Cooks require heft, to prove they eat their own creations….It’s not just the skinny women chefs. I don’t trust skinny male chefs either, especially if they’re dressed like teenage vampires in “Twilight” with their skinny black jeans and tight T-shirts and ample hair product. When I think of a chef I can trust, I think of cooks with gravitas, some weight on their bones, women who clearly are no strangers to the knife and fork.

Before you start thinking about this being a win for fat acceptance, think again: I don’t care if it’s disregarding Beth Ditto on the runway because she’s over size 12 or disregarding Padma Lakshmi because she’s under size 12, it’s still sizism no matter how you slice it.  Sure, fats are getting the positive assumption that they are more competent when it comes to food, but it’s just as damaging as assuming an athlete is stupid or a gay person is good with fashion. And the assumption that you’re such a good chef that you can’t stop eating your own creations is insulting at best, not to mention the bad reasoning that fat OR thin chefs are only eating their own food. Certainly, we can point to some anecdotal evidence to support the stereotype of a great chef at a higher BMI but we can just as easily point out situations to the opposite. For every Mario Batali, there’s a Grant Achatz who is amazing in the kitchen (trust me, the man’s food is perfection)!

What do you guys think? Do you distrust thin chefs? The comments are dying for some juicy morsels!

Gaultier is, of course, the same designer who used Velvet D’Amour in a previous runway show. More pictures at HuffPo, where they pair the slideshow with this recent quote from Ditto:

“It’s really interesting to me that people will look at a thin person and go, ‘That’s a healthy person’. I want to go, ‘Come open my refrigerator and look and then let’s talk about what you think is so bad’. To be thin and to stay really thin, sometimes…some people literally do coke all the time. Some people smoke cigarettes instead of eating. That’s crazy. But that’s ‘okay’ because you look healthier.”

Thanks to Christina for the link! And thanks to Beth, and Jean Paul Gaultier, for being awesome.

I now know that confidence and being a happy, positive person plays a more important role in attraction than body size alone. My main motivation for doing erotic work is to make the statement that fat women can express their sexuality and be sexual beings. I am challenge the norms of what is considered beautiful and sexy. I want people to examine their own ideas of what they consider appealing. For many people beauty does not just come in a size 0.

In related news, this is a very funny take on American Apparel’s “not our demographic” bullshit.

2. Holy crap you guys, it’s the solution we’ve all been waiting for! I love Allie Brosh and her finely tuned sense of the ridiculous.

The Weasel Belt is a revolutionary new product that uses the wonders of weasels to whittle your waist!  Was that egregious alliteration annoying? You bet it was!

Anyway, the Weasel Belt works by attaching a cage-like structure to your abdomen and then releasing several live, rabid weasels into the enclosure.  You don’t even have to do anything!  You just sit there and let the weasels gnaw your love handles away!

3. Speaking of weasels, Julien MacDonald has gone on record with his foot in his mouth, which must have taken some serious flexibility. He says plus-size models aren’t taken seriously, and shouldn’t win a modeling competition. Because he’s an ass.

“There were no plus-size models,” Macdonald reportedly said of [Britain's Next Top Model].

“This is a serious show. You can’t have a plus-size girl winning — it makes it a joke.

“It’s not fair on them — you’re setting them up for a fall. I know what would happen to them. They are looked down on.”

Because maybe, way too often, still, even after all the “celebration of ‘real women’” fooferah going on in the popular media, plus size models are usually not included in modeling competitions and taken as seriously as smaller-sized models, maybe? WEIRD. Shut up, Julien. Can I call you Julien? Too bad.

4. This was very cool—an interview with a plus-size fashion stylist. She’s got some old chestnuts about “creating proportion” and fear of “adding bulk” and whatnot (maybe she should have a long conversation with the deeply fabulous chestnut-roasting Beth Ditto), but she also has some interesting things to say about the industry, fashion, and even getting into the business.

I hope that as a stylist I can contribute to the plus size fashion industry as an educator, role model, and mentor. I truly enjoy connecting to real women all over the country and helping them feel great about themselves by offering them a fresh perspective on plus fashion and style. I have found my niche with the plus industry and I hope to continue partnering with plus related companies, designers, and industry leaders to reach out to society and media and showcase curvy women in a positive, flattering way.

5. This made me happy. You need something beautiful to hang in your house, and remind you that the female body has been worshipped for millennia? Check out this print.

Who were these “flabulous” celebrities? Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, Britney, Kirstie Alley, and Snooki. I mean, seriously. Did you doubt they would all be women? Plus, they sent me some accompanying photos showing the offenses, and they all looked like this. Where’s the “love handles” on Beyonce? Not that there’s anything wrong with “love handles,” Jesus. At least they have a cute name.

2. Okay, here’s a link, and it’s a good one: the “obesity stigma” is not actually helpful. Well, no effing duh. Which is basically what The Well-Rounded Mama says:

I suppose I should be grateful that someone is taking time to disprove the kinds of lame claims that more stigma is needed, not less. On the flip side, though, is that while they are concerned about the negative effects of obesity stigma on fat people, the big concern is that this stigma gets in the way of obesity intervention efforts…

But at least they are saying something against obesity stigma and countering the usual nonsense out there. It just amazes me that some idiots can actually believe that obesity stigma is really an effective tool for health improvement.

3. Another good one: obesity ills are “a myth” according to an Ohio State University study, via Big Fat Blog.

“There is a myth going on. Our findings show being overweight is no different from being what we believe is a healthy weight and this is across a person’s entire lifespan. For college-age adults, this should help them realize that they don’t have to worry so much if they have a BMI of 27 or 28. Some young people with these BMIs feel like, ‘I’m going to have all these problems, I need to try 50 different diets.’ And what is all that stress and dieting doing to your body? Probably more damage than the extra 15 pounds is.”

4. I ran across a Listmania list on Amazon today called “Large-size heroines and more.” Leonard Nimoy, The Gossip, and Nikki Blonsky are all represented, as are some projects I’d never heard of, such as an anthology called Such A Pretty Face…

Each tale has a plus-sized heroine or hero, ranging from a mermaid to a fairy-tale princess.

As well as a guide for plus-sized brides, some Fat Studies readers, and a UK series called Fat Friends.

I can’t vouch for level of empowerment each thing on the list has–for instance, I know Queen Sized was problematic, and there’s a weight loss memoir on there from someone named Michelle McManus, who won Pop Idol in the UK–but there were enough interesting things listed that I figured I’d pass it along.

5. Finally, 340 (and counting) blogs have been added to the comprehensive Fierce Freethinking Fatties Feed, and there are sub-feeds like Fat Acceptance, Fatshion, and Political Allies. (And other sub-feeds that do allow diet talk, so click those with caution.) If you want to find some new reading material or to add your blog to one of those feeds, check it out. Thanks for the heads up, Shannon!

Check out that insane eye makeup and lipstick!

The awesome shape of that dress, which breaks all the fat-girl muumuu rules!

The ruffly crazy thing! The color! The attitude.

Makes me want to pack something wacky to wear to Forbidden Zone this weekend.

Beth Ditto, you are awesome, as ever.

1. Fat Female Celebrities vs. Fat Male Celebrities

The fat male group is more loved, less judged for their body size and more contemporary ; the fat female group has many members framed as being “bitchy” and “too opinionated,” is judged endlessly in relation to body size and is much less current in the zeitgeist (Gossip singer Beth Ditto is arguably a contemporary fat female icon, but hardly as well-known as the likes of [Jack] Black).

2. On Airbrushing Skinny Models to Look Healthy

It’s been dubbed ‘reverse retouching’ and involves using models who are cadaverously thin and then adding fake curves so they look bigger and healthier.

This deranged but increasingly common process recently hit the headlines when Jane Druker, the editor of Healthy magazine – which is sold in health food stores – admitted retouching a cover girl who pitched up at a shoot looking ‘really thin and unwell’.

It sounds crazy, but the truth is Druker is not alone. The editor of the top-selling health and fitness magazine in the U.S., Self, has admitted: ‘We retouch to make the models look bigger and healthier.’

3. Miss USA admits to strict dieting, exercise, and dehydrating to look “good on TV”.

Remember, the BFD Twitter feed is here. Happy Tweeting!

In the meantime, here’s the Fug Girls’ take on Gabby Sidibe’s dress at the Oscars. I have to say I don’t love it; I don’t love the color and I don’t love the applique business. On the other hand, I love this insane jumpsuit being worn by Beth Ditto, so I might just be crazy. I wouldn’t rule it out.

Speaking of the Oscars, Kate Harding wrote a piece for Salon in defense of Mo’Nique’s Oscar speech that I thought was very thought-provoking. And also, I am so happy that Kathryn Bigelow won. (Even if every recipient of a Scientific and Technical award appeared to be a white dude.) I hope she inspires other little girls to be directors. I really, really hope so.

The clothing line is finally out, and Fab Sugar’s got a preview of the collection. And my first, gut, basic reaction is that as a fashion designer, Beth Ditto is a very good singer.

I want to love this collection. I want to love the sparkles and the craziness and fun, but–WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? And WHY DOES THIS DRESS HAVE AN ELASTICIZED HEM? And for the love of god, just…WHY? This dress, though? Freaking hot. Though I’m not sure that anyone but Beth Ditto could pull it off with the matching leggings.

So. For me, a little disappointing. Especially that goddamn jumpsuit which just bites off the current weird, awful trend and–does nothing with it except make it plus size. What it boils down to for me is that I can’t actually imagine Beth Ditto wearing most of these, I think. I’m disappointed, too, because this is a high-profile plus-size collection, and I want it to be spectacular and perfect and garner nothing but positive attention, and I don’t think this will.

This is, however, just a tiny preview–it is possible that the full collection has more fabulous sequins and colors, that it is more imaginative, and fun, and lovely, and all around fabulously Beth Ditto.

What do you guys think? How did she do? Would you buy her clothes? Would you wear them? Are you disappointed, or am I crazy and should be totally enthused?

In 1998, the Body Shop ran the Ruby campaign, featuring a size 22ish Barbie au naturale, reclining on a chaise. It was the campaign that woke up my little size acceptance brain, just the audacity of the Mattel icon looking, well, a lot like me (disclaimer: unlike Ruby, I do have nipples) and then the outrage that the campaign had to be pulled because it was upsetting too many people.

I can’t help but think of Ruby when looking at a Beth Ditto doll created by plus-size UK retailer Evans to promote their new Ditto-designed line which drops this July.

Uh, they know Beth Ditto is a fat girl, right? And they’re trying to sell clothing to fat girls? I had almost allowed myself to believe that we’ve come so far since 1997 when Ruby was pulled out of the mall for supposedly frightening children on their way to Build-A-Bear, but then Beth Ditto’s supposed dolly doppelganger has all of her thigh dimples lipo’d away. So close and yet, so far.

Google searches turned up a whole lot of nothing, but I did find another blog post mentioning it, along with some excerpts from the interview. I personally think the photos look great. They are a quieter, softer Beth Ditto than I’ve seen in pictures before. Not very rock and roll; maybe that’s why she doesn’t like them?

Oh, and you can read the interview here! Which I am now going to do.