Body Image

I don't feel one way all of the time. I can be feeling great about the way I look, and seeing an unflattering photo can throw me into self-doubt. I can be feeling bad about myself and someone can compliment me and brighten my outlook. What doesn't seem to work well for me is telling myself how I should feel.  Read more

[Editor's note: This week an earthshaking event happened in women’s magazines. And no, sadly, feisty teenager Julia Bluhm didn’t convince Seventeen magazine to quit using Photoshop to erase its young models’ “flaws.” Although Bluhm’s online campaign has now amassed more than 60,000 signatures.  Read more

Last year, Kenlie at All the Weigh wrote about how she was humiliated by a Southwest Airlines representative regarding her weight and their customer of size policy. Allegedly she has been asked to buy two tickets sometimes, but not others, and the situation seems to be determined by a gate agents' eyeballs rather than anything concrete that Kenlie can follow. And that's precisely her gripe. So she's suing Southwest.  Read more

[Editor's Note: Summer's just around the corner! Which means it's the time of year when white women try to get tan, and brown women try to keep themselves from... getting browner. Skin lightening creams are nothing new in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but now there's a whitening product aimed where the sun don't shine. Seriously. Jen Wang of DISGRASIAN writes about how the colonial and cultural quest for fairer skin is going places it's never gone before. --Grace]  Read more

In April's issue of Vogue, Dara-Lynn Weiss shares how she put her daughter on a diet. The piece, not online but in the magazine only, has created a flurry of opinions -- in support and against -- on the concept of putting overweight kids on diets and the manner in which it is or should be done. The controversial essay even landed Weiss a book deal. Jamila at Beyond Black & White recently wrote in support of the mother's actions, claiming that good parents put their kids on diets.  Read more