Fit is a Feminist Issue, Link Round Up #38

This is where we share stuff we can’t share on Facebook page for fear of being kicked out! Read why here. Usually the posts are about body image, sometimes there’s nudity but we’re all adults here. Right? Why does a fitness blog even care about body image? You can read about that here.

And to be clear, we’re not only posting stuff we agree with or that makes us smile.  Instead, we’re posting material of interest to people who, like us, care about feminism and fitness.

Women reclaim the word ‘fat’ in Empowering Me body positive photo series

In a world where larger women are all too often shamed for their bodies, asked prying questions about their health, and not allowed to feel beautiful, a photographer has set out to reclaim the word “fat.”

Body positive images by Brazilian photographer Miarana Godoy, 22, feature women posing in their underwear, painted with slogans protesting fat shaming including “My Body My Rules” and “Fat and Healthy”.
Other untouched photos show the volunteer models posing topless in front of dramatic graffiti art, including an illustration of artist and feminist icon Frida Kahlo.

Fat Shaming Could Be Destroying Your Body

Having a negative body image is, sadly, pretty common, but its physical effects—including weight gain, infections, and illness—were only just discovered

World’s First “Most Beautiful Vagina” Winners to Have Their Lady Parts 3D Scanned & Made into Adult Toys

You may believe that you’ve read something truly unsettling today. You are about to discover that whatever you’ve encountered in your travels across the cyberwebternet is tame in comparison to the weird this story holds in store.

In what may well be the most subjective, provocative and delicate poll ever held online, the man who designed and actively shills for a device called the ‘Autoblow’ (more on that later) opted to seek out the owner of the the world’s most attractive vulva.

To clarify, he didn’t go door-to-door to make the selection personally, but rather he held an online contest where entrants were encouraged to send photographs of their lady gardens in to be appraised by those who appreciate such architecture.

Brian Sloan, the creator of a device meant to provide an accurate, if somewhat incomplete, simulation of oral sex, decided to hold what he says is the “very first vagina beauty pageant.”

Labiaplasty: What’s A “Normal” Vagina ?

Women have a bad habit of comparing themselves to other women. Whether it’s Heidi Klum’s long legs or that co-worker’s toned butt, there’s always an asset we’d rather have than our own. But, recently, women have gotten increasingly concerned with one body part that’s not so easy to compare: the vulva, or the visible part of the vagina. “When I first went into practice in the ’90s, I can’t think of anyone who came in and said, ‘I’m concerned about my labia,’” says Dr. Lauren Streicher, associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s medical school. “But, now, a week doesn’t go by that a woman doesn’t ask me if she looks normal.”

Arguments for Fat Positivity

When it comes to the argument for fat positivity, it should easily be summed up by, “Why shouldn’t I love myself?” but too often, the person you’re arguing with just won’t take that for an answer. Of course, everyone has a bad case of l’esprit de l’escalier at least once a week, where you think of the perfect comeback to a hater after the argument is over. Personally, I always end up acting out the arguments again in the shower, showing off my witty retorts and perfectly concise arguments after I’ve had a few hours to think them up and I’m not stuck in the heat of the moment.

Brooklyn Artist Tackles Femininity

Inspired by discussions of a more gender-fluid society, photographer Jessica Yatrofsky turned her camera to the women around her, taking portraits of dozens of female friends who in turn suggested more and more women for Yatrofsky to shoot. That “hard-core referral system” resulted in over 100 portraits of women, each of whom seems to have one degree of separation from the rest, and, more important to Yatrofsky, breaks with established notions of femininity. Following on the heels of I Heart Boy, which she published in 2010, the photos are compiled in a book called I Heart Girl, which powerHouse Books will release officially in October. The Cut spoke with Yatrofsky about challenging ideas of femininity, masculinity, and the way we think of gender.