A Body Image, Body Politics, and Body Justice News Roundup

Gender & Identity

• Flazia Dzoden talks food, class and the new morality imposed on women in Clean Eating and Dirty Women on Medium. ” Foods directed at women (chocolates, ice cream, sweet confections, etc) are, more often than not, marketed with associations to indulgence, sinful experiences, decadence. If you are a woman, to give in to these foods is to give in to the sinful nature of your sexuality.”

 

• Fit is a Feminist Issue is talking Women’s Beach Volleyball uniforms at the Summer Olympics. “And one commentator thought that neither outfit looked like what’s comfortable for playing beach volleyball and that both ‘represent opposite outcomes of the male gaze dictating how women dress, though.'” Can we talk sexism in the Olympics coverage of women?

• The Summer 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may be your best bet for an amazing cry. “[R]ugby player Isadora Cerullo didn’t secure a bronze, silver or gold medal, she won a partner for life after girlfriend Marjorie Enya, a volunteer at the 2016 Olympics, proposed to her in front of teammates, volunteers and media.” – Olympics: Record number of LGBT athletes at Rio 2016 In Swimming, Simone Manuel’s Olympic gold medal is also a victory over swimming’s racist history

 

End the Violence

• The US Department of Justice released its 163-page report on the

  

  racist, violent, and unconstitutional practices of the Baltimore Police Department. Huffington Post lists some of the more gruesome details here.

• Children are being Tasered by school-based police officers. No one knows how often it’s happening or what impact it’s having on students.

 

• In response to the lack of action and attention to state violence against Black women, Black Feminist Future is leading the call to “Defend Black Womanhood” with altars and healing spaces around the country. via Feministing

 

Politics

• Planned Parenthood announced Friday that it will start registering voters at its clinics, on college campuses, online and at other locations, “regardless of their background, beliefs, or political ideology,” in an effort to get disenfranchised populations more involved in the political process.

• The U.S. national spotlight typically isn’t focused on black immigrants from African and Caribbean countries. In the conversation about deportation, it’s often exclusively portrayed as a Latino issue. But deportation is part of the reality of the black immigrant experience. – The Mass Deportation Of Black Immigrants That You Haven’t Heard About

 

Body, Mind, Spirit & Culture

• Meet the Voluminous Dancers of Havana This is how plus-size dancers are challenging stereotypes in Havana, Cuba.

 

• “[W]hy is there less art about eating disorders than about other mental health issues? Last year, Mark Ruffalo starred as a bipolar father in the indie darling Infinitely Polar Bear. Why are stories about bulimic mothers confined to Lifetime?” – On The Literature of Eating Disorders by JoAnna Novak on Literary Hub

 

• Muslim Girl interviews the witty funny social media presence aka the “Muslim Queen of Twitter Who’s Won the Internet, ” Hend Amry.

• Trans Model Wears Dress Made Of Flags Where Homosexuality Is Illegal Watch the video here.

 

• “I always saw myself in John Hughes’ films, even if he couldn’t see me in them. I don’t say this lightly. Hughes’ body of work is consistently characterized as the pithy zenith of coming-of-age movies, enduring due to his representation of real teenagers with typical problems. Yet POC were either absent or horrifically stereotypically represented in his films. How American. In Hughes’ iconic film about the joy of young white mischief….” Black Grrrl Joy on the 30th Anniversary of Ferris Bueller : LaSloane Peterson’s Snow Day Off