Why I Hate the Body Positivity Community
A manifesto on race, culture, standards, and the strange decision to reinvent something Black women had already built.
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Photo by Trevor Cokley, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsChauncey Gooden Is Playing Both Ways in the Trenches at Colorado: "Me and the Bench, We Don't Get Along"
Colorado sophomore guard Chauncey Gooden took defensive-tackle snaps in a 14-13 win over Georgia Tech — a two-way assignment linemen lost in 1964.
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on PexelsGLP-1 Use Hits 11 Percent of U.S. Adults, Gallup Finds. Cost Drove Most of the Switch to Compounded Versions.
Gallup's new poll puts current GLP-1 use at 11 percent of U.S. adults, up from 3 percent in 2024, and finds cost drove most switches to compounded versions.
Photo by Jonathan Cooper on PexelsComics Got the Fat Superhero Right in 2016. Hollywood Still Hasn't Made Her Movie.
Valiant's Faith Herbert sold out five printings and earned an Eisner nod in a year. Paramount hired a screenwriter for her film in 2023, then went quiet.
Photo by Charles O'Rear, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMitrice Richardson Was Released Alone at 12:28 A.M. — What Los Angeles County's Own Record Admits
An honors psychology graduate was booked over an $89 tab, then let go into Malibu Canyon with nothing. Seventeen years on, the case is still open.
Photo by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBYU-Arizona: The Spread Hit -7.5, Then Gave Ground. The Total Fell Three Points.
BYU's number backed off its own season-high even as the money kept piling on the Cougars. The total moved further, and wind is only part of why.
Photo by ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0, via OpenverseOhio State-Texas: The Spread Never Left -1.5. The Total Climbed Two Points.
Bad injury news hit both teams Friday. The spread barely moved. The total did — and that's where the sharp money went.
Photo by Cbaile19, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Falcons-Steelers Line Moved From -3 to -5.5/-6 After Tagovailoa Was Ruled Out
Pittsburgh opened -3 over Atlanta. By Friday night it was -5.5 to -6, once Tagovailoa's injury became an official "out" and Cooper Rush got the Week 1 start.
Liris Crosse Was Taped Into a Garbage Bag on Project Runway. She Just Walked for Christian Siriano at NYFW.
Liris Crosse says a designer draped her in a paint-stained trash bag rather than dress her. Christian Siriano said yes — and this week, she walked his runway.
Photo by Dwight Burdette, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsOklahoma Closed -5.5 Over Michigan. The Home Underdog Won Outright, 17-10.
Oklahoma closed -5.5, a swing off Michigan's messy Week 1 win. Michigan won outright, 17-10, on a fourth-quarter interception that set up the winning score.
Photo by Pixabay on PexelsCollege Football's 'Heaviest Lineman' Weighs 90 Pounds Less Than the Internet Says
Alcorn State's own roster has sophomore guard Kriston Edwards at 345 pounds — 90 pounds less than the number that's been repeated as fact since June.
Photo by Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSocialism 2026's GLP-1 Backlash and a Marketing Campaign Both Ran on Black Voices. The Women With the Most at Stake Went Largely Unasked.
The panel's viral line checks out. What this desk couldn't find, in the coverage it could actually read, was a single Black woman quoted on the record.
Photo by Kushie In Vietnam on PexelsThe Rams Closed -3.5 Over the 49ers in Melbourne. San Francisco Won by 20.
The line that moved off a Myles Garrett trade and Aaron Donald's return held at -3.5 through kickoff. The 49ers then won the season opener outright, 27-7.
Photo by PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSurvival of the Thickest Ended After Three Seasons — and Michelle Buteau Never Let Mavis Shrink to Fit.
Netflix's rom-com wrapped in July with its plus-size star directing her own character's miscarriage — Mavis never lost a pound to win any of it.
Photo courtesy of the Ebony Williams for Judge campaignEbony Williams Couldn’t Afford Housing After Law School. Now She’s on the Ballot for the Court That Hears Eviction Appeals.
The Houston attorney unseated a two-term incumbent by 33 points in March, campaigning on one idea: that people who show up without a lawyer should be able to understand what is happening to them.
Photo by Anastasiya Badun on PexelsVintage Never Came in Her Size. Plus-Size Shoppers Are Building Their Own Markets for It.
Indianapolis got what WISH-TV called its first two-day size-inclusive vintage market in June. Cleveland's Secondhand Stare shows it isn't a one-off.
Photo by Joaquin Carfagna on PexelsKING Folded in 2009. Smooth Didn't. The Difference Was the Ad Market.
KING folded in 2009 when ad revenue collapsed, not its curvier covers. Smooth, founded in 2002, is still around — just not as a magazine.
Photo by kaboompics.com on PexelsMeta's $17.1 Billion Settlement Bans Filters and Like Counts. The Algorithm We Reported On Gets an Opt-Out, Not a Fix.
The settlement bans cosmetic filters and restricts like counts for teens. It doesn't require Meta to change what its algorithm recommends by default.
Photo by Eric Vance, EPA photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsLisa P. Jackson Ran the EPA. Then She Ran Apple's Climate Strategy.
From Pontchartrain Park to a chemical engineering degree to the Cabinet to Cupertino — the record behind one of the country's most consequential careers.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov on PexelsCigna Stopped Covering Its Own Employees' Weight-Loss Drugs in July. Starbucks Follows in October.
PepsiCo has made the same cut. The employer survey behind the trend traces to one source, and its own numbers don't quite match what's being repeated.
Photo by Journalist 2nd Class Zack Baddorf, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsA CFL Scout Is Posting His Offensive Line Notes in Public
Mike Rittelmann evaluates linemen for the Calgary Stampeders and the College Gridiron Showcase — and posts exactly what he's watching for on X.
Jai Jemini Turned a Journal Entry Into "BLESSINGS," Her Million-Stream Single
North Carolina rapper Jai Jemini wrote "BLESSINGS" as a private affirmation after moving to Miami — MadameNoire reports it passed a million streams.
Plumpiana Built House of Plumpiana One Independent Single at a Time
The Harlem-based rapper releases through her own House of Plumpiana brand — no label, no manager — with a 2026 project, PLUMPILICIOUS, out now on Apple Music.
Photo by Ірина Бучнєва, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Granite Woman Lviv Tried to Burn
Vasyl Korchovy carved her 3 meters tall in 2021 and called her Confident. Two years later, in Lviv, someone tried to set her on fire.
Photo by jenaragon94, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsMichelle Carter Took Shot Put Gold in Rio 2016. Her Father Took Silver in the Same Event, 32 Years Earlier.
Michael Carter took shot put silver in 1984. His daughter Michelle took gold in the same event 32 years later, the first American woman to do it.
Photo by Dustin D. on PexelsNew York City's Body-Size Discrimination Law Has Had Its First Court Test
A judge rejected the City's argument that telling a probation officer applicant to lose 95 pounds was a medical call. No decision on the merits has been published.
Big E The Biggest's 'Queen E, Vol. 1' Highlight Checks Out as a Real 2026 Album
Spotify and Apple Music independently confirm the Instagram highlight is a real 2026 album — following 2025's Big On Big in an actual, growing catalog.
India White Crowns Herself New Orleans's 'MVP of BBWs' — and Backs It With a Mixtape
Instagram's @therealpuertorican.doll leads with an Afro Latina identity, a 504 zip code, and — it turns out — an actual 2025 mixtape under the same name.
Toni Snow's MacKstress Era Continues With 'Won Queen,' Out Now
The independent Houston rapper follows her album THE MACKBOOK with a new single, out now after its September 4 release.
Photo by SounderBruce, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSeattle Opened Week 1 as a 4-Point Favorite Over New England. The Market Has Them at 3.5.
Seattle's Week 1 line drifted from -4 toward -3.5 over the summer — a move about roster uncertainty on both sides, not a forecast on the champion.
Photo by Lennon Photography, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsLizzo's Legal Year: The Weight-Loss Statement, the Dismissal, and What's Still in Court
A federal judge closed one lawsuit against her touring company this week. Her own essay explains the weight loss. A separate case is still in court.
Photo by 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsFirst Circuit: Obesity Alone Isn't a Disability Under the ADA's Insurance Rules
The appeals court upheld a health plan's exclusion of weight-loss drugs, ruling the plaintiff hadn't shown obesity limited a major life activity.
Photo by cottonbro studio on PexelsMeta's Own Research Found the Algorithm Feeds Struggling Teens More Body Content. What Happens to Plus-Size Content on the Same Platforms?
An internal Meta study reviewed by Reuters puts a number on it: three times the disordered-eating content for teens already feeling bad about their bodies.
Photo courtesy of YvonneBefore Forty, Yvonne Wanted Her Health in Order — Confidence Came With It
She changed her relationship with food, started therapy, and found a confidence she calls 'through the roof.'
Historical image — Photo by John H. White, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsJet's Beauty of the Week: Naming an Ordinary Black Woman Beautiful for 60 Years
From 1952 to 2014, Jet's Beauty of the Week spent six decades insisting an ordinary Black woman, exactly as she looked, was beautiful.
The Pocket Monster Award: We Rank the Trenches, Not the Hype
Tackle, Guard and Center of the Week — every week, on tape alone, from the Power conferences to Division II. Then five of them take the Pocket Monster Award when the season ends.
Photo by Arina Krasnikova on PexelsOld Navy's Sales Slipped 4 Percent. Here's the Reason Gap Actually Gave — and the One It Didn't.
Gap's CEO called it Old Navy's first negative quarter in 11 quarters — outside counts differ. Neither the release nor the call mentioned size or GLP-1s.
Photo by Michael Burrows on PexelsVogue Business Put New York Fashion Week's Plus-Size Number at 0.9 Percent. The Named Exceptions Stop at an 18, a 12, or a Custom Order.
Vogue Business counted 0.9 percent plus-size runway looks this season. Refinery29 named ten designers doing better — their own size charts tell a fuller story.
Photo by Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsTwo Bills, Not One: What's Actually Pending in the New Jersey Assembly on Weight Discrimination
A companion bill this newsroom never reported has sat five months, and the sponsoring caucus's own vote count doesn't match the chamber's record.
Photo by Chris Pruitt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWeight Watchers Erased $1.15 Billion in Debt in 49 Days. Was It Really All Ozempic?
WW International wiped out $1.15 billion in debt in a 49-day bankruptcy last year and blamed GLP-1 drugs. Its own revenue had been falling since 2012.
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels"Ozempic Divorce" Is a Real Phrase. The Divorce Data Behind It Isn't About Ozempic.
Two peer-reviewed cohorts show bariatric-surgery patients divorce and pair up more than average. No peer-reviewed study has measured GLP-1 drugs the same way.
What It Actually Costs to Compete for National Miss Curvy
National Miss Curvy's entry fee, deposit, ad minimum, and photo package add up to $1,450 — the real cost of a pageant circuit this magazine has never covered.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels352 Pounds, 12th Overall: Inside the NFL Line's Rising Size Floor
Kadyn Proctor weighed in at 352 pounds and still went in the draft's first round. Draft-weight data going back to 1974 shows why nobody blinked.
Photo by Artem Podrez on PexelsTwo Years After Stopping GLP-1s, Epic Says Most Patients Held. It Calculated "Stopping" From Refills.
Epic Research counted 188,722 patients as having stopped a GLP-1. Its two-year tirzepatide figure rests on 145 of them.
Photo by Blackcurrant Great on PexelsSouthwest Recommends Buying the Second Seat. It Doesn't Require It — and We Said Otherwise.
Our August 17 explainer said Southwest required buying a second seat in advance; its Customer of Size page recommends it. What we got wrong, and how we know.
Photo by Lucas Borges on PexelsEvery Clydesdale and Athena Title: The Milwaukee Nationals Results
Phillip Young won Clydesdale overall in all three Milwaukee races, August 7–9. The divisions' separate start wave ran in two of the three — and wasn't a first.
Chrissy Metz and Rebel Wilson's GLP-1 Partnerships Were Disclosed by Ro and Noom Themselves
Ro's page prints "Chrissy Metz is a paid partner." Noom's release names Rebel Wilson its Chief Wellness Ambassador. The celebrity roundups ran them too.
Photo by Haberdoedas Photography on PexelsThe Muscle Warning About GLP-1s Leaves Out What the Placebo Group Did
In SURMOUNT-1's body-composition substudy, about a quarter of the weight lost was lean mass — in the tirzepatide group and the placebo group alike.
Artwork — Venus and the Lute Player, Titian — The Metropolitan Museum of Art (public domain)Why "Body Positivity" Was Always the Wrong Word
It frames admiration as an act of charity. The historical record says the opposite: this was never a favor, it was the standard.
Photo by Tahir Xəlfəquliyev on PexelsThe Fall Plus-Size Event Calendar, and What You Can Actually Confirm Before You Pay
Two of the season's bigger events are selling tickets right now. Between them, their own pages omit a date, a venue, and every price.
Photo by Mariia Stepanova on PexelsWhy a Size 22 Cut From a Size 8 Pattern Never Quite Fits
The shoulder is too wide, the armhole gapes, the bust pulls. That isn't the factory or the fabric. It's a decision made at the pattern stage.
Photo by Juan Vargas on PexelsThe Research on Mixed-Weight Couples Is Mostly About Everybody Else
Asked to advise a couple where one partner is larger, people recommended less public dates, less physical affection, and delaying introductions to family.
Photo by RDNE Stock project on PexelsRetail's GLP-1 Forecast Assumes the Weight Stays Off. The Evidence Still Doesn't Agree.
The $5 billion forecast on falling plus-size demand came from a software vendor. The trial evidence and the real-world evidence answer different questions.
Photo by Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWeight Discrimination Bills Keep Passing One Chamber and Dying in the Other
Michigan enacted the only state ban in 1976. New Jersey's Senate has passed its own twice, and the Assembly has not voted on it either time.
Photo by cottonbro studio on PexelsDating Apps' New AI Photo Rules: What Tinder, Bumble and Hinge Actually Require
Tinder's face-matching check is now mandatory in eight markets. Bumble and Hinge have their own rules — and none of the three mention body size.
Photo by Thomas on PexelsSouthwest's Customer of Size Policy, Explained: What Changed Twice in Four Months
Southwest tightened its extra-seat rule in January, then partly reversed it in May after backlash. Here is what the airline's own policy says today.
Photo by Mathias Reding on PexelsTarget's Plus-Size Selection Fell 37 Percent in a Year, as Old Navy's Slid Too
Extended sizes fell 37 percent at Target and 12 percent at Old Navy over the past year, as GLP-1 drug use climbed toward 10 million Americans in 2025.
Photo by Julia Larson on PexelsBuilt from the Ground Up: The Gyms and Gear Actually Designed for Bigger Bodies
A Portland gym rates its equipment to 500 pounds. An activewear brand fit-tests every piece through size 42. Real design, not a resized afterthought.
Artwork — Photo by Peter Paul Rubens, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsPeter Paul Rubens Made Fullness the Beauty Standard of Baroque Europe
In the 1630s, the era's most celebrated Flemish painter filled his canvases with full-figured women — and left behind a word for it: Rubenesque.
Photo by Philip Romano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSharon D Clarke Was Nominated for a BAFTA and an Olivier in the Same Award Season
As Carmel in Mr. Loverman and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, she was nominated twice in 2025 — once for TV, once for the stage.
Photo by MART PRODUCTION on PexelsUniversal Standard Doubled Down on Size Inclusivity. Loft Quietly Walked Away From It.
One brand expanded into 20 Nordstrom stores in 2025 on a size-00-to-40 range; another discontinued its plus line three years after launching it.
AI Image Generators Almost Never Draw "Good" People as Fat, Study Finds
A peer-reviewed study of 4,000 DALL-E 3 images found positive words like "virtuous" rarely drew fat figures, while negative ones like "greedy" often did.
Photo by Sasha P on PexelsTorrid's Store Count Has Dropped From 632 to 463 in a Year
The largest plus-size specialty retailer closed more than a quarter of its stores since mid-2025, and its own filings show sales kept declining.
Photo by Gregorio Dorta Martin on PexelsUSA Triathlon's Clydesdale and Athena Racers Get Their Own Start Wave
At August's Milwaukee nationals, triathletes in the 220-plus and 165-plus-pound divisions left the line as their own start wave.
Photo by Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNew Jersey Senate Passes Bill to Ban Height and Weight Discrimination
S1631 would add height and weight to the state's Law Against Discrimination, making New Jersey the second state to bar the practice outright.
The West African Kingdom Where Brides Were Fed Like Royalty
In the Kingdom of Calabar, elite families fed and secluded their daughters for months before marriage — a fuller body wasn't an accident. It was the point.
Ancient Egypt's Beauty Standard Looked Like Us
Late in Amenhotep III's reign, Egyptian art finally let its king and queen look like real, mature, fuller-bodied people instead of eternal, airbrushed youth.
Photo by LaShawnda Jones, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsDanielle Brooks and Queen Latifah Showed Up to the 2026 Awards Season — Here's What They Actually Wore
From the 98th Oscars to the 2026 Tonys, Danielle Brooks and Queen Latifah kept showing up on the carpet — here's exactly what they wore, and who made it.
Photo by Darina Belonogova on PexelsHow Plus-Size Denim Finally Got the Fit Right
No built-in waist gap by default. Four denim makers spent a decade rebuilding the pattern block around real hips — and real gaps remain.
Historical image — Photo by Zhou Fang, Public Domain, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Most Beautiful Woman in Chinese History Was Plus Size
Yang Guifei's fullness wasn't in spite of the Tang dynasty standard — it was the standard. One of history's great love stories, reconsidered.
Historical image — Photo by MatthiasKabel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia CommonsThe First Woman Ever Carved Wasn't Thin
Forty thousand years before "body positivity," Ice Age carvers rendered the female body full and soft. Nobody agrees why — but nobody flattened her.
Photo by Maël Balland on PexelsRoom on the Trail: How the Outdoors Finally Made Space for Every Body
From plus-size hiking packs to tour operators built around comfort, the outdoor world is finally sizing up. Here's the proof, from the trail to the dive boat.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki on PexelsNo Salary, No Shame: How Katie Sturino Built Megababe Into a Body-Care Empire
In 2017, she built an anti-chafing stick with her sister and best friend in a garage. Megababe now sits on Target and Walmart shelves — founder still unpaid.
Photo by Thể Phạm on PexelsThe Room TheCurvyCon Built
In 2015, two bloggers turned a shared frustration with plus-size retail into a fashion-week fixture — and the case they made to the industry still holds.
Chrissy Metz Finally Gets Her Broadway Bow, and She's Not Holding Back
Six seasons of making America cry as Kate Pearson didn't come with a marquee. "& Juliet" just gave her one — and Chrissy Metz is loving every minute of it.
Historical image — Photo by Prof. Mortel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Courts That Crowned Her
From the Nile to the Yangtze to the courts of West Africa, six empires didn't just accept a fuller figure — they built their idea of royalty around it. We restore the original narrative.
Corpulent Queens
Mzbogotti
A true Midwest girly from St Louis who cooks everything from scratch — it's what she went to school for. In her words: "A compliment I'd probably want to hear more is that I'm pretty, because I really am."
Meet MzbogottiThe crown moves every week — nominate our next queenRight Now
Why I Hate the Body Positivity Community
A manifesto on race, culture, standards, and the strange decision to reinvent something Black women had already built.
More From Culture
Comics Got the Fat Superhero Right in 2016. Hollywood Still Hasn't Made Her Movie.
Mitrice Richardson Was Released Alone at 12:28 A.M. — What Los Angeles County's Own Record Admits
Liris Crosse Was Taped Into a Garbage Bag on Project Runway. She Just Walked for Christian Siriano at NYFW.
Survival of the Thickest Ended After Three Seasons — and Michelle Buteau Never Let Mavis Shrink to Fit.
Art
Events Worth the Trip
The Curvy Cabaret: Road Trip Revue
A burlesque and variety revue in Chattanooga. Doors at 6pm, show at 7pm, 21 and over.
HVY: Thick & Lit Pool Party
Day two of the Thick & Lit weekend — a BYOB pool party outside Atlanta, 3pm to 9pm.
Jersey Jam Philly
The thirteenth city on the BBW Bunnies & Dons tour, with a sports-jersey dress code and a BYOB policy. The flyer gives 5pm to 11pm.
Saga
Thirty thousand years of receipts, printed on a shirt. From the Venus of Willendorf to Rubens, Saga wears the proof that fullness was the standard long before it was a trend.
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