Hm... when will they begin asking if he/she kicks?

I am pretty sure we've all seen photos like these, either on some gossip site, on magazine stands or wherever, really:

First of all, I really dislike the term "baby bump", but then, this is another issue. Every time I see or hear this kind of speculations because a woman doesn't have a table flat belly, my blood boils. Because people should learn something about women's biology: only very, very thin women (or serious athletes) have very flat belly. And even in such situation there is a natural round line to the belly's shape. And even then a woman should have the right to breath, release abs muscles or be bloated. And now we can move on to the huge majority of women, when most of them could very well be in at least 3rd month. Heck, if I want I can look 5 month pregnant without bigger problems...

People got used that women have no bellies. We are taught all the time to "suck it in", and if you have some belly around it's commented that this person "looks pregnant". How about... natural?

What would YOU do to get a job?

I've read yesterday a short article on a sensational DailyMail, linked from HP. Interesting discussion followed. I observed a few different tendencies among the commenters. Some were simply disgusted with the picture of round worms. Some made fun of the stupid Chinese who would eat anything, others made fun of the stupid women who do such things... Some discussed the deeper problems - the unrealistic burden of fitting a particular (thin) expectation and more and more difficult job market, where the employers might pick and choose, forcing people to do very questionable things simply because they have no real choice.
We know already that fat women are paid less, hired less and generally considered lazy, stupid, unskilled, with will power or self-control. The women are already burdened with unrealistic expectations just to be accepted as attractive females, no job interviews in sight yet. Twelve year old girls on diets... what is more disgusting? This or swallowing round warms? It's a difficult choice to make.

I spent couple hours yesterday researching and googling for images to use in my "Body and Sexuality" class. We have been already discussing a bit the problems of assuming overweight people are that way because of not taking care of their health or overeating. I want to discuss more with them on the societies imagery and the extreme pressure for both men and women to obey the, often unrealistic, expectations.

Below is a sample of vintage ads. It's interesting that it was much harder to find the accurate spot, as both too skinny and fat was forbidden...

Of course it's pretty obvious that for both men and women the only incentive to be "slender" is to be accepted and considered attractive by the opposite sex. What is more annoying in the case of women, that it's assumed it's their fault if they lose the interest of their husbands. Both in the ads about weight loss, various cosmetics and home appliances, it's a woman's job to "keep the husband".

And for the end, a very interesting ad... it looks like China is not that far from the Western Culture after all...

Sanity! In government! About health and body size!

I know, crazy, right? I am glad I was linked to this short video.



Finally! Emphasis on health instead of size is the right way to go. I hope the "positive conversation" will begin soon. We need to finish with the obsession with obesity which leads to crazy fed diets, unhealthy risky food choices, pointing fingers and judging big people, stereotyping them as lazy with no will power or bring it all on themselves for some clandestine cheeseburger sessions.

Jennifer Hudson: "I've lost another 20pounds!"

First - how is that even news to appear on main CNN site? second - why women continue to feel loosing weight is some kind of reason to feel proud? She looked very pretty the way she was, I hate this freaking media.

Today my (male) student commented on a photo of Dara Torres and commented "she looks like someone glued her face to a male body". I so exploded after that. I said: "that is what an athlete woman looks like. that's her abs, that's her beautiful, athletic body. Men are not the only ones allowed to have visible muscles".

Similarly I want to explode each time I see comments about Williams' bodies. That they look like men. People are scared of strong, athletic women and it's truly pathetic and sad.