Maryland, My Maryland

Sydney Lewis

Campus Reform informs us University of Maryland to offer ‘Fat Studies’ course about the ‘intersection’ of ‘blackness’ and ‘fatness’

The University of Maryland is slated to offer an “Intro to Fat Studies” course in the upcoming spring semester that will focus on “Fatness, Blackness and Their Intersections.”

The three-credit class, which is offered through the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), “[e]xamines fatness as an area of human difference subject to privilege and discrimination that intersects with other systems of oppression based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and ability.”

The course description states that the class will highlight “fatness” as “a social justice issue,” and will conclude with a focus on “fat liberation as liberation for all bodies” and on methods of fighting “fatmisia,” which means “hatred of fatness.”

 

Sydney Lewis, a senior lecturer with the Department of WGSS, will lead the introductory course this spring in Susquehanna Hall.

Lewis’s research experience consists of topics including “African American/African Diaspora,” “Black Feminist Thought,” “LGBTQ Studies,” and “Queer Theory.”

Lewis’s teaching methods aim to “blur the boundaries between the academy, art, and activism,” as mentioned in her university biography. “Her areas of interest include gender performance and performativity, black feminist theory and culture, and intersectional black liberation.”

“Intro to Fat Studies” also serves as an approved general education credit for students across various majors. The course fulfills requirements in the university’s “Distributive Studies-Humanities” and “Diversity-Understanding Plural Societies” categories.

Can she get Lizzo as a guest lecturer? It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.

A 'Special' Palm Sunday

‘Sports Illustrated’ Swimsuit Issue to Feature 56-Year-Old, Plus Sized, and Bald Finalists

Sports Illustrated has introduced its next slate of finalist models for its upcoming swimsuit issue, and a plus-sized model, a 56-year-old model, and a bald fitness trainer will be among them.

The magazine introduced the six finalists that the magazine touted as its most diverse ever. The finalists were winnowed down from seventeen hopefuls unveiled last October, the Daily Mail reported.

Christie Valdiserri

The finalists include Philadelphia native Christie Valdiserri, a 25-year-old fitness instructor and dancer whose personal style includes are bald head.

“I was inspired to attend the Model Search in Miami when I finally had enough strength and confidence in myself as a bald woman,” Valdiserri recently said.

Valdiserri added that she wanted to “educate the next generation that beauty comes from who you are, not from what you look like.”

OK, I can go with that. She's got a little bit of the Yule Brenner thing going, but shes an attractive woman with or without hair.

Kathy Jacobs from Calabasas, California, is also a member of the group, but at 56 and silver-haired, is an even more unconventional finalist for the magazine’s most glamorous photo-shoot.

“I’ve entered the SI Swimsuit Model Search and flown to Miami twice,” Jacobs said. “The first time I didn’t make it past the first round. But I didn’t give up! I felt a burning desire to try again and to be part of a change in the way society views women over 50.

“I am doing this to be part of a change in the views on women over 50, not only by society but by ourselves. It is a boomerang effect, and we as women over 50 need to stand together and realize how amazing, relevant, beautiful, and sexy we all are.,” Jacobs added.

 56? That ain't that old...

 Brielle Anyea, 24, is yet another interesting member of the finalists. As a plus-sized model with 113,000 Instagram followers, Anyea insists that she hopes to represent “inclusion” in the magazine’s swimsuit model competition.

“I hope every chocolate chubby girl and every thick queen around the world sees this and know that anything is possible,” Anyea continued.

“Your skin, size, shape, condition, beauty will not determine your destiny. Your will-power, faith, and determination will,” she said.

SI has tried the hefty thing before; I don't know how well that worked in the past; I don't think it really fits their target demographic too well, but I presume they test this somehow.

So, I guess its OK to to objectify women as long as you objectify all of them?

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and linkfest. The Wombat was a day late with Rule 5 Monday: Annabella Sciorra.