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 great [...]
Filed under: Feminism, Magazines, Media, Question, Weight Loss | 58 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 »
No, I don’t usually write about politics here, but I am absolutely obsessed with the American presidential election. I can’t even tell you how many times a day I check FiveThirtyEight; it’s a sickness. So when I found an article about fat people and the election, I made a beeline for my web browser so [...]
Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, International, Media | 36 Comments »
BFDude Matt saw Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist this weekend, and wrote in with some observations about the film. (I love his reference to Kermit and Miss Piggy; I totally related to them back in high school.)
Hi Monique, something I noticed while watching Nick & Norah tonight that might be BFD related.
Kat Dennings is bigger [...]
Filed under: Celebrities, Fat Positive, Feminism, Media, Movies | 27 Comments »
A couple of people have sent me this link this morning, and thank you very much to all of you! The New York Times has written an article about de-stigmatizing fat, the fat acceptance movement, and the genetics of obesity. An absolute must-read.
But some activists and academics, part of a growing social movement [...]
Filed under: Advocacy, Fat Positive, Health, Media, Science, Tidbit | 12 Comments »
I ran across an advice column today in my Google alerts that managed to make me indignant on three totally different levels, one at a time. Allow me to take you along on my journey! It really starts with the first paragraph of the question.
My boyfriend Chris is 6 foot, 7 inches. I’m 5-foot, [...]
Filed under: Fatism, Humor, Media, Sex & Romance | 30 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 [...]
Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Gossip, Magazines, Media, TV | 23 Comments »
How’s this for a concept: Enjoying food instead of dieting, because dieting doesn’t work. It’s a movement! It’s a zeitgeist! Or at least it’s an article in the New York Times:
After decades of obsessing about fat, calories and carbs, many dieters have made the unorthodox decision to simply enjoy food again. That doesn’t mean they’re [...]
Filed under: Celebrities, Food, Health, Media, Science | 17 Comments »
Generation XXLOriginally uploaded by crayolarabbit
I used to see this ad in San Francisco, when driving onto the onramp of the Bay Bridge. It’s an ad for Kaiser Permanente, which is the same HMO that does the “thrive” commercials.
My main issue is that this ad portrays a young girl (of course it’s a girl) in [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Advocacy, Fatism, Health, Kids, Media, Tidbit | 18 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 [...]
Filed under: Advocacy, Books, Celebrities, Eating Disorders, Fashion, Feminism, Kids, Magazines, Media | 16 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 | 35 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 [...]
Filed under: Advertising, Cold Hard Cash, Fatism, Feminism, Magazines, Media, Meta | 18 Comments »
Oh this is a fucking wonderful idea: an MTV reality show called Model Maker that asks women to lose up to eighty pounds in twelve weeks. Doing the math, that’s approximately seven pounds per week. The goal is, of course, to be “thin” and “beautiful” enough to be a model. (One of [...]
Filed under: Eating Disorders, Feminism, Health, Media, Personal, TV, Weight Loss | 15 Comments »
After a whole lot of OBESITY EPIDEMIC OMG!!1! in the news lately, finally we have some good news in the New York Times, where the headline reads “Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit.”
The researchers chalk it up in part to the assumptions people make when they hear the words [...]
Filed under: Advocacy, Exercise, Fat Positive, Health, Media, Personal, Science | 18 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 [...]
Filed under: Celebrities, Feminism, Gossip, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kids, Magazines, Mariah Carey, Media | 26 Comments »
Are you watching the Beijing Olympics? I’m catching parts of it, and it’s a big watercooler topic here at work. The other day, Joy Nash (among others) posted some photos of Olympians of varying shapes and sizes.
It kinda cracks your head open to realize that each of these people [is] perfect. They’re uniquely suited [...]
Filed under: Celebrities, Exercise, Feminism, Media | 10 Comments »
fat princessOriginally uploaded by mo pie
The furor over the game “Fat Princess” has finally hit the mainstream media, and its long past time I wrote about it here. After all, back in those halcyon days when I had spare time, I used to play video games; these days, my husband and one of my best [...]
Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Feminism, Humor, Media | 23 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 »
You’ve probably heard of pro-ana groups online. They’re pro-anorexia groups where people, mostly young girls, of course, go to share their sources of “thinspiration” and talk about their strategies for ingesting the bare minimum of calories. Well now there’s We Bite Back, a post-pro-ana group dedicated to helping and supporting people who are recovering [...]
Filed under: Advocacy, Eating Disorders, Feminism, Kids, Media | 2 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 [...]
Filed under: American Idol, Gossip, Jennifer Hudson, Media, Music, Weight Loss | 17 Comments »
