Appearance

Articles

• "'Black Don’t Crack' Is Stressing Me Out" | Refinery29

"In some ways, 'black don’t crack' is about more than just the outward appearance. It feels like another way black women aren’t allowed to be fully human."

• "Body Positivity Is a Scam" | Racked

Contemporary body positivity makes it incumbent on people with nonconforming bodies to change their own self-perception without requiring anyone with any power to question what created the phenomenon in the first place.

• "Changing the Terminology to ‘People With Obesity’ Won’t Reduce Stigma Against Fat People" | The Conversation

"This suggested language change is based on the idea obesity is a disease to be cured and fat people are not a natural part of the world. This serves to reinforce stigma, rather than prevent it."

• "The Cure for 'Cellulite'—Delete It From the Lexicon" | Irish Examiner

“The word ‘cellulite’ was understood as ‘cellulitis’, a painful bacterial infection of the skin that is characterised by inflammation. It wouldn’t become a beauty ‘problem’ until the 1920s and 1930s when French magazines Marie Claire and Votre Beauté started to write about it as they reworked the idea of the perfect woman in the inter-war years.”

• "11 Offensive Phrases You Didn't Realize Are Fat Shaming" | The Body Is Not an Apology

Using fat as an insult, criticism, or synonym for ugly.

• "Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong" | Highline

The hard-wired and misinformed bias against fat people.

• "Fat or Obese: Which Terms Are Least Stigmatizing?" | Psychology Today
• "Grey Hair: Fine for George Clooney but Not Lisa LaFlamme?" | The Conversation
• "Height Discrimination: How 'Heightism' Affects Careers" | Equality Matters

"Heightism even infiltrates language, which is full of idioms highlighting the virtues of being tall, while associating negative qualities with shortness."

• "I’m a Fat Activist. I Don’t Use the Word Fatphobia. Here’s Why" | Self
• "If You Compliment People at Work, Use This Rule" | Lifehacker
• "Is It OK to Call Someone Fat?" | Salon

How avoidance of the word fat can be fatphobic and its reclamation by activists.

• "Little People Advocates Push to Change 'Midget' Hockey Name" | CBC
• "The Perils of Person-First Language" | Today's Dietitian

"Some experts believe person-first language can be particularly stigmatizing when the word in question is 'obesity,' a word that’s loaded with stigma no matter how health care practitioners use it in a sentence."

• "Reclaiming the 'F' Word: It's for the Children" | The Huffington Post

Not wanting the word fat to be taboo or judgmental.

• "What Can Happen when We Use the Word 'Fat'?" | The Huffington Post

The problem with complimenting people on losing weight.

• "What Is Dwarfism?" | POV

The history of dwarf, midget, and little person.

• "Why This Magazine Is Ditching the 'Body Shaming' Language" | Los Angeles Times

“It was reader feedback that prompted [Women’s Health Editor in Chief Amy Keller Laird] to drop such phrases as ‘bikini body’ and the ‘drop two sizes’ type of language from its cover.”