In the comments, Liv pointed me to this article, which asks, “Is Fatism the New Racism?” Leaving aside all the implications of equating those two very different issues, the article’s point is to ask whether discrimination against the obese should be protected by law. The study shows that overweight women are twice as vulnerable as [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Race & Ethnicity, Work | 28 Comments »

Here’s a study from the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (which may I say I am happy exists) that talks about the link between household instability and obesity—specifically, obesity in mothers. Thirty-eight percent of mothers in low-instability households were obese, while nearly 48 percent in high-instability households were obese. The researchers [...]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Feminism, Food, Health, Kids, Work | 14 Comments »

Originally uploaded by mo pie I got an e-mail recently from a plus-size sex worker who keeps a blog called For Lovers of Curves. I’m going to put most of this post behind a cut; although I don’t think it’s super NSFW, you never know! Anyway, her bio is:

Filed under: Advertising, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, NSFW, Personal, Sex & Romance, Work | 8 Comments »

I’ve spent the last ten days cleaning my house and purging my closets, and I ran across two work-appropriate items that have never been worn and are pretty nice! (They just didn’t fit right and I never managed to return them.) I figured rather than dumping them off at Goodwill, especially in this economy, I’d [...]

Filed under: Personal, Tidbit, Work | 14 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 »

Nonk was telling me about this Consumerist article last night, and I almost fell over. A woman named Amanda went to Macy’s and tried to buy a formal dress in a plus size. And here’s what she was allegedly told: Pam: I’m sorry, ma’am. Macy’s does not cater to your size. Me: I beg your [...]

Filed under: Fashion, Fatism, Race & Ethnicity, Work | 65 Comments »

We had an office party today involving cake. And as I stood around with my co-workers making awkward conversation and enjoying my slice of cake, I overheard comments that felt very familiar. “This cake is sugar free and fat free, right? Ha, ha!” “Hey [Guy Doing South Beach], is this South Beach cake?” “Oh, can [...]

Filed under: Humor, Movies, Personal, Question, Video, Work | 70 Comments »

Something that we haven’t talked about yet—but which others have, of course—is the proposed increase in health insurance costs in Alabama, directed at the overweight. That is, you have one year to get “healthy” and if you fail, you have to pay an extra $25 per month in health insurance. From Wallet Pop: So, what’s [...]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Exercise, Fatism, Health, Race & Ethnicity, Weight Loss, Work | 21 Comments »

I work in a giant, brightly decorated cubicle with two other people, and we often pass the days sending each other links to amusing things or dorky things or talking about the latest episode of Project Runway. Actually that all happened today. But the other thing that happened today was one of us, and I’m [...]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Exercise, Video, Weight Loss, Work | 23 Comments »

I’m fried at work today and I spent the morning at the dentist, so here’s a random post off the top of my head. I always love hearing what Jane Espenson is having for lunch, so let’s find out what’s on the menu for the rest of us today! I don’t even have a great [...]

Filed under: Food, Meta, Personal, Question, Work | 55 Comments »

Mel sent along this article, a Chicago Tribune piece about making obesity discrimination illegal. It was an interesting read, particularly because I found myself having a couple of “what the hell?” moments as I was reading it—which made me look forward all the more to discussing it with you guys. [A]s a fat woman, I [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Media, Work | 27 Comments »

How’s your wallet these days? Think back to your last pay raise. Did you get as much as you thought you would? How much of that was determined less by the size of your contribution to the company but more by the size of your ass? I’ve always had a suspicion that women in business [...]

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

So there’s this guy sitting back and apparently trying to decide how he should personally police fat people. He’s come up with the idea of handing out some kind of ticket. What we probably need is a stand[ard] letter ( fre[e]ly downloadable) you can give to fat people ( especially work mates, mates and family) [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Health, Work | 37 Comments »

Some dickhead named Michael Karolchyk is all up in arms about the possibility of a law protecting fat people from discrimination in Massachusetts. His willingness to shock people has won extensive press for his business, which is called the Anti-Gym. It is, in fact, a gym. What makes it special is its founder’s zeal for [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Cold Hard Cash, Fatism, Science, Work | 29 Comments »

Morbidly obese employees cost companies more in worker’s comp claims, says a new study: [T]he fattest workers had 13 times more lost workdays due to work-related injuries, and their medical claims for those injuries were seven times higher than their fit co-workers [sic]. Overweight workers were more likely to have claims involving injuries to the [...]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Health, Science, Work | 13 Comments »