From the Mailbag

I've just gotten so much good stuff lately, and I regret not being able to write a unique post about every one of them. Items that are potentially triggering are prefaced with [TW].

Shaker AEHelephant sends the link to this piece about a new study which found that "magazine photos of models, be they magically emaciated or plus-size, make overweight women feel worse about their bodies and, conversely, 'underweight' women feel better about themselves... Overweight women's self-esteem always decreases, regardless of the model they look at." I haven't seen the study, but if it used actual spreads from fashion magazines, I'm guessing those findings are significantly rooted in the fact that what passes for "plus size" in modeling makes most "real world fat women" feel horrible by comparison. Of course it's worse to see "plus size" women included and think nothing but, "And I'm still twice their size."

Shaker Phyllis offers some Gender Bias Bingo!

[TW] Shaker Lena forwards another infuriating example of domestic violence being called an "act of passion."

[TW] Shaker Crissy recommends this expansive New York Times piece about the upcoming and much-discussed film Precious, a film about "fat teenage girl who is sexually and physically abused at home, and 'has a deep need to open up and thrive, which she begins to do with the help of a teacher and an all-girl crew of peers at an alternative school'."

Shaker Kohlrabi nominates the amazing Jessica Markowitz for a You Go, Grrl: "Markowitz runs a charity that sends 22 poor girls in Rwanda to school. She has raised nearly $40,000, taken several trips to rural villages there, formed a partnership with a local girls school and worked this past summer teaching Rwandan kids to read in English. The amazing part is that Markowitz is only 14."

Shaker ASDKids2 sends along this hilarious bit of Can't Win: Twin study reveals that the secret to looking young (for women) is be thin under 40, less thin over 40, use birth control but not antidepressants, don't get divorced, but do try to be a widow; you'll look two years younger! Sigh.

Shaker Eleanore forwards this heap of megafail care of PUMA Bodywear: "The PUMA Index is a real stock market ticker, but with an added bonus. When the market goes down, the models' clothes come off." Criminy.

Shaker Hajen sends the link to this Frontline story "about how Brooksley Born of the CFTC back in the Clinton administration tried to regulate the OTC derivatives market and was shut down by Greenspan/Summers/Rubin. They stress the gender angle - Levitt even says 'she was presented to me as irascible, stubborn...' when he was explaining why he discounted her opinion... It's called The Warning."

[TW] Shaker nrgkat forwards this heart-wrenching story about "Canada's hidden trade in people," a sex trade that targets Aboriginal women and girls: "The average age of Aboriginal girls who are human trafficked is between seven and 12 years old."

Shaker Jake forwards posts from the blog of online dating site OKCupid which discuss race and response rates among their members. Opposite sex matching is here; same-sex matching is here.

Shaker Ira sends the links to this item and related article about an event in which people take to the stage to talk about mental illness. I like the idea of people talking candidly about their own mental illnesses; feel pretty icky about this, though: "Maxine Cunningham, 61, recalled the frantic, last-minute trip she'd made to Atlanta earlier that week. 'Three days ago, my daughter's best friend called,' she says. 'She was shouting that I had to come down and assume guardianship of my daughter and force her into a hospital right away.' As Cunningham read what she had written, tears rolled down her cheeks."

Shaker MorganP forwards this mess from the Times, in which, Morgan explains, "The author rightly denounces the glut of misleading quantitative data about women's success (being 'less affected by the recession', etc.) as demonstrations of 'proof' that attitudes toward women have significantly changed in recent years" but also "1. Asserts that the news media had no problem deriding Hillary Clinton for having 'cankles', but 'was on their best behavior to avoid racial stereotypes' during the presidential primaries; 2. Assures the reader that an overhaul of pernicious attitudes toward women will not require 'embracing feminism, which remains a toxic term for some women'; 3. Places the responsibility of changing these attitudes on women. And other such gems." Sigh.

[TW] Shaker Julia sends this article in which is found yet another example of rapists "having sex" with children.

[TW] Shaker Michelle emails the link to this story "about an operation that was performed on pregnant women in Ireland without their consent, causing life-long pain and health problems. Just another face of the so-called pro life movement."

Shaker Esme emails about a review of the abysmal-looking film Couples Retreat which opens: "Three of the four principal guys in this comedy are well over 15 stone - making them clinically obese by their body mass indexes. They need to lose weight not lessons in 'couples skills building'." Says Esme: "There could be a great review written which critiques the (very noticeable) difference in size between the men in this movie and the women. ... The idea that men in Hollywood are allowed to age, while women are not, that men can 'let themselves go' and [women can't]. But that is not the point this review makes. Instead, his idiotic focus is on the fact that these imaginary characters 'should' be spending their time starving themselves, as the wives have already dutifully done to cater to the fat-hating patriarchal beauty standards necessary to be met by women who'd like to ever have a career."

Shaker Ezekiel sends the link to this UK petition asking for "a new compulsory hour per year in the PSHE curriculum that will deal with the problems teenagers face when it comes to their appearance. The lesson will attempt to tackle confidence issues early so they don't have a chance to develop, so young people in the UK will not be held back by their lack of self esteem and self belief."

Shaker Hillevi sends this piece about a bit of fat-hating nonsense care of Safeway CEO Steven A. Burd with the note: "I think I loathe Steve Burd even more than John Mackey." lolsob.

And last but not least: Shaker EastSideKate forwards this story about "a privately-operated, for-profit prison in Manhattan where men are detained on immigration charges, kept in the damp and cold, paid $1 a day to clean, and of course, not given access to legal representation. Not that our government has a problem with certain people coming to the US or anything."