Archive For September, 2010

Dear World: These are all the reasons why I will not be having weight-loss surgery.

By | September 28, 2010

Out of respect for people’s privacy and their control of their own bodies, the majority of conversations we have about weight-loss surgery (WLS) in fat-talkin’ circles — like this here blog — tend to be rooted in the language of body autonomy, and this is as it should be. My body is not your body […]

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Updates, and two outfits in the wild.

By | September 27, 2010

Marianne and I are making efforts to get back on a predictable Fatcast-recording schedule, though our mutual busyness is not making it easy. Our most recent episode discusses Beth Ditto’s collection for Evans, communal shopping experiences, and international fat activism. Check it out here. Speaking of, my Beth Ditto spot dress arrived today and it’s […]

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The Suffering Ween: An Important Social Essay

By | September 21, 2010

(Alternate title: “How Satire Is Done”) In the course of human history, one can scarcely doubt the true driving force behind every one of humankind’s greatest achievements, be they in art, music, literature, or science. Though some misguided elitists may argue fiercely to the contrary, this force is not our species’ natural curiosity, nor is […]

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This is why your TV is fat: Q & A with Savannah Dooley

By | September 20, 2010

Unless you are brand new to this blog, you’re probably aware that over the summer, ABC Family aired a series called Huge. This remarkable series portrayed a diversity of bodies and experiences from the radically size-accepting to the mundane, and did it all in a most unlikely location: a fat camp. Savannah Dooley (with help […]

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5lbs and 30%: Welcome to the defiant absurdity of the diet-drug industry.

By | September 16, 2010

It is generally not my wont to comment on studies and statistics, simply because I don’t put a lot of stock in them. This skepticism goes both ways, in fact. I may well be able to counter any anti-fat number with a pro-fat or at least fat-neutral one, but dismissing one set of numbers with […]

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“Clinical and strangely antiseptic”: Lady Gaga’s Anti-Sex Appeal

By | September 13, 2010

My husband hates Lady Gaga. It’s true. My husband fails to recognize Lady Gaga in the way that I do, and by extension he fails to comprehend my affection for her. This is a conversation we have ceased to have, as it can no longer take place in a constructive or illuminating way, but it […]

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Friday Playlist: I’m a few years older than you.

By | September 10, 2010

It’s Friday! That means it’s playlist time. Since I didn’t get to do one last week — what with prepping to fly cross-country to attend 48 hours’ worth of PAX — this week’s playlist has a few additional tracks. When you’re done here, for your further listening pleasure, there is also a new Fatcast available. […]

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Your Playstation Made You Fat, and other reductive narratives: Our problem with public health

By | September 9, 2010

Click the above image to embiggen. Reading my RSS feeds yesterday, I ran across a post on Kotaku — of all places — about the winner of a design contest by Let’s Move, Michelle Obama’s campaign against “childhood obesity”. The challenge was to design an infographic enumerating the — oh, I don’t know y’all, I […]

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The Pretty: Thoughts on appearance-based privilege

By | September 7, 2010

I expect being beautiful is not easy. No, really. I expect people’s assumptions about traditionally-pretty female-presenting humans get tiresome — if you are good-looking you must be stupid, or dull, or self-centered, or ridiculous. Certainly, it is possible to be attractive and intelligent at the same time, but it seems as though no one expects […]

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Marketing with Substance: JetBlue’s subtle nod to “passengers of size.”

By | September 1, 2010

This morning I was poking around JetBlue’s website, mostly looking to see if they’ve implemented in-flight wifi yet (they haven’t), when I ran across a new series of promotional videos of JetBlue customers explaining why JetBlue is so freaking awesome. I already knew JetBlue was pretty awesome, so under normal circumstances I’d ignore these videos, […]

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