Jezebel
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Weighty Issues
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tweenage wasteland
weighty issues
Is The Obesity Epidemic Messing With Kids' Minds?
Which is worse: Feeling fat? Or being fat? A survey by the Germany Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) found that among 7,000 teenagers, more than half of the girls (and 36% of the boys) thought that they were "too fat," even though only about 18% of the kids were actually overweight. And the teens — especially the girls — who thought that they were "too fat" reported lower self-esteem and "quality of life." Reporting on this issue in the New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope writes: "At a time when much of the Western world is focusing on obesity problems, even teens who are at a healthy weight may develop a distorted body image." Even more troubling is how some kids act when they think they're overweight: The Times of London has a story about a boy named Zach, who is on a careful diet, works out for 45 minutes after school every day and does push-ups, sit-ups and crunches before bed every night. Zach is 10 years old. And still fits into the same clothes he wore when he was 8 and 9. Writes Siobhan Mulholland: "Not by any stretch of any fattist imagination could he be described as fat." More »
Weighty Issues
Opera Singer Is Rehired After She Loses Over 100 Pounds Through Gastric Bypass
In 2004, Deborah Voigt, a renowned opera singer, was fired from a London production of Ariadne auf Naxos because, according to the New York Times, she was "too heavy to wear a sleek black cocktail dress that [the director] deemed integral to his concept." The opera company had to pay out Voigt's contract even though she was not performing, and the famed soprano took the extra cash and subsidized gastric bypass surgery. Now, four years later and over a hundred pounds lighter, she is returning to London to wear that cocktail dress and perform as Ariadne. Voigt even made a YouTube parody sending up the "little black dress incident." Voigt seems to play both sides in this situation, reports the Times: "[she] defends the right of opera companies to take appearance into account when they are casting productions, while insisting that vocal artistry should come first." More »
weighty issues
No Celebrity Is Safe From Tabloid Body Shaming
If you're at all in the public eye, it seems like you just can't win when it comes to weight, no matter what your gender is. Size acceptance blog Big Fat Deal calls out a Ricky Gervais interview, wherein he describes his undoing at the hands of the British Tabloids. "I never knew I was fat until I got famous… Then I suddenly realised I was overweight. The papers can’t simply put 'comedian Ricky Gervais.' They have to put 'rotund comedian' or 'chubby fatster,'" the Office star said. "The other day, I was trying to keep fit by going jogging with my iPod, and the paparazzi leapt out a bush and got me. The headline the next day? 'iPodge.' What can you do?" And Gervais isn't the only Brit of late subjected to this sort of talk. Jodie Prenger, a woman who just won the reality TV competition I'd Do Anything (the prize is the plum role of Nancy in a West End production of the musical Oliver!), has been raked over the coals for being "too fat" for the part. More »
model behavior
Velvet D'Amour: "My Quest Is To Diversify Notions Of Modern Beauty"
Yesterday we got an email that read, "Hi. I am Velvet. I had the good fortune to score the lead in Avida, which has just come out on DVD in the USA. It would be great if you could make mention of this as it is nice to find films willing to be inclusive of the atypical and divorcing themselves from a leading lady which fits typical Hollywood beauty ethic. Thanks very much, Velvet." Noted! Plus: Velvet, who famously walked for Jean Paul Gaultier, has an interview with the blog 5 Resolutions. Velvet is articulate, thoughtful and pretty fucking awesome. On Galliano: "He seemed very taken by the images in my book, and we had a nice chat about philosophies of beauty as well. It was wonderful to speak with such an amazing talent that I had always revered. As to what statement I wanted to make, my quest is to diversify notions of modern beauty, and I knew my inclusion would spark debate and get people talking if nothing else… JPG has been clear on the statement he was making—that beauty takes many forms." More »
leftovers
Female Fantasy Writers Accused Of Being "Simple" • Women Care More About Weight Loss Than Cancer
Guardian writer rails against critics who call JK Rowling and other women fantasy writers "simple". • Palestinian and Israeli women mingle in a special diet group to lose pounds and gain mutual understanding. • The ASPCA and other animal rights groups have filed a lawsuit against Ringling Bros. for chaining elephants for up to 100 hours. • Woman pops out baby in car, without the help of doctors or spouse. • A roving group of women are stealing flowers from graves to make crafts. • Girls in bikinis serving coffee? Awfully original. • The EEOC is launching a study into why Hispanics are so underrepresented in government jobs. • Fasting for up to 16 hours may help fend off jet lag. • Irregular periods in teens may be a sign of bulimia. • Has anyone else noticed that roller derby is really popular with rockabilly and punk girls? • Women are more concerned with losing weight than avoiding cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. • Perhaps that's because their weight could cost them their jobs!
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 »
clips
Related: Would You Rather Be Fat Or Blank? [NBC News]
Fat & Smart? Or Skinny & Stupid?
The Today show had a segment this morning ostensibly about "brains and beauty" that actually concerned some internet game "Would you rather be fat or [blank]", in which people go online and pick the "disability" they would prefer over suffering from obesity. In predictable fashion, Today show producers sent their cameras out on the street and interviewed a half-dozen people (all of them women, of course), asking "Would you rather be 40 pounds overweight and smart, or skinny and stupid?" Almost every one of the respondents picked poundage and brain cells over being svelte and stupid, except for one woman, who gave an amusing, politically-incorrect answer she will no doubt get shit for. Clip above. (A more in-depth, in-studio discussion can be seen here.)Related: Would You Rather Be Fat Or Blank? [NBC News]
Tinsley Mortimer...why is she famous again? Besides the rough business of consuming and burning calories? Let her tell you in her own words, courtesy of Page Six Magazine. "I have days when i overdo it. I'll head over to Crumbs for cupcakes and then order Domino's pizza and get it out of my system. Then I try to be good again... I'm small, but I'm someone who has always worked at my body. If I didn't, I would be much bigger. I like to be able to fit into my clothes better and be thinner. Even if I'm just alone in my apartment, I'm just happier if I'm 10 pounds lighter..." Still hungry? Click the pic for even more.
weighty issues
Chewing Gum: America's Newest Snack Food!
I was watching the Biggest Loser on Tuesday at the gym, (Is it masochistic to watch a weight-loss show while working out? Sadistic? Just ooky? Whatever. I digress.) and I noticed a commercial for Extra! Gum, touting it as "the long lasting 5-calorie snack" that will "take you from 'nice gut' to 'nice butt.'" The ridiculousness of the fact that five calories now equals a "snack" notwithstanding, the Los Angeles Times discussed earlier this week whether the conclusion of the ad — that chewing gum helps you lose weight — holds water. The bottom line? "If you're counting calories, a stick of gum is miles better than a Twinkie." Basically, if gum can stop you from binging on high calorie foods, then yes, chewing gum can help you lose weight (you know, when gum isn't causing you to have explosive diarrhea). What's misleading is that the trainers on the Biggest Loser have also been shilling Extra gum as a weight loss aid. More »
womb raiders
When Did Baby Weight Become Just Plain Fat?
A week or two ago I glanced up from my laptop long enough to catch my first glimpse of a commercial whose audio I had heard dozens of times before. It was for Nutri-System, and the audio consisted of a woman's claim to have lost 41 pounds following the weight-loss regimen. Is that Jillian Barberie? I wondered, unaware that the morning television personality I had watched habitually for years as a resident of Los Angeles in the earlier part of this century had since changed her name to Jillian Barberie-Reynolds or, more to the point, that she had become fat. (And, mercifully, thin again.) I consulted Google: indeed, she had gained 41 pounds. And what unfortunate fate had occasioned this traumatic bloat in Jillian's trademark svelte frame? Oh, pregnancy. Hmm. Well, then. It is now a few weeks later, and I find myself mulling the merits of Lisa Marie Presley's libel lawsuit against the Daily Mail for a related phenomenon, the equation of the weight gained due to one's pregnancy with weight gained due to eating an excess of food. More »
clips
Sometimes It's Mom -- Not Media -- Who Gives Girls Eating Disorders
An episode of Intervention aired last night that featured a very sick family. Caylee is a 21-year-old who is addicted to heroin and cocaine, and also has had an eating disorder since she was a young girl. It seems as though the entire family blames her body issues on her mother Christy, who has suffered from various eating disorders of her own — a combination of anorexia, bulimia, and excessive exercise — for the past 35 years. When Caylee was about 8 years old, Christy let her know that she was getting pudgy and began policing the food she ate, guilting her into avoiding French fries, and instilling in her a fear of food and body fat that she's struggled with her entire life and turning her to hard drugs. The family arranged an intervention for her, but when interventionist Jeff VanVonderen got a load of Christy, he decided that she needed to be in treatment as well. Clip above.
Related: Parents In Denial About Children's Weight Problems [Science Daily]
Balancing Act
No matter how much you weigh, a survey by the Centers For Disease Control states that worrying too much about your weight is bad for you. Researchers found that women who wanted to lose 1%, 10% and 20% of their body weight had .1, 1.6 and 4.3 days where they felt "mentally or physically" unhealthy, respectively. Dr. Peter Muennig, the lead author of the study, says: "We need to re-engineer what public health agencies are telling people. The 'diet and exercise' part is good, but the 'get thin' part may be dangerous." Here's a question: How are we supposed to stop stressing about weight when we have to read about weight-loss studies everyday? [NY Times]
No matter how much you weigh, a survey by the Centers For Disease Control states that worrying too much about your weight is bad for you. Researchers found that women who wanted to lose 1%, 10% and 20% of their body weight had .1, 1.6 and 4.3 days where they felt "mentally or physically" unhealthy, respectively. Dr. Peter Muennig, the lead author of the study, says: "We need to re-engineer what public health agencies are telling people. The 'diet and exercise' part is good, but the 'get thin' part may be dangerous." Here's a question: How are we supposed to stop stressing about weight when we have to read about weight-loss studies everyday? [NY Times]
sucks to be us
Shocker: Fat Boys Have It Easier Than Fat Girls
I am not one of those people who tries to pretend there is some upside to being born a female. I just try to remind myself things like "at least I'm not blind!" and "at least I wasn't born in Algeria!" etc. etc. when I get all "victim"-y feeling about it. Because we get less pay and less respect and more hormones and more emotions and more responsibilities and more vulnerability to STDs and, it even turns out today, we get more emotional distress when our husbands or boyfriends get cancer than they even do.So anyway, no, this revelation is not going to shock you anymore than it would Judd Apatow, but it is much easier to be a fat boy than it is a fat girl. Writer Sandy Hingston has a chubby son and daughter, and while the son, a football player, looks at his size as something of an awesome feat, her daughter got an eating disorder. "By 10th grade, she was Kate Moss-thin. I was impressed by her self-control — until her hair began to fall out in clumps." More »
weighty issues
Author: Some Orthodox Men Want Their Brides Below A Size Eight
In some Orthodox Jewish sects, women must wear sleeves past the elbow and skirts (never trousers) past the knees. Slits are verboten (those are for harlots!): kick pleats need only apply. Married women must always cover their heads; most shave their hair off and wear wigs. You'd think with all this covering up, many would have a healthier body image. You'd think wrong! Jewcy.com points us to a Jewish Daily Forward article about anorexia and bulimia among some Orthodox women. According to the Forward, a possible reason for eating disorders amongst ultra-religious Jews is the practice of arranged marriage. "Very often, young men looking for brides in the Orthodox community call a girl's parents and ask for her dress size." If it's over a size 8, says the Forward, she may be headed for spinster city. More »
weighty issues
Woman Who Hates Weight-Loss Industry Decides To Diet
British writer Kira Cochrane, who has a new column in Guardian, loathes the diet industry. She finds it "utterly depressing" that a woman's thinness is often treated as a "major achievement" given that "we live in a society in which women are, on average, paid 17% less than men, make up only a fifth of Members of Parliament, a 10th of leading company directors, and have little choice but to watch in horror as less than 6% of reported rape cases end in a conviction." But the fall before last, after finishing her second novel, Cochrane found herself depressed. She stopped eating and lost weight, but she was miserable. By spring she was feeling better and started to eat again: not excessively, just regularly. "I have none of those tales that crop up in binge memoirs, of chugging back vats of chips, making midnight runs to kebab shops, or digging half-eaten chocolate cakes out of the rubbish to gobble down gloriously in a single sitting," she claims. "I just ate what felt normal, without thinking about it." And she gained weight. She became, in her own words, fat. More »
weighty issues
Skinny Bitches Are Breaking Our Health Care System
Well, they're not, actually; that was just a way to draw your eyes to this item! But on a day when both the economy and the failing health care system are in the forefront of voters' minds, we were fascinated by the following news now all over the wires: overweight and obese individuals are easier — and cheaper — to treat. Dutch researchers writing in the journal the Public Library of Science Medicine report that the healthier the person, the more expensive their medical care over the course of their lives: about $417,000 for the thin and healthy, $371,000 for the obese and $326,000 for smokers. Logical, yes — smokers and the morbidly obese don't tend to live particularly long lives — but the findings, taken from mathematical models of three (hypothetical) groups of 1,000 people, may a big bucket of heavy cream on the argument the obesity epidemic contributes to higher health care costs. More »
weighty issues
