One of the best things you can do for your sense of self-worth is stop reading “women’s” magazines. They have to sell you figuratively on your own “imperfections” in order to literally sell you the beauty products that are their raison d’etre. Throwing those magazines away — or canceling your subscription, or reading Newsweek instead [...]
Amp’s amazing comic about the ambivalence and difficulty of trying to keep your head above the flood of fatphobia got me thinking about the experience of fat men. I’ve been wanting to write about fat men for a while, not only because I married one (the best one) recently, but because men have an experience [...]
Barry over at Alas has posted an old-ish comic of his, representing his inner monologue as a fat dude — and the dark thoughts that continue to creep in, even long after recognizing that “Self-hatred isn’t the natural consequence of being fat. It’s something I was taught.” It’s brutally honest, heartbreaking, and well worth a [...]
Paul and Marianne have already covered this story about a study of 9 to 13-year-old girls involved in one of Duke University’s weight loss programs, which found that girls assigned to read a book with a weight loss story line (”Lake Rescue”) lost a little bit more weight than girls who read a non-diet book, [...]
In case you missed it elsewhere, there was an article in yesterday’s magazine about Linda Bacon’s new book and the fat acceptance movement. Very 101 for regular readers here, but excellent to see in the paper. And the best part? There’s a cute illustration of happy fat and thin stick people, instead of a headless [...]
Nicholas Kristof: The racism is difficult to measure, but a careful survey completed last month by Stanford University, with The Associated Press and Yahoo, suggested that Mr. Obama’s support would be about six percentage points higher if he were white. That’s significant but surmountable. Most of the lost votes aren’t those of dyed-in-the-wool racists. Such racists account [...]
If you want to discuss last night’s VP debate among Shapelings, here’s your thread. (Not exactly Friday Fluff, huh?) I wrote about it for Broadsheet this morning and have lots more to say, but I have to go turn in another post over there. The one thing I’ll add now is that I’m stunned by how [...]
Suzie at Echidne’s has a must-read post today on the myth of journalistic objectivity. Read it with OBESITY CRISIS!!! reporting in mind, and it’ll knock your socks off. Journalists make some exceptions for columns and features, but for news, they are supposed to put aside feelings, biases, beliefs, experiences, cultural norms, values – everything that [...]
I’m feeling pretty brain-dead today, so I decided to turn my favorite brain-dead activity (online window-shopping) into a modicum of blog productivity. We’ve had lots of requests for posts on plus-sized clothes that won’t break the bank, so here’s an effort in that direction. I chose items under $25 according to the following rules:
As we’re facing a bit of a blogging slow-down here at Shapely Prose, we thought we’d occasionally repost some pieces that you might have missed the first time around or that might warrant a second look. If you’ve got suggestions for posts you’d like to see again, add them to comments here. This post was originally [...]
Marina and Colette of Big Moves Boston are trying to raise money for a summer 2009 cross-country tour — and they need $4,000 by October 15 to make it happen. Since I really want them to come to Chicago, I’m happy to help them beg for donations, which you can make at their site. Here’s [...]
I’ve gained a few pounds recently. In most periods of my life, this would not affect me too much — we’re talking a small number, very much the kind of tiny fluctuation that happens as you, I don’t know, sweat less when the weather turns cooler — but right now it is cause for a [...]