Body Mass Ineptitude

A number of states have already implemented body mass index, or BMI, testing in schools. When Michelle Obama launched her “Let’s Move!” campaign, she proudly noted that they were partnering with the American Academy of Pediatrics to work on BMI testing. Use of the BMI has become so commonplace that I don’t think most people [...]

Black Women and Fat and a Photo of a Girl Wearing Someone Else’s Face

This Guest Post graciously submitted by Kate Fridkis. It is not totally rare that I am moved to tears, but this time it was for a good reason. I was standing in a sleek little gallery on the Lower East Side, music beating in the background, as I looked at an enormous photograph of a little black girl [...]

Bodies Die But Connect Spirits Forever

My birthday has never been celebrated in the traditional sense because there was always a Lent and Easter celebration. I suppose as a child I felt left out but as an adult my birthday is meaningful in a non traditional way. A long time ago I started a tradition of giving my mother a gift [...]

Theories Detached: The Perpetual Outsider Within [pow]

“We write about and teach about race, gender, and sexuality. We write about class. However much of our writing is a description and analysis of issues. We write more about theory than we do about practice. It is has simply been easier to do theory than to put into real-life practice what we declare as [...]

How to Be Beautiful…..the Official Video

Check out this wonderful video by Danika Holmes titled “How to be Beautiful” and don’t forget to visit her site.  We’re are so grateful to present this to you with her permission.  Blog this!Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookShare on LinkedinShare on Posterousshare via RedditShare with StumblersShare on technoratiTumblr itTweet about itSubscribe to the [...]

Mental Holocaust

I am currently reading Healthy Selfitude by NORMAL President Robyn Hussa and this month I am more aware of the shift toward mindfulness but also realize that as an African American that grew up in the Protestant church how foreign this concept may come across. I would like to speak to you as you consider [...]

BODY EMPOWERMENT – “Satisfaction With Food”

As part of the weekly Wednesday posting of my ongoing YouTube series “Body Empowerment,” here’s “Satisfaction With Food (Body Empowerment 5),” originally posted May 22, 2008, on YouTube.com by Caroline Rothstein. Check it out!   About BODY EMPOWERMENT: Founded in 2008, “Body Empowerment” is hosted and produced by NYC-based writer, performer, and eating disorder recovery advocate Caroline Rothstein. In [...]

Our walls of “perfect” bodies need to come down…

Graciously re-posted from Gurze Publications:  A while back, Tom and I took our spring break to travel to the East coast and present Andrea’s Voice where we were invited. We spoke to packed rooms, evidence of the desire for more information on eating disorders. After speaking at a university in New York, I received an [...]

Fat Talk and Weddings and Contagion Effects

This guest post graciously submitted by Carolyn Becker Recent media coverage of a controversial diet (note – I am not going to add to the dissemination of this diet, let’s just say I am not a fan), highlighted the pressure many brides-to-be feel to lose weight and have their “best body possible.” After watching a [...]

Constant Comments

 I am not clear how this came about…but about…it certainly came. There seems to be an unspoken rule that it is perfectly okay for people to comment on other people’s bodies. And I am not referring just to the behind the back conspiratorial comments frequently accompanied by a wink wink nudge nudge to a nearby [...]

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