerie ad for Lane Bryant that features a plus-sized model. Specifically, “a pleasantly plump model [who] gracefully shows off her curves before the camera in a slew of sexy poses.” (Because she’s sexy she gets to be […]

Filed under: Advertising, American Idol, Celebrities, Fashion, Fatism, Question, Sex & Romance, TV, Video | 50 Comments »

Still working on a final name for our Roundup feature, but in the meantime, here are some links for Wednesday! 1. Woman on a quest to become the world’s fattest woman. ‘My favourite food is sushi, but unlike others I can sit and eat 70 big pieces of sushi in one go,’ she said. ‘I […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Gabby Sidibe, International, Links | 12 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 […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Gabby Sidibe, Gossip | 37 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 […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Kevin Smith | 38 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 | 48 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 […]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Feel Good Friday, Tidbit | 40 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, […]

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. […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Christina Hendricks, Fatism, Mad Men, Media, Project Runway, TV | 48 Comments »

The good news: there’s been more young adult fiction lately featuring fat teenage protagonists. The bad news: the covers of the books don’t actually show any fat teens. This post at Stacked offers a nice string of examples showing body parts instead of girls, pictures of food instead of girls, and girls who are supposedly […]

Filed under: Art, Books, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Media | 12 Comments »

Passive Aggressive Notes is a website that features… um… passive aggressive notes. This one was received by a group of three diners who out were having lunch, and were passed a note by a woman at the next table, who signed her name Angela. You can read the whole note at the site, but here […]

Filed under: Fatism, Food, Tidbit | 27 Comments »