The phrase "skinny bitch" once made a certain kind of sense: it reinforced the idea that thin is power, and more specifically, evoked steely Nuclear Wintour and Posh Spice types, whose scrawniness seemed to suggest an iron-clad will and a certain mystery. I guess. But "skinny bastard?" I'm picturing a tubercular Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy, or maybe some kind of meathead's wimpy sidekick henchman. And yet, as a piece in today's Times tells us, this is the next frontier for the women who shamed a generation into buying their tomes.

For anyone familiar with the abusive, strident, veganism-is-the-only-way tone of the inexplicably popular Skinny Bitch books, well, you know the drill. But, just as you'd expect from said dames, rather than bullying women with low self-esteem, this version flirts with men:

Whereas the introduction to "Skinny Bitch" reads, "If you can't take one more day of self-loathing, you're ready to get skinny," the men's version does not assume low self-esteem: "Chances are, you haven't done so badly, despite the few extra lbs you're carting around. ... But don't kid yourself, pal: A hot-bodied man is a head-turner."

Says some guy, Skinny Bastard "needs the perfect skinny bastard to endorse it like Victoria did...And I don't know who that would be." Well, first problem: the book should really be called "Skinny Asshole." That, at least, would evoke some kind of snarky, hipster cokehead, which might conceivably appeal to some very disturbed demographic; "skinny bastard" sounds like the runt orphan no one wants to adopt. And we never really thought of the legitimacy of one's birth as having much to do with weight, but thank to these ladies, we can't help it!

In any case, hasn't "Skinny Bitch's" moment kind of passed? Now that we're all concerned about actual things like losing our jobs and world affairs, has the notion of running around screeching, wielding a vegan riding crop, lost some of its brittle luster? We keep reading that comfort is in: escapist reads, cozy foods, feel-good movies. How, exactly, does voluntary girl-on-girl abuse factor into this? Or, for that matter, its equally superficial male equivalent? We hope, not much.

‘Skinny' Authors Have New Goal: Making Men Buff [NY Times]