Jezebel
Not so free rides
Posts Tagged “
Obesity
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Not so free rides
news roundup
Only Coloreds And Communists Are Going To Vote For Obama, Cont'd…
- "Whether it’s Billy Ayers or Bernadine Dohrn, Tom Hayden or Jane Fonda, or any of the other lesser-knowns, 60s Marxist radicals are lining up behind Obama." [National Review]
- And like check this quote from Francis Fukuyama that acid-dropping borderline ecoterrorist: "It needs to do some symbolic things like, we shouldn't torture people." [Yahoo! News]
- "I haven't sat through a single Obama speech without ideologically wincing at something…So why do I find myself still longing for him to win?" (Wild guess: he is hot.) [Andrew Sullivan]
- And another Obamican meme blowing up the internet now. [Excons.org]
- McCain gave a speech on nukes that was somewhere to the left of Bush and to the right of the Obama/Kissinger (?) side of things and it was high on protesters and low on specifics except that he would "never surrender in Iraq." Oh, Bravo. [Wash Post]
leftovers
Justine Henin Retires • Basket-Weaving Brings Women Together
Justine Henin, the # 1-ranked tennis player in the world, is retiring at 25. The battling Belgian is going out on top! • In other sports news, Kashmiri girls are beginning to play soccer more and more. An under-19 tournament will be held in Kargil next month. • A new study has shown that obese adults are twice as likely to suffer from depression (among other mental illnesses) as adults of normal weight. • Nutritionists have found that dairy intake does not necessarily promote weight loss, despite what certain marketing messages would like to have us believe. .• Chemicals called pyrethrins, found in pet shampoos and insecticides, may cause autism in unborn and very young children. • Rwandan women are weaving "peace" baskets to be sold at Macy's; one of the weavers, Iphigenia Mukantabana, a Tutsi, works alongside Epiphania Mukanyndwi, a Hutu — whose husband helped kill Iphigenia's entire family. • A new dating site called RocknRollDating.com pairs people off by musical preference. • The makers of "the original fitness skirt," SkirtSports, are sponsoring the SkirtChaser Race Series in which women wearing skirts are chased by men. • Women working in hard sciences find that it still has an "old boys club" atmosphere, according to a new report from the National Science Foundation. Fifty-two percent drop out of these fields between ages 35 and 40.
leftovers
"Untouchable" Girl Thrown On Fire • Low Weight And Education-Levels Linked
• A 6-year-old Indian girl was thrown into a fire by a man for being an untouchable. • People of Lesbos insulted by term 'lesbian', sue a gay rights group. • A 94-year old woman becomes Britain's oldest bride. • Sixty-nine percent of mothers ages 18 to 34 incur medical debt. • Afghanistan holds the world's highest maternal mortality rates. • Afghans also jail raped and abused women. • Another reason to switch to lipstick: lip gloss invites skin cancer. • Baby boomers complain that hearing loss puts strain on marriages. • Obesity prevention programs can reduce eating disorders as well as obesity. • Is there a link between a healthy weight and education? • Bare-bottomed prom invites get suspended. • Low birth-weight can lead to greater weight gain in adulthood. • 18th-century opera singers were the original celebrity bad-girls. • Breast-feeding is up: 3 in 4 moms breast-feed their infants.
Sugar-Free Babies
Researchers have found that more American women are entering into pregnancy with diabetes, raising the potential for problems during their pregnancy and infants with diabetes and obesity. The study has found that diabetes increased fivefold among pregnant women 13- to 19-years of age (ack!), and doubled among pregnant women 20- to 39-years of age. The increase in diabetes among pregnant women is due to the rise in obesity, especially among black, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander women. Well, our organic, hearth-baked, locally-grown, grass fed, fruit-juice-sweetened neurotic food obsessions are looking good right now! But considering the age of some of these women (uh, 13?) these problems could stem from lack of access to information about healthy pregnancies, let alone healthy eating habits. [Reuters]
clips
Tyra Tackles The Weighty Issue Of "Fatsploitation"
Today, Tyra took on the subject of "fatsploitation", talking to morbidly-obese women (500+ lbs) who make a living using their full figures for nude and lingerie modeling, as well as "squashing," the practice of applying large amounts of pressure on a man with one's own weight. One of the guests was a woman named Queen Raqui, who charges $300 an hour to squash men. She was adamant about the fact that there is nothing sexual about her business, and that she's just about "fat acceptance" as a cause. But I want to call bullshit on that. If she isn't selling sex, why is she catering to this fetish? Furthermore, why does she pose in lingerie on her site and charge a monthly subscription fee? And why are all her clients men? Clip above. More »
For the first time in almost a century, life expectancy has dropped for some American women. According to a study published today in PLoS Medicine, a journal of the Public Library of Science, life expectancy for women has declined in 1,000 counties. The Washington Post reports that those 1,000 counties are home to 12% of the nation's women — most of them poor and located in the Deep South, Appalachia, and the lower Midwest. "The most dramatic change occurred in two areas in southwestern Virginia (Radford City and Pulaski County), where women's life expectancy has decreased by more than five years since 1983," says the Post. Study leader Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray attributes some of the decline to the growing obesity epidemic and the related increase in heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The other reason for the decline is the uptick in women smoking. "I think this is a harbinger. This is not going to be isolated to this set of counties, is my guess," Murray told the Post. [WaPo]
Girls are joining organized sports in record numbers, but their participation (and performance) in physical activity outside of organized sports is declining. A recent study by the University of Minnesota finds that while more and more girls are joining teams and reaping the physical and mental benefits, the girls that have higher risks of obesity, diabetes, and poor academic performance (namely: "girls of color [in] lower socioeconomic groups") have little access to organized sports. In addition, "stereotypical standards of femininity" and the physical education's focus on the "motor elite" rather than developing skill has led to young women participating less and less in physical activity outside of organized sports. Maybe that has something to do with the popularity of frail-thin celebrities over "mannish-looking" toned women that these girls look up to? [Eureka Alert]
weighty issues
Weight Discrimination Is Rampant The World Over
A little junk in the trunk could cost you a career in Japan, according to new government guidelines. Bloomberg reports that "Companies will be required to cut the number of overweight workers and dependents by 10 percent as of 2012 and 25 percent by 2015. Failing to do so will result in a surcharge of as much as 10 percent on contributions to a fund for elderly care." What is "overweight" in Japan? For men, it's a waistline of over 33.5 inches (85 centimeters), though other health indicators will also be used, like blood pressure, nicotine use, body mass and cholesterol. The Japanese are instituting these stringent penalties to combat the rising cost of health care and the growing obesity problem; health care spending rose 23% from 1995 to 2005. Even Sumo wrestlers, long heralded by the Japanese, are feeling the pressure to downsize: "Konishiki, whom fans call 'the Dump Truck' and who was the all- time heaviest competitor at more than 600 pounds, underwent gastric bypass surgery last month," reports Bloomberg. More »
crap email from a journalist
