Debbie says:
In honor of Body Impolitic’s regular blogger Lynne Murray’s new book, Bride of the Living Dead from Pearlsong Press, of course our blog was a natural stop on her virtual book tour. Since we’d already announced the book’s publication, I thought it would be nice to have an author interview.

Debbie: In her cover blurb, [...]

Laurie says:
I’ve recently become aware of Danza Voluminosa, a Cuban government-sponsored fat dance company. The performance clips I’ve seen are really impressive.
Formed a decade ago by Juan Miguel Mas, this company of obese dancers has become a cultural phenomenon in Cuba, breaking stereotypes here of dance, redefining the aesthetics of beauty and, along the [...]

Laurie and Debbie say:
We were going to write our usual single-topic post today, but we kept sending each other too many interesting options. So here are a bunch of body image articles that we hope will interest you as much as they interest us:
Sins Invalid is a performance project on disability and sexuality. Sparkymonster linked [...]

Lynne Murray says:
Lord Alfred Douglas, famous as the lover of Oscar Wilde, wrote a poem “Two Loves” in 1894, containing the famous sentence:
“I am the Love that dare not speak its name.”
Douglas’s and Wilde’s love was, in fact, illegal in England in their time, and Wilde famously spent time in prison because of those laws.
More [...]

Lynne Murray says:
I just heard of a brilliant insight and an intriguing approach to overcoming fat phobia as a grieving process from Jeanne Courtney, MFT, therapist at Feminist Therapy Associates, who will be presenting a workshop at the NOLOSE conference which will be held June 4-6 in Oakland, California. NOLOSE stands for National Organization for [...]

Lynne Murray says:
Marianne Kirby at the Rotund shares some literally tasty fat girl art

Y’all, that is CAKE. I get as frustrated as anyone even as I laugh and laugh and laugh at the way fatties are portrayed as being obsessed with cake (I prefer pie, she remarked sardonically) but this cake is so freaking cool. [...]

Lynne Murray says:
Gabourey Sidibe, the brilliant, fat, African-American actress nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Actress, hosted Saturday Night Live last Saturday night (April 24).
Although Sidibe, who is 26 years old, did not win the 2009 Oscar, she won several awards for her role as the title character in the movie Precious: [...]

Debbie says:
Donna Simpson has, to say the least, an odd ambition. She wants to become the fattest woman in the world, and she’s (please pardon the pun) busting her ass to get there.

A 42-year-old New Jersey mom is on track to weigh in as the world’s fattest woman. Donna Simpson is determined to double [...]

Debbie says:
As an informed body-image activist, I’m a lot more skeptical about the connection between eating too much sugar and diabetes than most folks. I’m aware of the research regarding Bisphenol A (which is in everyday plastic) and DDE, which is in most human bodies.
Somehow, that skepticism doesn’t make me feel good about this [...]

Debbie says:
I just got back from watching the Oscars with a gaggle of teenage girls (and another adult). I could do a complex critique of gender and ethnicity politics (those critiques always run in my head). But I just wanted to say that the camera went frequently to Gabourey Sidibe (nominated for Best Actress), . [...]