Harding tells Schoenberg:

"Maybe what I'm most angry about is the assumption that we're ignorant," Harding says of fat people (her term). "All these people are saying, you just need to do X, Y and Z. As if we've never thought of X, Y and Z! As if we haven't all tried restricting calories and exercising our brains out.

"A lot of us have lost weight — and gained it back. Everyone thinks that there's a simple solution we've somehow managed to be unaware of. Or we're not aware that fruits and vegetables are better for you than fast food. A lot of these things assume that you're downright stupid or living on another planet."

I have a feeling that some of the lovely women I stood in line with to try out for More to Love feel her on that one.

Harding has an entire manifesto for the people who just can't stop themselves from reminding her that she's going to get sick and die if she doesn't get back down to the more socially-acceptable size 4 she once managed to squeeze into. Go read the entire thing yourself the next time you feel that familiar urge rising in your throat to tell someone who isn't perfectly thin that they'll die — as though skinniness is some fountain of youth that will stave off death itself— but it goes more or less like this.

7. Human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Fat people are human beings.

8. Even fat people who are unhealthy still deserve dignity and respect. Still human beings. See how that works?

9. In any case, shaming teh fatties for being "unhealthy" doesn't fucking help. If shame made people thin, there wouldn't be a fat person in this country, trust me. I wish I could remember who said this, 'cause it's one of my favorite quotes of all time: "You cannot hate people for their own good."

And for all that, Harding doesn't point fingers in the way that I am about to: people who feel it necessary to mock, shame or embarrass people who don't conform to a socially acceptable body type are simply acting out their own insecurities and self loathing. There are lots of ways to be beautiful and lots of ways to be healthy — and Harding is both, by all accounts — but none of them involve spending one's time mocking the bodies of others. That's just sort of always ugly, no matter what the package.

The Queen Of Fat Bloggers Takes No Prisoners [Chicago Tribune]
Behold The Queen of Fats [Shapely Prose]
Don't You Realize Fat Is Unhealthy? [Shapely Prose]

Related: Kate Harding [Salon]

Earlier: Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places: A Reality Show Audition

Though the explanation may be unclear, this research is the epitome of a "no shit" study to many female bloggers in the Fatosphere. Kate Harding at fat acceptance blog Shapely Prose posted an awesome rant about attractiveness earlier this year, and how unfortunate and untrue the equation thin = sexually attractive is.

Kate writes:

The world is not full of Attractive People and Unattractive People. It’s full of people who are attractive to some and not to others. I hear from trolls all the time who complain that they don’t want to be “forced” to find nasty, ugly fat women attractive–which utterly baffles me, since the last thing I want to do is encourage fat-hating dicks to date fat women. You don’t find fat people attractive? Fabulous. Don’t date them. I will find a way to pick myself up and move on without your love. But to assume your lack of sexual interest in fat chicks must be universal–or that the mere existence of self-confident fat people having healthy relationships somehow “forces” you to find fat attractive–is the height of fucking narcissism.

Rant on! It's sort of bizarre to me that researchers would choose to study this in the first place. "This study indicates that all women deserve diligence in counseling on unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention, regardless of body mass index," Dr. Kaneshiro said. Uh, no shit? I mean, did they really need to do a study to prove that all women need to learn about their bodies, even if they're fat? I guess when the news "World's heaviest man marries in Mexico" makes headlines the world over, many people are still baffled by the idea that fat and sexuality can go together.

Overweight Women have More Sex [UPI]
In Which I Ramble About Attraction [Shapely Prose]

Earlier: Tyra Tackles The Weighty Issue Of Fatsploitation

Though Maria Callas famously ruined her voice when she lost a lot of weight, Voigt's voice, while changed, has not worsened. "Some opera buffs and critics detect a slight loss of warmth in her sound. Others counter that her voice has gained brightness and shimmer," the Times notes.

Voigt has said that she wanted the gastric bypass for health reasons (knee problems, high blood pressure), but before she lost the weight she was a longtime advocate "of the principle that body size does not determine whether an opera singer can be dramatically compelling," the Times says. In addition, she admits that she got the gastric bypass when she did because she was humiliated by her public dismissal from Ariadne. Knowing Voigt's history with the role, it's hard to feel that her return to Covent Garden is a complete triumph; it feels more like a prolonged case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Second Date With A Little Black Dress [New York Times]
Deborah Voigt: The Return Of The Little Black Dress [Youtube]
With Surgery, Soprano Sheds A Brünnhilde Body [New York Times]