Tight Fittin' Jeans

A cute article that reassures us of one thing we all have in common, no matter what size we are: we're all on the quest for that wardrobe holy grail, the perfect pair of jeans.

"Saliscente said there are a lot fewer options with plus sizes... And most of the options out there for full-figured women just aren't Saliscente's thing. 'There's a lot of stuff they do to try to make people look slimmer,' she said. 'They aren't the most comfortable thing on the planet.' ... Stiff, structured denim designed to slim bigger women doesn't work for her. Neither does a lot of bling or attention grabbing styles."

By "bling" she means sequins and applique, of course. And my contribution to this discussion: hold out for the perfect straight leg or flare leg designs. No tapered leg designs. No, no, no. I don't care if you're a size zero, that shit just ain't right.

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors

This is just to say that Bizrate is a fantastic place to comparison shop, that eDiets.com is a helpful option for online weight loss, and that I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox.

Thanks to Bizrate for continuing to support Big Fat Deal, and thanks so very much to all of you for stopping by every day! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Too Fictional To Be Beautiful

Big Fat Blog did some investigative reporting on the Too Beautiful To Be Fat story, and it turns out that it's not exactly "true" in the traditional sense:

"By necessity, Nia is a composite of different people and incidents...'What has happened to my beautiful child?'--boy or girl--is perhaps the question parents of mentally ill adolescents have asked most often. What happens in psychiatric wards everywhere is that people lose themselves, in various ways, due to various problems and conditions."

So for those of you who were suspicious of the veracity of this story: good call! The magazine's full response can be read here, and there are other interesting responses to the article reprinted there.

The Arm Flab Situation

Another one about the issue of celebrities and their weight.

"We don't root for the fatties, because fat is still seen as evil, something to ridicule. And Hollywood takes this bias to the extreme, denying film roles to some of our most talented performers based on their bodies. Samantha Morton, the British actress who has been nominated twice for an Oscar... claimed she was turned down for a starring role in a Hollywood movie because 'the tops of my arms were too thick.'"

Samantha Morton is awesome, so that sucks. Hasn't she always been super thin though? Hmm. Here's a picture of her where I guess her arms don't look like sticks. But she is quite thin, and always has been.

Celebrity Cellulite Shocker!

A well-written article about the appeal of celebrity body image stories in the tabloids. (Although I'm not sure what "blubber-hungry" is all about, as an adjective. Who likes the word blubber? Let's ban the word! Except we'll have an exception for Judy Blume so she can write Blubber 2: The Blubbening. Anyway, as I was saying...)

"Editions heavy with 'body image' stories... sold better than traditional celebrity fare such as relationship troubles and visits to rehab.... 'It was strange that we hadn't seen it before, because it was obvious that women are obsessed with body image. They think about their body image more than they think about their children. They think about it even more than men think about sex--which is about a million times a day, isn't it?'"

But Louisa Hatfield claims it isn't schadenfreude that motivates us, it's relatability:

"Hatfield says her readers find it 'very empowering to see celebrities without make-up or getting too fat or too thin. They aren't being mean. They're not looking and gloating. It's more like, "Oh my God, they have the same problems as I do."'"

Token

America's Next Top Model is starting a new season without a token plus-sized girl: "The sixth season also marks the second time a plus-size model won't be among the hotties vying for a spot on the runway."

I always feel like the plus-sized chick on America's Next Top Model is like the token black guy on The Bachelorette. They never win, but they're always kept around long enough for the Bachelorette to prove she's not prejudiced, or for the Top Model people to prove that they're not sizeist. Either that, or the odds are so stacked against them that there's no chance of survival.

I personally would love to see a truly multi-ethnic reality dating show, or a model show with enough variation in body type to make it somewhat plausible that a stick might not win. But I don't think we're quite there yet, and I'm sure there's an argument to be made that extreme thinness does have something to do with modeling ability.

But hey, at least we've got a plus-sized chick to vote on for American Idol this time around. Go Mandisa!

Too Beautiful To Be Fat

A mentally ill girl who is "too beautiful to be in a psychiatric ward" goes on medication which stops her from hearing voices in her head. But this isn't a good thing, because the medication has MADE HER FAT! Here's a quote from the original article:

"But more disconcerting to the young psychiatrist was Nia’s apparent indifference to her predicament. While those around her worried about the beauty she had lost, she seemed unconcerned. Was she really as well as her family suggested? Had she really rejoined the image-conscious world of her peers?"

And here's a quote from I Blame the Patriarchy, which is where this story comes from:

"But then 'tragedy' strikes. The drug that works also makes her fat. This a horror the doctors find intolerable. Her beauty is 'destroyed.' So they take her off that drug because in a patriarchy a hot girl cannot be fat."

Damnit, Janet

Janet Jackson has been told by her record label that she's too pudgy to promote her album, so they're threatening not to release it. That is gross. Like a fuller figured Janet can't sing, perform, or look hot on an album cover?

"Sources close to the star claim she began over-eating to cope with her brother Michael's child sex abuse trial... However, a friend of Janet's has played down Virgin's alleged weight loss order. The pal said: 'Janet always gains weight when she's not working - and always loses it in time to promote her albums. Janet always takes care of it when it matters.'"

Brush-a Brush-a Brush-a

This is kind of silly and interesting: a Japanese study found that there's a correlation between how often you brush your teeth and how slim you are. The slimmest people brush after every meal, three times a day.

"Overweight men sometimes went more than a day without brushing their teeth, according to the study, published in the Journal of the Japan Society for the Study of Obesity."

It is a well known diet trick to brush your teeth to keep yourself from eating, so this does kind of make sense. But my favorite was the quote at the end: "The results do not mean that brushing in itself constitutes a fat-burning exercise."

Beyonce It, Don't Spray It

The internet is abuzz with Beyonce's slim appearance at the Grammy Awards. Juxtaposed with her previous remarks about being a "natural fat girl," it has me slightly worried. I hope she's losing weight healthfully. Not to mention that I like her Bootylicious figure more than this new generic skinny Beyonce.

But more importantly, speaking of the Grammys, go Kelly Clarkson! The Grammys are always weird and slightly arbitary, but I was so happy she won.

Big Fat Carnival

A ton of thought and work clearly went into the first Big Fat Carnival, and there are some truly awesome posts over there. It's a collection of almost 50 posts divided into categories such as "Our Fat-Hating Culture" and "Fat, Gender and Feminism."Just a random sample:

"Here’s what we mean when we say food is gendered. Women are expected to want salads, vegetables, fancy chocolates, and sweet alcoholic drinks with umbrellas in them. Men are expected to want slabs o’ meat, potatoes, apple pie, and beer or hard liquor. Women are expected to comment in restaurants on the size of the portion and the presentation of the food before they take a bite. Men are expected to dig in."

This one's from Body Impolitic. And no doubt among all those many posts you'll find plenty to agree with, disagree with, and discuss.

Confusing Fan Mail Of The Day

Mind you this came to me in 20-point pink type:

"Today is the first time I am looking these websites. There was an article done in FITNESS magazine. Since you first started, have you met any people that would like to do something other than sit and watch tv? That' s been most of my trouble. Everyone is just immobile, no injuries, just lack of wanting to burn calories. It didn't matter if they were thin or fat. Have a good day. Just remember, that the fattening thing will always be there and you can eat it some other time."

Sadly, everyone I know just sits and watches television. I keep encouraging them to go shopping, or see a movie every once in a while, or do some traveling. Maybe get a pet, or get a job, something to fill the time. But no. They're all too busy watching TV. It's a real problem.

Incestuousness

Just because I found this post through my referral logs, and just because miss ess is a commenter on this very blog, and just because this post mentions Big Fat Deal, doesn't mean it's not worth linking to and thinking about!

"I wish that this girl did not have to feel that pressure to be thin, to conform to her classmates ideal of what is acceptable or not in terms of body shape and size. But it is not ok that she is only 16 and facing a life of serious illness if she does nothing, if she just sits back and says, I'm happy with the way I am."

I think she really does encapsulate something we all struggle with. We can't pretend overweight doesn't have health ramifications, but we also can't stand all the emotional baggage, judgement, and so forth that comes along with it. It's quite a line to walk, isn't it?

Another Wacky Diet

This one includes themed days such as "Pineapple day" or "Sesame day" where you eat foods with the same flavor throughout the entire day.

"[The diet is] based on a little-publicized phenomenon called sensory-specific satiety. That is the term used to describe the way food becomes less palatable when enough of it is eaten."

I personally would be willing to try out "Chocolate day." Other than that, you let me know how it goes.

Giant Boobs (Welcome, People Searching For Porn)

Musician Candye Kayne is being discriminated against for her weight. It turns out that the cover image for her CD features her cleavage, and newspapers, magazines, and clubs are either refusing to run it, or putting bars across the "offensive" areas. A picture of her cleavage is included in the article, and I do have to say, it is spellbinding. Ms. Kayne has this to say:

"I am always amazed as to what constitutes obscenity in this country. Why is a fat girl's cleavage more offensive than a thin girl's cleavage? Cher, Madonna, Brittany Spears and countless others have all worn dresses cut so low that another inch would show their navel, pubic hair or lack thereof. They parade around on prime time awards programs and are never censored...I will continue to wear a bathing suit at the beach, low-cut dresses on stage and in photographs and no amount of scorn, censorship or `NO FAT CHICKS' stickers will make me shut up and disappear."

Thank you to reader Alison, who sent this my way.

Et Tu, Heidi Klum?

I've recently become completely addicted to Project Runway, so was disappointed to see this item about Heidi Klum. It's pretty short and straightforward:

"The leggy supermodel has come under fierce fire after lashing out at a contestant on Germany's Next Top Model, telling her she's too big to make it in the fashion industry. 'Top designers need only girls with dream figures,' she told the girl, who weighs about 102 pounds."

Apparently there was such a backlash about this comment that the show might get cancelled. I'm curious if any of you saw the girl in question and noticed if she had any extra fat on her at all; the standards for models are absolutely different, that's why they're models, right? I think it's interesting to watch on Project Runway how some designers do prefer the bony models, but others prefer models with a little curve and shape to them.

And by the way, I hope you've read all the comments on the below post, because they are funny and fabulous. I love you guys.