Adorable 19-year-old Ashley Kauffman was separated from her skinny friends and told by an usher she was “too big” to sit in the front row of the American Idol studio audience. She had been given free tickets to attend the filming of American Idol and was understandably excited. But 19-year-old Ashley Kauffman’s joy soon turned […]

Filed under: American Idol, Fatism, TV | 25 Comments »

Do you guys remember the story of the fat bridesmaid who was going to be excluded from a wedding since she would “ruin the pictures”? Dear Prudence dealt with a similar question in Monday’s column. Q. I Need Help: I submitted a question last week and so I am hoping to get lucky today. I […]

Filed under: Fatism, Tidbit | 28 Comments »

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. —Ben Franklin I’m sure you’ve all read plenty about the TSA furor, which has been upsetting plenty of people. Friend of the blog Aych has written about her experience, and posts written by and about rape survivors […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Feminism, Politics | 38 Comments »

There are two new Uwe Boll films coming out: one is a documentary on Auschwitz and the other? I am not making this up: “a film about an overweight half-vampire who takes her hungry vengeance out on Hitler and his band of Nazis.” You’ll love the title. Without further delay, I give you the official […]

Filed under: Fatism, Movies, Video, Weetabix | 19 Comments »

Remember back when Glamour had the Girl on the Bottom of Page 194 Lizzie Miller? It seems that we take two steps forward and three steps back when it comes to the glossies. Witness this latest post on Marie Claire’s sex and love blog, straight (and apparently without being vetted by a sane editor) from […]

Filed under: Fatism, Huge, Magazines, Mike & Molly, Weetabix | 47 Comments »

A Sunday morning ritual at Casa Bix involves a cup of coffee, the New York Times and a pug in my lap and Food Network on the TV, where Esteban and I provide a running MST3K commentary on Sandra Lee and Rachael Ray. We love Ina the most, mostly because unlike several TV chefs, her […]

Filed under: Beth Ditto, Fatism, TV, Weetabix | 23 Comments »

With a special shout-out to Brianna, here are some links that popped up in Google Reader this week! 1. From Feed Me: Fat women are paid less than men in the workplace. So obviously, we should lose weight. Wait, what? Fat women are paid less than women who aren’t fat; fat men, on average, earn […]

Filed under: BFDudes, Celebrities, Cold Hard Cash, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Gabby Sidibe, Humor, Links, Personal, Work | 4 Comments »

Apparently I’m on a movie kick, but I couldn’t resist sharing this great article in Newsweek exploring the subtle sexism in recent kid movies. …One in four female characters was depicted in “sexy, tight, or alluring attire,” compared with one in 25 male characters. The female characters were also more likely than men to be […]

Filed under: Disney, Fatism, Feminism, Kids, Movies, Question, Weetabix | 48 Comments »

1. Gabby Sidibe was on one of four covers of Elle Magazine featuring young Hollywood stars. But she was the only one whose body was cropped out. Oh, and her skin was lightened, too. 2. Levi’s has come out with new “Curve ID” jeans, with different cuts similar to the Lane Bryant Right Fit concept. […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fashion, Fatism, Gabby Sidibe, Magazines, Meta, Race & Ethnicity | 21 Comments »

Just a quick post to remind everyone that Mike & Molly begins tonight, and the reviews are coming in. Linda Holmes at NPR: It has a lot of dumb jokes and broad (har har) portrayals, and everyone in the writers’ room should do 20 laps for the moment where two fat guys don’t know enough […]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Mike & Molly, Tidbit, TV | 19 Comments »

The title of this article, “Finding Fat Lit,” is promising. I was like, yeah! We need more fat characters! And then I read the article. Matt Stewart, who describes himself at his heaviest as “a hideous 239 pounds,” wants books about fat people—but only the ones who are trying to lose weight. Millions of Americans […]

Filed under: Art, Biggest Loser, Books, Fat Positive, Fatism, Mike & Molly, Oprah, TV | 44 Comments »

On the heels of the feminism debate in the comments, I have some news for the guys: your pants size may be lying to you. A supposed 36″ pant measures 41″ at Old Navy and 39.5″ at Dockers… and doesn’t seem to measure 36″ anywhere. There’s a chart at that link, but before you click, […]

Filed under: BFDudes, Fashion, Fatism | 18 Comments »

It’s been three years since we asked Is Fat A Feminist Issue? And over the past few days, the subject has come up again. And how. I’d seen some stirrings on Twitter, while I was out of town for the weekend, about a problematic post on Feministe, but I didn’t have a chance to go […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Feminism, Health | 22 Comments »

It’s actually not often that I get emails from more than one tipster on the same subject, but Kari, Leigh, and Amy all sent me links to this story! A woman in Georgia was told she would have to pay $5 extra for her manicure because she was fat. Michele Fonville claims she was charged […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Cold Hard Cash, Fatism | 25 Comments »

Oh, the postcards. The postcards with awful puns and “jokes” on them that feature very large models and often show them in the process of eating something. We’ve all seen them, right? I saw this one last month, while I was on vacation in Ohio, and I was like, “oh god, these. I remember these.” […]

Filed under: Fatism, Kids, Personal, Postcard | 16 Comments »

The Rotund writes about reclaiming the word fat. That’s why I object to “overweight” as a descriptor. Over what weight? The weight other people think I should be even though they have no experience with my body composition beyond looking at me? The weight a BMI chart says I should be? The weight a fashion […]

Filed under: BFD Classic, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Question | 28 Comments »

Bravo has been showing commercials for a new show called Thintervention. Just the title alone makes me want to dry heave. One of my favorite Twitter friends, @GinAndPopcorn, sent me this link, describing the show thusly: The new series is Thintervention—yes, that’s it’s real name, not Andy Cohen screwing with us—“will track the stories of […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fatism, Huge, Mike & Molly, Sara Rue, TV | 17 Comments »

Since we were just talking about “lose weight for your wedding” pressure, this post by Silvana of Tiger Beatdown really resonated. I was pretty fine with my body. Fine with being a fat bride. Fine with the fact that I was wearing a strapless dress which showed off my, yes, arms — which are considered […]

Filed under: Fatism, Personal, Sex & Romance, Tidbit | 5 Comments »

On Twitter, Jen_Lee alerted me to this Ask Metafilter post entitled “I want to be a brain in a jar.” The letter-writer is married to a guy who says he doesn’t want to have with her because she’s fat (among other charming qualities). And it gets worse: they are (read: he is) poly*, and the […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Fatism, Feminism, Sex & Romance | 14 Comments »

Cubicalgirl in the comments alerted us to the existence of this shirt, saying: It’s got the universal man/woman icons on it, only the woman is bigger and it says “Team Player” underneath, the implication being that the guy wearing the shirt will “take one for the team” and chat up the fat friend so his […]

Filed under: Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Humor, Sex & Romance | 19 Comments »

We recently talked about how relatively minor incidents can sometimes feel much more significant than they really are. There are a lot of thought-provoking stories in the comments and I urge you to check out the comments thread if you haven’t had a chance lately. I was reminded of that conversation today when I was […]

Filed under: Art, Celebrities, Fatism, Feminism, Kids, Music, Personal, Question, Sex & Romance, TV, Video | 32 Comments »

If you’ve never heard of Happy News, it’s a website devoted to news and lifestyle stories that are meant to be “always positive.” But an anonymous tipster wrote in and pointed out that often on the site, weight loss is equated to “happy,” and fatness is equated to “unhappy.” Curious, I did a couple of […]

Filed under: Diet Talk Warning, Fatism, Media, Weight Loss, WLS | 7 Comments »

This seems to be the week for celebrity women to advocate for body positivity—or at least, it’s the week I found all these links! First off, from Becky on Twitter comes this story about Penelope Cruz, who says you don’t have to be thin to be pretty. “I would close down all those teenage magazines […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrities, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feel Good Friday, Feminism, Gossip, Hayley Hasselhoff, Huge, International, Kids, Magazines, TV | 7 Comments »

I had a fabulous time last weekend seeing Adam Lambert’s show at the Warfield in San Francisco. In fact, I was right up against the stage, so close that I could see the individual flecks of glitter on his skin. And other than a few songs that I don’t really care for, it was a […]

Filed under: Adam Lambert, Celebrities, Fatism, Personal, Question, Video | 23 Comments »

1. Plus-size model Velvet D’Amour emailed me about her new photography site, Velvetography, which features both “regular” and plus-sized models like the one pictured here. Some of the photos are nudes, so consider this your NSFW warning! 2. I think I’m in love with Amanda Piasecki, who coined the term “Fatshionista,” after reading this interview […]

Filed under: Art, Celebrities, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Humor, NSFW, Velvet d'Amour | 9 Comments »