Adele’s comments on body positivity, Emily Ratajkowski’s debut book, Frame’s first biodegradable pair of jeans, and more.
01 Six college track & field athletes quit over fears that the approach to weight & body fat percentages put them at risk of eating disorders
With financial backing from Nike, the University of Oregon is known for its track and field program — a pedigree that head coach Robert Johnson claims he’s able to uphold by focusing on performance body composition metrics. “Track is nothing but numbers,” he claimed. “A good mathematician probably could be a good track coach.”
The problem with this system, conducted via DEXA scans that calculate bone density, body fat, and muscle mass, is that 1) not every athlete responds the same way to the same body fat percentage (some perform better with slightly higher numbers than others) 2) it implies a “nothing but numbers” approach that ignores the true complexities of women’s bodies and 3) it’s not exactly conducive to body confidence. In fact, the women who left the team told reports that they had repeatedly experienced shame over their metrics.
“We are not professional athletes. We do not have access to a bounty of organic food. We do not have unlimited time to cook. We cannot plan our days around our nutrition, and we are not the 30-year-old Olympians that coach Johnson seeks to compare our body fat percentage to,” said an athlete who graduated from University of Oregon at the end of 2020.
02 “I was body positive then and I’m body positive now,” said Adele in response to comments about her weight loss
ICYMI, Adele graced our TV screens for a MUCH-anticipated special on CBS last Sunday evening, during which time she chatted with Oprah (à la Meghan Markle-style) about the inspiration behind her new album. When the topic of her recent 100-pound weight loss came up, Adele responded by saying that her body has been objectified throughout her entire career — “I’m too big, I’m too small, I’m hot or I’m not” — but that she cares far, far more about her music.
“I feel bad if anyone feels horrible about themselves, but that’s not my job. I’m trying to sort my own life out…It’s not my job to validate how people feel about their bodies.”
03 Why did it take the controversy over Britney’s conservatorship for the world to notice the war over women’s bodies in America?
That’s precisely what Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is here to ask in Being Britney: Pieces of a Modern Icon. Because while women in our country may believe they have control over their bodies, through a legislative vantage point, what we’re seeing are Handmaid-style restrictions — from a 2021 Arkansas ban on most abortions (regardless of whether a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest) to the most recent Texas ban.
The point, argues Bickerdike, is that women everywhere are repeatedly being denied the freedom over their bodies — so why aren’t more people objecting like they did (rightfully so) to Britney’s conservatorship?
04Emily Ratajkowski releases her debut book, My Body
We’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of My Body after the marquee essay, “Buying Myself Back” was published in New York Magazine last fall. The collection of essays focuses broadly on Ratajkowski’s relationship with the countless images of her body that have been taken over the course of her 17-year career.
As Andrea Long Chu argues in her profile of the model in New York Times Magazine, the book is Ratajkowski’s way “to set the record straight: She is neither victim nor stooge, neither a cynical collaborator in the male agenda, as her critics have argued, nor some pop-feminist empoweree, as she once supposed. Today, she is just a girl, standing in front of 28 million Instagram followers, asking them to take her seriously.”
05 Imam praises SJP for embracing aging — and we couldn’t agree more
In her feature on People, Imam — in addition to talking about her marriage to the late David Bowie — praised Sarah Jessica Parker for embracing everything that comes with aging, gray hair included.
“I come from Africa,” explains Imam, “[and] one of the things that we are taught is what a privilege it is to get old.”
06 Keep an eye out for Frame’s first biodegradable (!!) pair of jeans
In a meaningful effort to lower their carbon footprint, Frame has launched a new, entirely biodegradable pair of jeans.
“We tackled how to construct sustainable denim without compromising the Frame jean we all know and love,” says co-founder Erik Tortensson. “Then everything else fell into place: reconstructing buttons and zippers for easy removal, removing metal rivets at the pockets, utilizing thread that degrades with the garment — altogether with our sustainable wash methods, we achieved a jean that was not only visually comparable to our other comfortable and modern jeans but also minimal in impact. It’s our smallest carbon footprint yet.”
07 Shout-out to this stylist for calling out Abercrombie & Fitch on their size inconsistencies
You’ve probably heard us say this a zillion and one times, but the size chart is entirely arbitrary, inconsistent, and frankly reductive in light of the true complexities of women’s bodies. That’s what we’re ALL about here at Revelle, which is why we were so excited to learn that the stylist behind fashivly called out Abercrombie & Fitch on TikTok for changing their sizes throughout the years — something that she claims causes body issues for women who buy the clothes.
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