Debbie says: WisCon is over, and a wonderful time was (apparently) had by all, or almost all. WisCon is the world’s first feminist science fiction convention, and the social mores are very difficult to describe to anyone who hasn’t been there. People who know science fiction conventions are often puzzled by the feminism, and people [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: It’s too close to WisCon 31, which Debbie is co-coordinating and at which Laurie is exhibiting a group of her Women of Japan photographs, to write a long post of our own. Fortunately, our web “stringers” have brought in fascinating material. The incomparable Sandy Szwarc at Junk Food Science has been [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: This article by Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly) connects up in our minds with this post by Kate Harding at Shapely Prose. We think it’s unfortunate that Whedon starts in another culture. By doing so, he reinforces the easy response of “this isn’t really about me [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: We’ve been following Leonard Nimoy’s career as a photographer of fat women for some time. Last week, the New York Times announced that he’s turning his photographs into a book. When we published Women En Large in 1994, we certainly didn’t want to always be the only book. In the intervening [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: The New York Times ran two major articles on disability last week: one in the style section and one in the sports section. This is interesting in and of itself, as most disability articles have historically been either science articles or “style” articles with a tear-jerker undertone. This week’s style article [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: We’re no strangers to the stupid things people think and say about fat, but we can still occasionally be gobsmacked by new levels in stupidity. This week, we’ve found two. First, we have this completely not fat-related article about San Francisco’s wild parrots and whether or not they should be fed [...]

Laurie says: We just put up a new group of Women of Japan photos and I thought I’d talk about them a bit. It’s always hard for me to talk about my work but my spring resolution is to do it more. I took both of these photos in Kyoto in the winter. Baba is [...]

Debbie says: I’ve admired Gina Kolata, one of the New York Times‘ regular science writers, for a long time. Now she turns her attention to a subject near and dear to my heart. Her new book is called Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss–And the Myths and Realities of Dieting. The New York [...]

Mischief says: I love love love my new cat food. I’ve always liked to play a lot; I would do things like get into the sock drawer and kill all the socks I can find. I never minded not going outside, but now I want to go outside and kill real things. Not going outside [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: All we have to say about this astonishing assortment is that “body image” is hardly a limited topic. Looking for the perfect street protection? How about a hot pink tampon taser? All of the ad copy is fabulous, including “ready for honorable discharge at a moments notice.” But the best of [...]