Author Archives: feministfiguregirl

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About feministfiguregirl

I am a 51-year-old professor named Lianne McTavish who receives as much satisfaction from working out at the gym as from publishing my academic research. About eight years ago, I decided to combine my two primary identities (scholar/gym rat) to create "Feminist Figure Girl," a fictional character who both analyzes and participates in bodybuilding. I competed in my first figure show in June of 2011, and then wrote a book inspired by the process, published by SUNY Press in February 2015. In this blog I will write about and consider my ongoing research on the body, while regularly making fun of myself. I recommend that you start reading my first post from August 2010 (available on the home page), instead of backwards from the most recent one, in order to get the full FFG effect.

Spank Bank

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FFG and her beaver.

‘I never think about you when I masturbate,’ I confess to my partner, who appears completely uninterested. ‘I don’t think about anyone else, either,’ I explain needlessly. ‘I mean, I don’t have a spank bank like some people, Continue reading →

Four Failures

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ONE:

I will never forget my first time. I sat rigidly on a small black chair with a short back, faced the expansive mirrored wall in front of me, and gripped a 15 pound dumbbell in each hand. I raised the weights into position beside my shoulders, and paused, looking intently at my reflection in the mirror. Then I began to lift the weights overhead, making a sweeping arc while breathing in and out as I had been taught. Continue reading →

A Skinny-Fat Girl Responds to HAES (guest blogger)

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I first came across the Health at Every Size movement almost eight months ago, while in an anthropology class at the University of Alberta. My professor assigned Rothblum and Solovay’s The Fat Studies Reader as a required textbook, which immediately caught my attention; I had of course heard of gender studies, race studies, and queer studies, but fat studies? What, I wondered, could be said about fatness? Continue reading →

FAT! No Excuse (by a Guest Blogger)

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http://lattitude50.blogspot.ca/

The HAES (Health at Every Size) philosophy promotes the idea that you can be healthy even if your BMI is not within the “optimal range.” That you can enjoy life, and feel good about yourself, despite what the mirror, the scales, the tape measure, or your grandmother tells you. Eat without drama, move with joy and let the rest take care of itself. No counting of calories. No monitoring of heart rates.  No scheduled maintenance. Just being alive and healthy. What an incredible concept! Continue reading →