Is it because I am a guy or is it because I am a Kardashian?

TMZ Rob Kardashian Fat Picture

Many media outlets are currently harassing Rob Kardashian with unflattering pictures. It s because the media is finally holding male celebrities to the same unrealistic body standards of  female celebrities? Or is it because he is a Kardashian and they are such easy targets. 

I guess the only person who truly benefits from this media train is Khloe Kardashian cause she is no longer labeled that fastest Kardashian. 

On all fronts, publicly discussing a persons weight always creates hurt feelings. 

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Was Bullied to Lose Weight

Usmagazine.com reports: When I started modelling, I was definitely heavier," she says in ELLE magazine's June issue. "I was quite voluptuous in fact. I had a real baby face and baby fat. But I was a baby! I was told I had to get into better shape, but I'm quite stubborn so I didn't. I can't remember a time where I really battled with my body, but I can remember being asked to lose weight and battling with the advice. It hurt me. Especially as my baby fat naturally melted away as I got older."

But in true bombshell fashion, the 24-year-old Brit stood strong. "You can bullied as a young model, but there was a point where I found my voice, effectively."


I am glad she kept it real and let you know that going into modeling can definitely effect yourself esteem.

Must Read: A Weight-Loss Skeptic Discusses Losing 60lbs

Check out this Alternet article HERE by Greta Christina. Here personal blog is HERE. I love this chick, seriously. She's been mindfully engaged in losing weight in keeping with "my feminist ideals and my resistance to body fascism." She's also keen on underscoring how evidence based research on weight, health and successful weight-loss influence her body-acceptance philosophy, but also supports her endeavors to lose weight. In other words, fat-acceptance and losing fat aren't necessarily contradictory. Fat Acceptance is mostly about embracing the full humanity of fat people--mooing at them on the street, sidelining them socially, making jokes at their expense and of course, institutionalizing their oppression by supporting discriminatory policies (such as charging them more for Health Insurance as the State of Alabama tried to do a few years ago for their fat employees) is wrong and thus fat-acceptance folks (who may or may not be fat) should work toward equity for the fat in the public square (and the tv-sitcom). Greta Christina and Jennette Fulda are the two well known(ish) figures who both discuss fat-acceptance AND weight-loss for health (and who have both lost significant amounts of weight) while also remaining allies to the fat community.

Currently, I've lost about 40lbs, though I intend to lose more and I may slip into the "passing as thin" territory in another 40lbs, but I will always be fat-identified. To me, that means working toward fat-acceptance and evidence based health advocacy. I've said it before, I don't think you need to be thin to be healthy, but I don't think that it is right to say that morbid obesity doesn't have an impact on your health either--obesity impacts your health over time and although I or my friend over here or over there, may have a healthy blood pressure and blood lipid panel right now, overtime, the chronic wear and tear of obesity leads to general declines in health and mobility. These are general facts, but obesity does not diminish my humanity or the humanity of my fat brothers or sisters. Working for walkable, livable cities/towns; subsidized fresh fruits and vegetables (and de-subsidized corn/soy/meat) as part of agriculture policy; flexible work schedules and pro-health policies in work places that aren't discriminatory; truly UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE--these are the kinds of policies that will help to erase the "obesity crisis," not another weight-loss competition show. Health is collective as well as individual. Peace

She drops 100 pounds, gains new world

Emily McCombs at The Frisky discusses how a 100 lb weight loss got her better treatment and that how maintain a weight loss for 6 years causes her to sometimes diss fat people.

Emily makes some great points, but I think her experience is not typical. Just because you fit in department store sizes doesn't mean you stop having problems with people being mean. As a black woman, I know if I lose the remaining 70 lbs to get height/weight chart dimensions. I will still be treated "separate than". Losing weight does rid you of some assumptions, but thinner woman get stuck with different labels such as:

1. Thin people can wear anything.

2. Thin people are not sensitive about their size.

3. Life is easier for thin people.

4. Thin people eat very small portions.

5. Thin people don't have to worry about their health.

6. But thin people don't need to exercise, right?

Kelly Osbourne and Fat Discrimination,

Kelly Osbourne checked into rehab for drug and alcohol addiction three times.

But the singer, 25, tells the new Us Weekly (on newsstands now): "I took more hell for being fat than I did for being an absolute raging drug addict. I will never understand that."

It is so sad that this world has so much hate for overweight people. It is self destructive as a society. In the Nightline FaceOff: Is it ok to be Fat?, Marianne Kirby, co-author of "Lessons From the Fat-O-Sphere" makes the best point of the night. Why do we attack the faceless fat bodies in advertisements instead of focusing on diet and exercise.

I agree, if it is about obesity talk about diet and exercise. Don't make moral judgements about me because of my appearance.

Obesity Benefits Penalty?

Check out this post over at Pandagon by Pam. Apparently, the state workers in North Carolina will soon get differing benefits for their healthcare policies dependent upon their BMI. Currently, all state workers are in an 80/20 plan, meaning the policy pays 80% of medical costs and the employee pays out of pocket 20%. Next year, individuals with a BMI of 40 or above will have to pay more out of pocket than lower BMI employees. The NEXT year, the BMI requirement shifts down to 35--so everyone with a 35 BMI or higher will have to pay more out of pocket for their healthcare expenses (even those unrelated to obesity).

There are several problems with this--its discriminatory for starters, but lets take all the justice issues out of the equation for a sec and just talk about efficiency. Is this program really designed to encourage people to get healthier or is it a punishment for the super popular whipping boy/girl, the fatties? I think the later rather than the former. For starters, reducing the income of the obese is not likely to help them (us) to afford the gym memberships, the fresh fruits and veggies and lean proteins, or the time (have to get a second job to cover the added expenses) to exercise and engage in a stress-reduction regime. Its a punishment and if you check out some of the message boards and blogs that are talking about this issue in North Carolina that Pam cites, the outright glee and sense of self-righteousness on the part of the fattie haters is evident. The "personal responsibility" troupe is brought out time and time again. But the truth of the matter is, there are a number of reasons someone might be obese or overweight (medication interaction, underlying conditions, disabilities, the shifting BMI standards, etc.) yet in spite of all that, obseity is also a collective, public health issue that has grown more and more common by our structural decisions as well as social customs. That is to say, the city and small town planning decisions that make the USA extremely car reliant directly impact our activity levels. The Agriculture Bill (which industry insiders like to call the Farm Bill, but its not about family farms, but factory farming and industrial, fossil fuel dependent agriculture) essentially has the American tax payer subsidizing the fast food and convenience food industries at the expense of our own health and interests. Labor laws did wonderful things in the 20th Century to improve the health and safety of industrial workers, but in the 21st Century we need more integrated exercise into the information and white collar, sendentary work life for our health and safety. Today, I work at a University, we had a Wellness Program sponsored mile walk. Many of the Dean's as well as support staff attended the event and it was to count as work time. It was nice--I got a free pedometer and a chance to take a walk. But once a year this does little to encourage administrators freeing employees to exercise. If they allowed hourly employees (and salaried, but still stuck to the desk employees) the freedom to take a mile walk 2-3 times a week without having to stay after the general working hours to do it, we would probably be MORE productive. Certainly happier and healthier. Integrated exercise into the workday will be key in the 21st Century, but it probably won't be commonplace unless we work to make it so. As a supervisor, you have to ask yourself: do I care about productivity and the health of my employees or following a set clock schedule (during which 1/2 of everyone screws off probably 2 hours a day surfing the net anyway)?

One thing that I find ironic about the NC state workers obesity punishment plan is that many of the people enjoying calling the fatties "fatties" or "irresponsible" or "lazy" or "ignorant" is that once the BMI punishment level shifts down to 35, many of fattie haters will then be enjoying the fruits of fattyland themselves (and whose to say it won't eventually fall to 25, which is the cut-off for normal/overweight?) Incentive programs work better than punishments, but you know what really works? A social committment to helping all individuals seek out the best health goals they can achieve. As a nation we are overworked, under-nourished, yet over-fed and seriously lacking in the kind of daily activity (like walking to the post office or fruit stand) that our healthier (yes, thinner) and more content European and Japanese counterparts.