Tag: bias

The Double Standards of Body Image and Weight Judgment

I was out last night with my wonderful friend, Lena. We share a passion for social justice and enjoy discussing the political issues of the day, so we certainly have much to talk about! Lena is taller than I am and weighs about 110 lbs. on a good day. She loves eating a good breakfast …

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Chris Christie’s Weight: How Perceptions Change as Weight Changes

It was about a month before the 2012 election that I heard someone in the media say that they’d be concerned about Chris Christie’s weight and health if he were a candidate for president. I remember when Dick Cheney’s heart condition was sometimes brought up as an issue. But until now, I’ve never heard anyone …

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The hidden message of the “cheat meal”

A current reality show trainer is making himself known for what he calls “amazing transformations.” In a recent appearance on a morning show, he credited a man’s huge weight loss to “lacing cheat meals throughout the week.” Not developing health-supporting eating habits, not daily exercise. Cheat meals were pitched as the real key to that …

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You have never been a slave to food!

In Powerful Hunger, I write about the social influences that manipulate us and how they negatively affect our view of ourselves. A commercial I find particularly insulting is for a low-calorie brownie. A woman is sitting alone in a diner, looking resentfully down at her salad when she sees other patrons enjoying a brownie. She …

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Fat Shaming Where You Might Not Expect It

If you’ve looked at any news outlet in the last couple of days you probably saw the video of Wisconsin news anchor Jennifer Livingston responding to a viewer who wrote to tell her that she was too fat and that she has a responsibility to be a role model for the viewing public, especially girls. …

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