fatphobia

Workplace wellness incentive programs are not a new phenomenon, but the Internet is in turmoil today over a recent announcement by the national drugstore chain CVS. Beginning in May, CVS will require employees on the company’s insurance plan to undergo health testing—including body mass indexing and blood glucose testing—or face a $600 annual penalty.  

If there's one thing the Internet loves, it's cat videos. If there's a second thing the Internet loves though, it's when someone is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore. So it went with yesterday's viral Christina "Xtina" Aguilera quotes about being fat, which were shared widely, applauded by many, and totally fake.

When I heard that Southwest had done something appalling, my first thought was, "Again?"

In this week's douchey children's lit news, Aloha Publishers is catching heat for a picture book they'll be releasing in October called Maggie Goes on a Diet, in which a 14 year old girl is "transformed" into a "normal sized teen" after going on a diet.

Rather than a diet, I'm pretty sure what Maggie needs is a healthy dose of children's books that promote fat-positivity. While they're hard to come by, there a few fat-friendly children's books that exist.

This commercial campaign leaves me conFUZEd. Read on for discussion of genderless fruit, fat-shaming and the marketing of rebellion.

You know the fury that comes over you when you're affected by other people's prejudice? The coldness, shock, or devastation when they put you or your loved ones down over race, sexual orientation, age, gender, size, class or ability? Maybe you felt it when your folks wouldn't let you bring your partner to a family celebration, when a white woman crashed your MLK event to announce that she deals with racism too, or when a classmate blocked your path to stare at your walking aid. Despite what a lot of defensive apologists might try to tell you, these incidents do matter: They're called microaggressions.

Read more about this amazing website after the jump!

I don't play many video or computer games (unlike, say, the amazingly knowledgeable Ouyang Dan) but I was recently thrilled when Swag Bucks, a search engine with which users earn free items, introduced their panel of games. Get store credit and entertain myself? Yes, please!

Sadly, the gift cards take some time to earn, while two of the new games' fat-shaming is immediate. Most of the simple, PopCap-esque staples one might expect are there, though nothing similar to my favorite game, Feeding Frenzy... and the programs that do involve eating kill my gaming appetite.

Two fat people sharing a moment together. How DARE they! And right in front of us, too!

Holy fatphobia, Bitch readers! Marie Claire blogger Maura Kelly had some very uncool and uninformed things to say about fat folks yesterday, starting with her belief that they should not be shown kissing on television. (Y'know, because eeewww!) Since we try to combat this type of size-based vitriol around here, I thought we might as well take a look at her "arguments" against ever seeing fat people do anything ever.

Vietnamese Mail Order Bride: $8,000. WTF International Diner's Club? Via Racewire. • New tapes reveal Nixon was warmonger, racist, and anti-Semitic. Why am I not surprised? At all? Not in the least? Not one---okay that's probably enough. • Hilarious new Infomania segment "That's Gay." • Joss Whedon gives his final answer to the question "Why do you always write such strong women characters?" The answer will warm your heart! • Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby write on the depiction of fat women in romance novels (there is usually a box of doughnuts involved, ugh). • The Washington Post turns an economic story on Jimmy Choo into a sexist stereotype of women going rabid over expensive shoes. • DIY health and beauty on Wiretap!• All I'm saying is Jenny Shimizu never looked like that on Make Me a Supermodel! Top 100 Hottest Butches of 2009 (author disclaimer included). • Amelie Gilette major burns Jennifer Love Hewitt's new relationship book. • Utne Reader reports on Pepperdine University finding correlation between promoting women and business success.

Following last week's America's Next Top Model elimination of London because of a 10lb weight gain, I decided to write another post about fat aversion on TV when I came across an announcement for an upcoming show on Oxygen titled Dance Your Ass Off. The show is being dubbed The Biggest Loser meets Dancing with the Stars, and the new reality drama's plot is this: ten women and men between the ages of 21 and 40 get assistance from expert nutritionists and professional dancers in order to compete against each other week after week in a dance competition. The ultimate goal is to lose the most weight. Dance Your Ass Off doesn't debut until June, but tabloid media are already making jokes by calling the show "flabulous".