My eating disorder is something that, even if I conquer and manage to keep under control for the rest of my life, will never truly be gone. However, as I’m choosing to live healthier and happier and “fight my demons” as Amy Poehler beautifully puts it in her book Yes, Please, I’m also focusing really… Continue Reading →
Help! My gym is promoting unhealthy body ideals
My gym is doing some renovations. To make sure we’re all aware that the gym will be temporarily under construction, they’ve posted signs throughout the facility that list the planned renovations and depict a smiling woman in a hard hat. They posted one of these signs in the women’s locker room, and on that particular… Continue Reading →
Let’s release binge-eating sufferers from the Betty Crocker Clinic
“I know you’re probably busy having mind-blowing sex, but I feel you need to know that your good friend, Miranda Hobbes, has just taken a piece of cake out of the garbage and eaten it. You’ll probably need this information when you check me into the ‘Betty Crocker Clinic.’” My fellow millennial women will undoubtedly… Continue Reading →
Why my potato chips are healthier than the diet mentality
Saturday afternoon: another Netflix marathon, full relaxation mode… Until the TV screen is taken over by a pile of steaming, fluffy French toast, seductively dripping with sticky, golden maple syrup. “Yum,” I think. All of a sudden, the breakfast of dreams is destroyed as a towering box of Special K lands smack on top of… Continue Reading →
“Era of the Big Booty”? No thanks.
I’m not a prude, and I don’t like to judge other women’s personal choices. But I do care an awful lot about how women are portrayed (and portray themselves!) in the media. We’re now averaging 13.6 hours of media consumption per person per day, which means the stories we see played out in the media… Continue Reading →
Cause for celebration? Sports Illustrated discovers plus-size women
Yesterday, About-Face’s executive director, Jennifer Berger, was published in the San Francisco Chronicle with an op-ed (that is, “opinion editorial”) about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. In it, Jennifer praises Sports Illustrated for running the images of the larger models, but also states: On the other hand, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is really just… Continue Reading →
Why the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover brought me to tears
Why did the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover bring me to tears? (Hint: It had nothing to do with wanting to look like the model.) It was because I have no idea how I’m going to explain the image to my two sons (ages six and eight), who love sports and are about to be… Continue Reading →
The feminist value of Amal Clooney’s beauty and brains
“Some readers may wonder how a woman described by Elle magazine as having ‘stunning looks, flirty dresses, tailored pants, colorful heels, and gorgeous hair’ is involved in such a complex legal matter? … It may be astonishing to most people that Amal Alamuddin, now Mrs. Clooney, is much more than a pretty face! In fact,… Continue Reading →