Is There a ‘Skinny Apocalypse’ in Hollywood?
<p>First things first: <a target="_blank" href="https://diabolical-lies.myshopify.com/">Merch is here! </a></p><p>Get it now before it’s gone. We’re so proud of this limited edition drop of deeply diabolical merchandise. Items will ship in mid-January, and 33% of all net profits will go to Feeding America, a non-profit nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies.</p><p><strong>If you’re a paid subscriber, you can access two exclusive pieces of DL swag by using your special password, which can be found in </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.diabolicalliespod.com/p/diabolical-lies-debut-merch-just"><strong>our merchandise announcement</strong></a><strong>, or in the episode preceding this one in your audio feed. </strong></p><p>I, Caro, usually to try to be witty for show notes but frankly there are too many resources to share for this episode so I’m going to organize them by the three major topics covered in this conversation and then leave it there, ya girl has been poring through met gala archives for days and she’s TIRED.</p><p>on the body positivity movement, aka that time period where we were all briefly “liberated” by the charitable and fierce activist work of, uh, corporate capture </p><p>First, you should read anything that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/virginiasolesmith">Virginia Sole-Smith</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aubreygordon.net/books">Aubrey Gordon</a> write on the topic (and <a target="_blank" href="https://medium.com/@thefatshadow/im-body-positive-as-long-as-you-re-not-obese-225c7ee7e652">here’s the column we quote</a> from Gordon about being “body positive but”)</p><p>Now, onto the links.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/10/body-positivity-shrinking-girl-summer-everyone-getting-smaller-except-me">Guardian op-ed</a> on the “end of body positivity” by fat columnist and writer Rose Stokes</p><p>Some useful historical information on <a target="_blank" href="https://naafa.org/history">the history of fat activism </a>(generally speaking, the national association to advance fat acceptance (naafa) is a great org)</p><p>Vogue’s 2025 inclusivity report which lamented our drop in body positivity from, checks notes, 2% percent of models to 1.8% of models</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.ajmc.com/view/real-world-use-of-glp-1s-yields-less-weight-loss-than-clinical-trials">Some helpful context </a>for the real-world weight loss of glp-1 vs clinical trials</p><p>some evidence for just how often we undergo a culture-wide chicken little moment of running around screaming that “ultra thin body types” are “suddenly back in vogue” and “it’s a dangerous new trend”</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/17ij6uh/opinions_on_the_skinny_comeback_trend/">we were worrying about it in 2023</a></p><p>* …and also in <a target="_blank" href="https://carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu/thin-is-in-again-but-will-it-stick-a-history-of-trends-involving-womens-bodies/">2022</a></p><p>* …and also in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/51608/im-a-size-8-model-but-im-constantly-told-im-too-fat-to-get-work-brands-only-want-plus-size-or-super-skinny/">2019</a></p><p>* oh and by the way, when we *did* have fat characters on the screen, we basically <a target="_blank" href="https://www.obesityaction.org/resources/fattertainment-obesity-in-the-media/">mocked the characters mercilessly for being fat</a>, yay for body positivity!</p><p>* anyways yeah we were also talking about this in<a target="_blank" href="https://latest.sundayguardianlive.com/fashion/4237-size-zero-epidemic-taking-over-fashion-world"> 2016</a></p><p>* and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/outcry-over-pro-eating-disorder-websites-inspired-by-hollywoods-super-skinny-celebs">2012</a></p><p>* and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.glamour.com/story/skinny-trend">2007</a></p><p>You get the point. </p><p>Oh also here’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hey-michelle-stop-picking-on-fat-kids/?st_source=ai_mode">an op-ed about michelle obama’s crusade against obesity</a> that might complicate the narrative around conservatism equaling skinny culture</p><p>on the moral panic around eating disorders, featuring a series of fun facts caro learned on her intellectual rumspringa which thoroughly blew her mind</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/new-study-aims-uncover-genetics-eating-disorders">some </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02585-1">recent </a><a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3599773/">studies </a>on the potential inheritability of eating disorders</p><p>some background information on how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/health/eating-disorders-men-boys-wellness">men</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ccjm.org/content/87/3/165">fat people</a> have been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/11/415871/anorexia-nervosa-comes-all-sizes-including-plus-size">historically </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/18/magazine/anorexia-obesity-eating-disorder.html">excluded </a>from eating disorder research and recovery avenues</p><p>a <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4939998/">historical explainer of anorexia </a>(and here’s where I found <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/richard-morton-treatment-of-anorexia-nervosa-in-a-male-psychiatry-in-history/64E1AB346B672563571E495DB12E4E96">the William Gull excerpt</a>)</p><p>info on <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6913175/#:~:text=concern%20over%20mistakes-,Anorexia%20nervosa%20(AN)%20and%20obsessive%2Dcompulsive%20disorder%20(OCD,Eisen%2C%20Pagaon%2C%20%26%20Rasmussen%2C">the high comorbidity between anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder</a></p><p>a deep dive on <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4785136/">the “biopsychosocial” of it all in relation to eating disorders</a></p><p>and then a quick side door into <a target="_blank" href="https://moneywithkatie.com/the_mwk_show/status-power-economy/">the tressie-katie convo </a>that truly rocked our worlds </p><p>as well as this incredible comment we received on our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.diabolicalliespod.com/p/liv-schmidt-and-the-sexless-allure">liv schmidt/skinnytok ep</a>, in its entirety:</p><p>casual!</p><p>on the magical third door/leg stool: Rayne Fisher-Quann’s theory of being “womaned”</p><p>Here’s <a target="_blank" href="http://google.com/search?q=rayne+fisher+quann+womaned&oq=rayne+fish&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEEUYJxg7MgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEEUYJxg7Mg0IAhAuGJECGIAEGIoFMgcIAxAAGIAEMgcIBBAAGIAEMgcIBRAAGIAEMgcIBhAAGIAEMgYIBxBFGD3SAQkyNDc3NGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">the full piece Fisher-Quann wrote for i-D Magazine</a></p><p>And the book I reference, <a target="_blank" href="http://google.com/search?q=damned+whores+and+gods+police&oq=damned+whores+and+gods+police&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg70gEIMzM1M2owajSoAgCwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8"><em>Damned Whores & God’s Police, </em></a><a target="_blank" href="http://google.com/search?q=damned+whores+and+gods+police&oq=damned+whores+and+gods+police&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg70gEIMzM1M2owajSoAgCwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">by Anne Summers</a></p><p>Here’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D2yXJOvTIo&t=1441s">the JLaw NYT interview,</a> as well as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY5tIJpH0YE">the Kristen Stewart NYT interview</a></p><p>That’s it, thanks for coming to the show, there will be no encore, etc etc etc-</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. 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