mandisa’s weight lossOriginally uploaded by mo pie Mandisa, a former contestant on American Idol, has an album coming out on March 24. She has also lost 75 pounds “without surgery” as the media always takes pains to point out. And is now talking about it in People magazine. Following a routine of cardio workouts five […]

Filed under: American Idol, Celebrities, Gossip, Magazines, Media, Music, TV, Weight Loss | 22 Comments »

in and out of the fat suitOriginally uploaded by mo pie The Daily Mail wanted to know what it was like to send a “fattie” to fashion week. So, did they hire an overweight reporter to go to fashion week and write an article? Of course not! They put a thin reporter in a very […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Dawn French, Fashion, Fat Suits, Fatism, International, Magazines | 24 Comments »

I know very little about Mischa Barton, but apparently she’s lost some weight recently and the tabloids have gotten all OMG TOO SKINNY about the whole thing. She responded publicly, and People magazine has the roundup: She notes that she is thinner these days, as recent photos in the media have shown, sometimes accompanied by […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Feminism, Gossip, Magazines, Media, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 8 Comments »

And you guys, it is gorgeous. Hooray! via Style Slacker. LOVE is a new, aiming-for-high-profile magazine by Conde Nast, launching in the U.K. on February 19. It is purported to be all about luxury and fashion and fashionable luxury and I don’t really care, because I probably won’t read it. But I love their very […]

Filed under: Art, Beth Ditto, Celebrities, Fat Positive, Feel Good Friday, Magazines, Media, Tidbit, TV, Weight Loss | 22 Comments »

So, there has been a brouhaha lately because Jessica Simpson wore some crazy pants and OMG is so fat (wow, I had not seen the New York Post cartoon at that link; gross). But mostly this has all stopped being about calling her fat and has turned into a backlash over calling her fat. Alyssa […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Gossip, Jessica Simpson, Magazines, Media, Music | 16 Comments »

Originally uploaded by mo pie I saw this vintage ad here and was quite struck by it. The ad is from the 1970s, and the headline reads: Tracy Harper may not care if fashionable chubby-sizes are hard to find, but her Mother does. And so does Sears. This headline was the thing that really struck […]

Filed under: Advertising, Fashion, Kids, Magazines, Old Timey, Race & Ethnicity | 32 Comments »

I now completely forget who first told me about the Photoshop diet. But with this trifecta of great posts about pictures and bodies collected over at Shapely Prose, it sprang to mind. Before I get to that, though, the trifecta is as follows (and each link is well worth a read): 1. Improving Aphrodite, a […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Jennifer Aniston, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Magazines, Media, Movies, Music, Personal, Photoshop, TV, Weight Loss | 9 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 »

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, The Office, TV | 9 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 »

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 »

Oh boy howdy, did I hear about Oprah today! In case you hadn’t heard (which I sincerely doubt is the case), she now WEIGHS TWO HUNDRED POUNDS SHOCK HORROR SHOCK. And is talking about it in the January issue of O Magazine with great consternation and hand wringing. “I’m mad at myself,” Winfrey writes… “I’m […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Magazines, Oprah | 30 Comments »

Jessica at Jezebel wrote a while back about the Glamour magazine diet blog Margarita Shapes Up. What’s disconcerting is the anxious tone that has crept into her posts in recent weeks, culminating in a post about leaving her dad’s birthday party early so that she could go to yoga. It’s clear that she feels a […]

Filed under: Feminism, Magazines, Media, Question, Weight Loss | 60 Comments »

I am far too distracted by the election today to make a coherent post out of this Kate Winslet is-it-or-isn’t-it-photoshopped spread in Vanity Fair. All I have to say is that Kate Winslet is my girlfriend, and if you’re American, I hope you’re rocking the vote today. (And I just saw this Kate Winslet post […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Kate Winslet, Magazines, Tidbit | 4 Comments »

In the world of celebrities, the phrase “full figured” is applied to such women as Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, and America Ferrera—a category of women who I’ve always viewed as “Hollywood fat.” The women who are called “full figured” are often treated as overweight by the media; we’ve seen it time and again. The problem […]

Filed under: America Ferrera, Celebrities, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Magazines, Media, TV | 24 Comments »

In this week’s issue, Entertainment Weekly catches on to the problem with the tiny bodies on 90210. But the article is worth reading even for those of us who already talked about it. First, the problem: Almost without exception, the young actresses on The CW’s spin-off are alarmingly thin, with arms that seem thickest at […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Gossip, Magazines, Media, TV | 23 Comments »

Whenever I’m asked who this blog is for, I inevitably say it’s for my teenage self—and for teenagers who are like her. So it might not be too surprising that my hot button issue is the way the media talks to teenage girls. For example, in magazines like Teen Vogue that may be subtly promoting […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Books, Celebrities, Eating Disorders, Fashion, Feminism, Kids, Magazines, Media | 18 Comments »

Wired offers us a look at a hospital bed that’s also a treadmill. But not without making sure we understand that fat people in the hospital—in the hospital—are “immense,” “weak,” and “lazy.” Sick fatties need only to flick a switch to be upended onto the moving conveyor, whence they can exercise their weak bodies and […]

Filed under: Fatism, Magazines, Science, Tidbit | 11 Comments »

Interesting post at TMZ of all places, about Queen Latifah’s endorsement of the Jenny Craig diet (which, if you recall I had issues with). You can follow that link to see some before and after shots of Queen Latifah, but this is the entirety of the post: We’re hearing there’s a new strategy in Jenny […]

Filed under: Advertising, Celebrities, Cold Hard Cash, Gossip, Kirstie Alley, Magazines, Media, Queen Latifah, Weight Loss | 36 Comments »

Originally uploaded by mo pie I have been reading Elastic Waist daily since it launched; especially since my friends (including BFD contributor Weetabix) write for the site. I have been on their “daily special” show and have even written a guest post or two for them. However, the fact remains that it is a corporate-sponsored […]

Filed under: Advertising, Cold Hard Cash, Fatism, Feminism, Magazines, Media, Meta | 19 Comments »

Us Magazine has a slideshow of the “weight winners of the year“—naturally, the stars who have lost weight this year! And look great! Woo! And they’re all women. OF COURSE. Because who cares if men gain or lose weight? Nobody! Woo! Stars include J. Love, Ricki Lake, Kim Locke, Vanessa Williams, and multiple women (including […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Feminism, Gossip, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kids, Magazines, Mariah Carey, Media, Ricki Lake | 28 Comments »

Ah yes, airbrushing, airbrushing, a favorite topic around here. This New Yorker article takes a fascinating look at Pascal Dangin, a retoucher so prized that famous photographers won’t work with anyone else, and who was name checked in The Devil Wears Prada. “Her face is too high and elongated, mainly by the angle of the […]

Filed under: Art, Celebrities, Magazines, Media | 10 Comments »

We all know that there is no such thing as an “ideal beauty,” right? And that we women shouldn’t define ourselves or our self-worth according to what men find sexy, right? It is with this disclaimer in place, then, that I tell you the preferred body type for men, according to this survey (link NSFW) […]

Filed under: Feminism, International, Magazines, NSFW, Personal, Question, Sex & Romance | 37 Comments »

Premise 1: Jennifer Hudson is hot. I think we can all agree that Jennifer Hudson is a beautiful girl. No matter what you thought of her acting or her role in Sex and the City: The Movie, she did look awesome. And curvy. And normal. Here she is at the premiere. Smoking, right? Premise 2: […]

Filed under: American Idol, Gossip, Jennifer Hudson, Media, Music, Photoshop, Weight Loss | 17 Comments »

mariah photoshop Originally uploaded by mo pie At this point we’re used to magazines airbrushing or misrepresenting cover photos with ironically juxtaposed headlines. But that doesn’t mean we should stop pointing it out! This week’s victim is Mariah Carey, on the cover of Elle next to the headline, “Mariah! Her New Body.” Says Gawker: “Her […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Magazines, Mariah Carey, Media, Weight Loss | 19 Comments »