Rita defends her decision to retire from the sweet shop and take a cruise around the world by exclaiming ‘I’m going to spend more time swimming in the lake of me.’ Sing it, you red-headed vixen. There is just so much to be learned from watching Coronation Street. I am not ashamed to admit that I rely on this British soap opera as a substitute lifestyle coach. Continue reading
Feminist Figure Girl is a study in paradoxes: she is at once an ardent feminist and planning to strut around on stage in a bikini, hoping the judges like the shape of her ass; she lifts weights at the gym and then bakes obsessively, drawing from a cupboard entirely devoted to flour, some of it smuggled home from France; she eats 150 grams of lean chicken before going to a wine and coffee tasting, where she guzzles the Old Barossa Continue reading
Right now I am sitting in a desk chair, trying to keep my wrists and back straight, with both feet flat on the floor. Thinking about my posture is, however, interfering with my productivity, suggesting that bodily awareness is at odds with writing. Perhaps being a professor necessitates ignoring the body, at least to a certain degree. Continue reading
I should say that I haven’t always failed. About six years ago I started weighing in each week with female friends at the gym. They were doing Weight Watchers but I never went to any meetings or paid any fees, though I followed the plan by counting all my food points, more or less. Fear of weekly humiliation motivated me to lose about 30 pounds and I have never regained it. Continue reading
I have been thinking about this project for quite some time, and post here sections from the introduction to my book “Feminist Figure Girl,” written at the end of last year:
It is December 12, 2009, and I am at the gym, feeling euphoric. Continue reading
Feminist Figure Girl's Blog 