The director of a state-run television and radio company in Egypt has fired eight female news anchors for being overweight. Safaa Hegazy’s dismissal of the anchorwomen is a push towards creating a new and “improved” image for the news media company. However, discriminating against people based on weight is an outdated practice that is illegal in most places.

Did you know that over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting and taking laxatives? 

In honor of World Eating Disorders Action Day, NEDA is hosting a Twitter chat to explore the relationship between body shaming, bullying and eating disorders. Join us Thursday, June 2nd at 1PM ET and follow #WeDoAct. 

Body Shaming, Bullying and Eating Disorders

Here at the National Eating Disorders Association, we believe that social media has the ability to empower people and spread messages of hope and (body) positivity. 

This week, Time published an online article entitled in its “Ideas” section, “My Mother Told Me I Was Fat, and It Was the Best Thing Ever” in which author Charlotte Alter recounts a conversation her mom had with her at the age of twelve about losing weight.

The recent Time magazine cover of newly re-elected New Jersey governor Chris Christie, calling him the “Elephant in the Room” is more than just a political pun in bad taste – it’s blatant fat shaming. 

When I was a child, teen and young adult a series of traumatic events, hurtful words, and a dysfunctional environment led me to develop this coping mechanism called an eating disorder.  My eating disorder spanned over twenty years of my life bouncing back and forth between anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating.  At one time or another my weight was at one end of a spectrum to another.  The scale or the size of my pants became a measure of my worth.  My weight was a number that became my value system.  Magazines and media shout loudly at the world saying that what we look like, what we wear or

The Boy Scouts of America recently announced that it would be banning the participation of scouts and leaders from the 2013 Jamboree based on their Body Mass Index (BMI). NEDA's President and CEO, Lynn Grefe, explains why this is a dangerous idea and urges the Boy Scouts to reconsider this policy in the future in an open letter to their Chief Scouting Officer. If you feel similarly, we encourage you to write to the Boy Scouts and share your concerns.

This week, CNN reported on a recent proposal that airlines charge passengers based on their body weight in order to reduce fuel cost. The proposals were conceived by economist Dr. Bharat P. Bhatta, associate professor of economics at Sogn og Fjordane University College, Norway and recently published in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management.

Three “pay-as-you-weigh” models being suggested are calculated on total weight, including: