Removing Disney fat-shaming exhibit doesn’t change the message
Recently, Disney jumped on the latest trend, fat shaming, and opened an exhibit at Epcot called Habit Heroes. The interactive game featured two “heroes,” the buff Will Power and Callie Stenics. Cute names, huh? Unfortunately, the cuteness stops there. Will and Callie’s virtue and worth are based entirely on their able-bodied physicality, and the villains (The Glutton, Snacker, and Lead Bottom) are labeled as evil because they are overweight.
Callie Stenics and Will Power, the "heroes" of Disney's fat-shaming exhibit.
Fortunately Disney has actually realized their mistake with Habit Heroes, and the exhibit and the corresponding web site have since been shut down, a victory to those of us who are often told, “Complaining about a problem won’t do anything.” Still, it doesn’t undo any damage the exhibit may have done.
In one part of the interactive exhibit, Will Power and Callie Stenics urge visitors to point and shoot the empty calorie foods shown on the screen such as cake, ice cream, and candy. (I wonder if some of the waffle sandwiches and funnel cakes Disney serves at the Epcot restaurants were also on that screen.)
Autom the weight-loss robot wants to be your friend. Forever. Forever. Forever.
Autom is personalized with tiny hats.
Have you ever wished you could combine a calorie calculator iPhone application with a stripped down Furby? Well, wish no more! The creators of a new part-dietician, (mostly) part-robot device found what may have been the final gap in the ever-expanding weight loss product market, and thus, Autom was born.
Unfortunately, the dream of owning such a charmingly bizarre diet pal may come to an end when you see the price tag. Autom will cost you $199. And that’s just for the bot. Users also pay a $19.99 monthly subscription for services. So what’s to keep dieters from settling for the cheaper, aforementioned iPhone application? Well, can your iPhone make eye contact with you, or try on mini-hats? I didn’t think so! Continue reading
Geico’s new commercial makes it even more normal for popular girls to not eat
“It’s funny because it’s true,” is a common adage following the telling of many jokes. The familiarity of the characters in the latest Geico commercial, teenage girls, are likely to incite a lot of snickering for this very reason. Of course, despite these laughs that Geico hopes for (and likely will get), I’m worried about the message the commercial really sends.
In this particular spot, Geico abandons its familiar gecko spokesman in favor of a trio of three girls, portrayed as the “popular” crowd, who follow around a man who has decided that the best way for him to save money (given how expensive his car insurance is) is to not eat. And what’s the best way to stop yourself from eating? Why, shame, of course!
“Fat-Bottomed Girls” by Kim Selling in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Guess what!? We’re now in National Eating Disorder Awareness (NEDA) Week, the aim of which is to ultimately prevent eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment.
To celebrate, we want to show you a woman who really loves her body, and showing you how she talks. (A word of caution: the video contains several F-bombs and some sexual descriptions.)
We now present “Fat-Bottomed Girls” by Kim Selling:
Last year, we published Katie McCorkell’s poem “How to Help Someone With an Eating Disorder” on the About-Face blog.
For more information about NEDA, visit their web site or call the free, confidential Helpline, Monday-Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Pacific Standard Time: 1-800-931-2237.
Kim Selling is an occasional writer, sometime poet, and unfailingly proud Californian. She graduated from the University of Washington last year, and is now floating around Seattle until she hits something solid.
Female celebrities during award season: Keeping it (too?) real
I’m all for celebs getting real about what it takes to look as good as they do. Hell, I’ve even been known to enjoy me a little of US Mag’s “They’re Just Like Us!” section because it pokes holes in the perceived perfection of A-listers.
What I don’t like, however, is Oscar nominees Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy sabotaging their own moments of recognition and glory by dishing about their shapewear snafus.
It isn't terribly awful to wear Spanx, but it sure is to feel like you have to out yourself about it before somebody else does.
According to People.com (in an article that ran under the headline “Octavia Spencer Dons Triple Spanx For Red Carpet”), Spencer has “taken to reinforcing her red-carpet attire with Spanx and doesn’t always stop at one pair.” In fact, she announced to the world on the Ellen DeGeneres Show that she often “triple spanx.”
Trending with toddlers: pole dancing?
Is this an appropriate activity for a 3-year-old?
Just when I thought parenting skills couldn’t become any more questionable, I come face-to-face with a new activity atrocity: pushing pole dancing for children, adolescents, and teens.
I almost choked on my morning cereal (Don’t worry, it wasn’t Cheerios – I still can’t get behind their marketing mishaps) when I read a June 2011 article from the British tabloid, The Daily Mirror, about a Northamptonshire dance studio offering a “kiddie pole dance” program, where 3-year-olds and up were schooled in the age-appropriate art of climbing and swirling on a stripper pole.
Dubbed “Little Spinners”, the class consisted of teaching girls how to lift and maneuver their bodies around the pole while “holding their legs in a V-shape.” Thankfully, a recent perusal of the studio’s web site shows that this class is no longer being offered.
While this is good news, the implications that there is a market for it are frightening. Comparable courses are being offered to an equally delicate age group: teens and preteens.
Yves Saint Laurent sells hope in a jar with Forever Young Liberator
Women don’t really fall for the outrageous claims of beauty products… do they?
You know that saying “There’s truth in humor”? Well, it’s never been more accurate than in the hilarious send-up that positions Adobe Photoshop’s technology as a fancy, Euro (“by Adobé”) beauty product.
Fotoshop, by Adobé, isn't real, but then neither are society's standards of beauty.
What’s so great about the spoof (as further detailed in this post by About-Face’s own Jennifer Berger) is how it pokes fun at the conventions regularly found in real beauty ads to show just how absurd they are.
Tina Fey’s Bossypants may rescue her reputation as a feminist
Is Liz Lemon feminist enough?
If you identify yourself as a feminist, you probably already have an opinion on Tina Fey. Around the time 30 Rock debuted, everyone I knew was a huge Tina Fey fan. “She’s so gorgeous and smart and a feminist,” my friends would gush, holding their copies of the Tina Fey issue of Bust. (I am of course talking here about the maybe two other feminists I knew in high school.)
Then, as Tina got more and more exposure, something changed. Friends started making faces at the sound of her name, uncertain of how to feel. People started talking about the problems with 30 Rock’s female characters, especially Liz Lemon’s pretty, brainless assistant, Cerie. Complaints began to rise, particularly from the feminist segment of the population, who, in case you haven’t noticed, kind of expects a lot from its media. Continue reading
Apparently, Melissa McCarthy deserves no awards for “Bridesmaids”
Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids - a grotesque?
The film Bridesmaids has gotten a lot of attention this past year: a female-friendship focused film written by and starring women is pretty hard to come by. Notably present among the film’s recent Academy Award nominations was the Best Actress in a Supporting Role nod for Melissa McCarthy.
McCarthy is known not only for her role in Bridesmaids, but for her role in the TV series Mike and Molly and The Gilmore Girls (another rare show with a female cast, following a smart and savvy female protagonist, Rory). She’s also been the victim of some serious body-shaming in the media.
But the choice of McCarthy over other actresses seems to have grated the last nerve of Time magazine film critic Mary Pols, to such an extreme that she felt the need to write an entire column outlining the reasons that McCarthy was undeserving of the honor. Continue reading
New Australian weight-loss show “Excess Baggage” tries to outdo “Biggest Loser”
The weight is over (dramatized)
Excess Baggage, the new Australian counterpart to weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser, claims to take the higher road by not relying on humiliation and shaming of contestants.
It focuses on overall health vs. mere weight loss, utilizing a psychologist to address mental roadblocks which obstruct a healthy lifestyle, and rallying people off treadmills and into nature. Continue reading