Tag Archives: body image

The Body as an Ecosystem

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From the treatise on tapeworms by Marcus Bloch, 1782 (Courtesy Wellcome Library)

From the treatise on tapeworms by Marcus Bloch, 1782 (Courtesy Wellcome Library)

I first set eyes on the original version of this engraving while seated on a hard wooden chair—was it from the middle ages?—at the Université Montpellier in southern France. “Worm heads so cute,” I wrote in my notes, sure that I would be able to use the information later. At last that time has come. All week I have been working on a chapter for a book about eighteenth-century reproduction. When the editor asked me to write something related to my specialization in the history of childbirth, I refused. “I want to wax poetic about worms and dead body parts instead. Take it or leave it.” Luckily, he took it, for my research on tapeworms ultimately led me to the topic of this post: the idea that the human body is an ecosystem. Continue reading →

ASK A TRAINER: “Should I report an eating disorder?”

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zzzzzzzz lift and bitch 033Q:  Dear Fitbabe,
 Hello, I am a regular gym goer, and have been observing a young girl who has an incrediably thin frame, and is always on the cardio equipment when I arrive, and is still on it after I have trained for an hour, showered and had a steam. I have mentioned her to the front desk staff and they say several others have brought it the attention of the personal trainers in the gym, but it is a difficult subject.  Should I approach this girl with concern? Doesn’t the gym have a moral obligation to intervene? I am worried about her and I don’t even know her!

Regards, John Continue reading →

The Ethics of Intervention

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The group of mottly New Brunswickers had no coxswain.

That will teach you to laugh at our hats, European bitches! 

Brits sure love to row, I think to myself, flashing back to the televised Heritage Minute in which a group of Canadians win the World Championship in 1867. Oh how the badly dressed fishermen sniggered as their heavy boat slid by the fancy pants team from Oxford. Now it’s my turn to show those weedy coxswain-knockers what’s what. After hunching over musty medical books at the Wellcome Library all week, I cannot wait to work my back. I settle onto a machine at the busy Tottenham Court Road gym—ah, the seat is still warm—turn the tension up to 10, pop in my earbuds, and push through my legs and torso before pulling the bar to mid chest while leaning back slightly. Check that form, baby! My feeling of euphoria does not last long, coming to an abrupt halt when a young woman awkwardly straddles the machine beside me. She is skeletal, her painfully knobby knees and shin bones protruding though a layer of thin skin.  Continue reading →

The “Fat” Female Body (in Pursuit of Happiness)

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598443_10151099828966916_1733465844_nI have a confession to make, and then an apology. Lately, I have been more contemplative than pissy. I have been a honey creative writer, not a honey badger. That sucks for you. The good news is that I am building up to a rant. This post is not exactly a full-on rant, and for that I am sorry. My wordpress statistics indicate that you like FFG best when she is angry. So from now on, I will do more to please you. Tossing thoughtfulness aside, I will curse, swear, and fulminate. After all, I can improve. Or can I? Continue reading →

Cruel Observations Made Between Fresno and San Francisco

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While pretending to read a book, I gaze at the passengers slowly filing onto the small airplane, watching them adjust to the shallow centre aisle, searching for their place. I am fascinated by how people live their bodies, noting how others occupy space, navigate different air densities, and shift from positions of rest toward movement.  Continue reading →