Some further thoughts on weight, weight loss, sizeism, dieting and health

"This is the damage that our cultural fixation with the manufactured horrors of obesity can do; this is what happens when we allow our concept of “health” to be dictated by the Body Mass Index. If obesity is always equated with imminent death, if weight loss is always healthy, then weight loss cannot ever be dangerous, right? Nobody seems to die on The Biggest Loser, so it must be okay, right? Put that question to the unfathomable number of young people who have died as a result of complications caused by eating disorders. Put that number to Glenn Wilsey’s mom. Our culture of diet obsession is not destructive just because it is unfair to marginalized bodies; it is destructive because it affects how we understand all bodies everywhere."

Sex and the Fat Girl: If You Want My Body | Bitch Media

Sex and the Fat Girl: If You Want My Body | Bitch Media

See also this second link, which addresses the beauty industrial complex.

Why the fat guy should lose his privilege

Why the fat guy should lose his privilege

"Shocking" results of body image survey - WBTV 3 News for Charlotte, NC-

Shocking results of body image survey - WBTV 3

Like Elena, I'd like to explore the beauty myth with Susan's help. Does she believe that the same beauty myth exists? How does she see it playing out in modern, American society? What are her suggestions for moving past these ideals in real-world application? I also really enjoy her work on fitness and controling the body through physical exercise, but how these images must be different for men and women. It is also interesting how she mentions the buldge-less body in terms of transformation when it comes to eating, menstruating, etc.

My favorite Poems featuring Swans

 In case you were all searching for evidence that imagery and diction can be as/more beautiful as/than bodily form:

"Leda, After the Swan" by Carl Phillips
"Leda and the Swan" by W.B. Yeats
"Hope is a Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson
"Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"Half of Life" by Friedrich Hölderlin
"The Black Swan" by James Merrill

Questions for Discussion

I would like to discuss how to break free of the slender beauty ideal and how Susan would recommend "imagining beyond the body." Is it possible for a woman to get to a place where she is not constantly regulating her body through diet, exercise or makeup? What would her advice be to young people growing up with so much pressure from advertisements and television programs?

Bordo Discussion

What is the relationship between food and our bodies, and how are socially-structured conceptions of this relationship impacting women of all ages in complex ways? Additionally, what are ways that we can move away from misconceptions and judgements being placed on different foods?

Question for Bordo

What is the difference between discipline and control? Is there a difference? Relative to Black Swan, Nina, the character played by Natalie Portman, is very disciplined in her practice of ballet and struggles to embody the black swan character, which in turn causes her to spiral out of control. However, I feel that it is her discipline and dedication to ballet, her dedication to embody the black swan, that causes her to loose control. So how is it that a person can feel like they are in control of their own body and actions when in fact they are not?

Check out my blog!

Hi all!

This semester I decided to begin my own feminist blog. Here's the link: http://elena-thewayiam.blogspot.com/.
I always love feedback!

thanks, everyone, for an awesome conversation on Thursday (and for not only tolerating but excelling at my activity!)

i found a few things (shocking, right?)

1. interesting, but pay attention to the TONE of this article

2. seriously?
http://www.piviandco.com/apps/fatbooth/

3. also, i find this horrifying.

enjoy the sunshine!

seeing through the cellulite

In harmony with our class discussion today, note the fabulous website --Jezebel--as it discusses the future of Star magazine with its new editor. In assessing the already awful quality of the gossip mag, note the edition 4th down: "March 2, 2011: "Stars Lose Fight With Cellulite." When the gossip is slow, Star hauls out a cellulite or "worst" bodies issue. The truth is that the "worst" body is one that is diseased or dying or in pain. If a woman can put on shorts or a swimsuit and enjoy some fun in the sun, then her body is working just fine. Cellulite occurs in 80 to 90% of postpubertal females — be they fat or thin — and is not considered a medical condition. Doctors from prestigious institutions agree that there is no cure. So Star can kiss our dimpled asses."

Sex and the Fat Girl: Body Love and Fatness As Choice | Bitch Media

Sex and the Fat Girl: Body Love and Fatness As Choice | Bitch Media

Sex and the Fat Girl: I Touch Myself | Bitch Media

Sex and the Fat Girl: I Touch Myself | Bitch Media

Survey finds 30% would die to get ideal body

"Survey finds 30% would die to get ideal body | body, online, ideal - The Orange County Register"

StudentNation: Title IX Resonates Beyond Yale's Walls

StudentNation: Title IX Resonates Beyond Yale's Walls

"PHENOMENAL WOMAN" BY MAYA ANGELOU and Krudas Cubensi "La Gorda"

"PHENOMENAL WOMAN" BY MAYA ANGELOU

Krudas Cubensi "La Gorda"

...Mexico's other enemy: Obesity rates triple in last 3 decades

Check out the title of this article in particular....interesting, especially after our conversations last week!

commercial

Hey all! I don't know if anyone posted this already or has seen it, but this came up on cnn.com...it is apparently an anti-child slavery commercial sponsored by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Check it out! http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/11/real-men-join-stars-in-fight-against-slavery/?hpt=C2

so many things!

1. http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/31/girl-you-are-so-not-fat-does-fat-talk-make-anyone-feel-better/

2. http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/11/09/separate-but-equal-the-politics-of-plus-size/

3. http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f15/fat-chicks-stunning-new-revelation-425652/ (this was a tough one- i couldn't decide whether it was the study itself or the ignorant comments that frustrated me more)

4. Yay Scale

there's probably more, but that's more than enough. :) hope everyone has a great weekend!

How The "U-Word" Exposes the Anti-Choice Movement | RHRealityCheck.org

How The "U-Word" Exposes the Anti-Choice Movement | RHRealityCheck.org

another example of why and how words and naming matters....

Free Market 'Solution' to "obesity problem"

Appeared in Wall Street Journal April 2, 2011. So, that means it is not an April Fool's joke?

New Target Ad Campaign

Check it out---the sound only adds to the drama of what (we can) do to our hair!

Interesting Blog that contextualizes the two videos about sexualizing little girls

Also of interest is my perennial favorite, Sociological Images. The author, Lisa Wade of Occidental College, makes some really good points as well.

Single Ladies

Mia living doll

Body Size, Sexuality and Girls: Thinking beyond Correlations

Body Size, Sexuality and Girls: Thinking beyond Correlations

"exporting" negative body image

We've talked about the extent to which the beauty myth is geographically and culturally specific... less and less, apparently.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/spreading-fat-stigma-around-the-globe/?emc=eta1

all of the related articles are really interesting, too!