Kiss My Pasta Loving Butt, Eat This, Not That!

It's been everywhere. Lady Gaga gained some weight and the media goes crazy. So she comes back with a "Body Revolution" project on her website and discloses that she has been struggling with anorexia and bulimia for over a decade. It's all interesting, and if you haven't heard much about it, I suggest you check out the coverage and discussions at Feministing or Bitch. (The integrity of her "Body Revolution" project, for example, is very much the center of a debate in many fat positive and feminist spaces right now.)

But what I'd like to talk about was brought to my attention last night when I saw that Zerlina Maxwell tweeted:

[Tweet reads: "hey guys Lady Gaga also said she had an eating disorder so how about now using her for your tweet. thx. @EatThisNotThat]

I couldn't help but wonder, what exactly had Eat This, Not That said?

[Tweet reads: "Lady Gaga blames her recent 25-lb weigh gain on pasta. To avoid a similar fate, stay away from these 7 pasta crimes.]

Oh how lovely.

Leave it to a member of the 60 billion dollar a year weight loss industry to try to capitalize on someone's body related vulnerability. Lady Gaga reveals something deeply personal, talks frankly about her body and her struggles with it, and Eat This, Not That turns it into a food shaming discussion intended to help us "avoid the same fate?"

Really?

You know what would actually help us "avoid the same fate" (here meaning the further spread of eating disorders)? A culture where all different bodies are appreciated and valued. One where certain foods are not coded "good" and others as "bad." One free from food policing. One where we stop putting celebrities' bodies (and all of our bodies!) under extreme scrutiny. One where we all emphatically agree: there is no wrong way to have a body.