'Chubby arms'

MailOnline headline, 6:55pm:

Mail headline two hours later, after lots of critical comments below the article and on Twitter:

The Mail, 'kninkles' and déjà vu

On 6 September 2011, the Mail published an article on the 'curse of wrinkly knees'.

Dubbed 'kninkles' (yes, really), the spiteful article highlighted the celebrity women:

whose knees are rather less perfect than the rest of their physique.

How dare women go out with 'less than perfect knees'? Anyway, the article by Claire Coleman - whose knees are not shown - goes on to point out the 'kninkles' on Jennifer Aniston, Sharon Stone, Elle Macpherson, Catherine Zeta Jones, Kate Moss, Melanie Griffith, Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore and a few others. It quotes a few cosmetic surgery-types who are only too happy to explain what procedures might help with this 'curse'.

Today, the Mail has published a completely different article about:

the dreaded crinkling, pouching and sagging of the knee area which starts when women hit 40.

This article by Jenny Stocks - whose knees are not shown -  goes on to point out the 'kninkles' on Jennifer Aniston, Sharon Stone, Elle Macpherson, Catherine Zeta Jones, Kate Moss, Melanie Griffith, Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore and a few others. It quotes a few cosmetic surgery-types who are only too happy to explain what procedures might help with this 'curse'.

MailOnline was named newspaper website of the year in March.

In a New Yorker article about the Mail and MailOnline, one former Mail journalist told Lauren Collins:  

“I just got fed up with writing picture captions about celebrities’ saggy knees, and thought they were hypocritical and unfair,” she continued. “I thought, I’m going to hell if I keep writing this.”

The Mail on women and their bodies

An article in today's Mail asks:


Perhaps the Mail's website could shed some light on that?

For example, on the website today: Britney Spears looks in 'great shape' showing off her 'fantastic form'.

But on the Mail's website in January: Britney Spears looks 'bloated and unkempt'.

On the Mail's website today: Megan Fox 'cuts a glamorous figure' as she 'saunters around in a low cut dress'.

On the Mail's website last week: Megan Fox looks 'gaunt and skeletal' and 'too skinny'.

On the Mail's website last month: Megan Fox 'could wear a paper bag and look good in it thanks to her enviable physique'.

On the Mail's website in the past: Leona Lewis might be 'dumpy' or might have 'killer curves'. Katy Perry might have 'girth' or a 'voluptuous figure'. A 'curvaceous' woman dares to eat dessert. A woman weighing 9st is ridiculed for her 'blubber'.

And on and on...

There are hundreds of such nasty, pointless articles on the Mail website, which criticise famous people - but particularly famous women - who dare go out in casual clothes, or without make-up or without looking exactly how the mean-spirited hacks on the Mail website demand they look at all times.

And tomorrow's Mail front page refers to the 'raddled mug' of supermodel Kate Moss - in exactly the same space where today's edition asked 'Why do we women HATE our bodies?'

(See also Angry Mob's take on this story, which highlights today's page three feature finding fault with the way Kate Moss looks)

The Mail and body image

In the Daily Mail today:


The article, by Dr Aric Sigman, says:

There has been an 80 per cent rise in young girls being hospitalised with ­anorexia in the past ten years. And body dissatisfaction is affecting younger and younger children.

In a recent study published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, almost half of the three to six-year-old girls surveyed said they worried about being fat.

Yet any serious correlation between visual media and the rise of eating disorders has largely been dismissed. Until now, so-called ‘body politics’ has been a cultural and psychological debate, owned by feminists and eating-disorder therapists. They dismissed blaming the visual media as too simplistic.

However, new research shows there is a much stronger link between visual media and eating disorders. Repeated exposure to images of thin women alters brain function and increases our propensity to develop eating disorders.

He concludes:

Fortunately, more and more scientists and prominent medical bodies are beginning to view the media as playing a major role in eating disorders. The Royal College of Psychiatrists recently issued a statement saying the media propagates ‘unobtainable body ideals’ and that airbrushed images should carry a kite mark.

Whether you believe the argument or not, the fact is the Mail has been happy to publish an article that links media images and eating disorders.

Meanwhile the Mail website has run a 'story' today about 'super-slim' Whitney Port eating an apple (yes, really) in which Daily Mail Reporter writes:

But Whitney could certainly afford to pile up her plate somewhat as her black and grey halternecked bikini showed off her jutting hip bones, and pin-thin legs.

The Mail handily provide nine photos of Port in her bikini so their readers can judge her body for themselves.

Elsewhere, another woman in a bikini was under the Daily Mail Reporter's microscope, this one for being too fat:

Taryn Manning looked super-relaxed as she sunbathed in a metallic purple bikini in Hawaii.

So much so, that she seemed content to let it all hang out, as the Hawaii Five-0 actress's tiny two-piece left little to the imagination...

She sat poolside sipping on a very green cocktail, and was refreshingly un self-conscious despite the fact that her tummy rolls were on display for all to see.

This comes a couple of weeks after Daily Mail Reporter was ludicrously pointing out the 'girth' and 'protruding belly' of Katy Perry.

If the Mail is truly concerned the media's role in how women and girls view themselves and their body shapes, they should start by having a word with their tacky website.

'Girth'

Here's the latest article from 'Daily Mail Reporter' pointing out some totally imagined flaw in a celeb:


It says:

It could well be a trick of the light, combined with an unflattering outfit choice.

But the usually immaculate Katy Perry was looking a little curvier than usual during a concert in Budapest, Hungary, last night.

The 25-year-old star took to the stage in a skin-tight silver rubber dress, which clung in all the wrong place.

With the material buckling around the waist, the figure-hugging design even gave the impression of a protruding belly.

Usually Katy looks a million dollars, but apparently even she has her off days.

Girth. Protruding belly. Off day.

Here's the picture the Mail uses as 'evidence':


'Girth' indeed. Another side-on pic shows absolutely no evidence of a 'protruding belly' (not that it would matter if it did).

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of the people leaving comments are scathing of the Mail's irresponsible line:


(Angry Mob has posted on a similar Mail article, about Pierce Brosnan's 'burgeoning belly'.)

UPDATE: Twelve hours after publication, and following well over 200 extremely critical comments, the words 'protruding belly' have been removed from the article. It was this:

But is now this:


* On a similar theme, it's well worth reading Anton Vowl's post from last week called The Mail, Laura Robson and Cher Lloyd.

Links

The latest migration figures have, predictably, led to a flurry of newspaper articles, not all of them entirely accurate.

Exclarotive looks at a misleading Mail headline while Five Chinese Crackers looks at the article that followed. He has also written two posts looking into claims about England's population density and an earlier piece in the Mail linking immigration to crime.

The discovery of the body of spy Gareth Williams has led to a lot of guesswork from journalists. Minority Thought looks at some of the speculation from the Sun ('it was al-Qaeda') and the Mail, while Primly Stable 'learns' that Williams:

was stabbed, poisoned and strangled to death by a gay-slaying Al-Qaeda agent who was a colleague and a friend and police fear that secrets that were not stolen from his flat could be sold to Britain's enemies.

It's not surprising that Williams' uncle criticised the speculation:

"When you have these rumours in the papers, it is most distressing. It is heartbreaking that he has died so young and his family have enough on their plate without having to read these stories.

"Gareth's parents are not doing well at all. They are in a state of shock and struggling to come to terms with what has happened. They have seen what has been in the papers and they are very, very upset about these untruths."

Unfortunately, as with the Stephen Griffiths case in May, the media seems to relish spreading lurid gossip rather than sticking to the facts.

Indeed, Matt Lucas has launched a legal action against the Daily Mail for an intrusive and untrue article about the death of his former civil partner Kevin McGee:

Lucas contends that close relatives and friends quoted in the story did not make the statements attributed to them and that much of the information was false.

The story claimed Lucas was planning to have a big birthday party. According to the writ, Lucas had already told friends and family he would not celebrate his birthday this year and was out of the country at the time.

The writ said Lucas was particularly distressed by allegations that he blamed himself for McGee’s death and was hosting a party to “let go of the pain”. Both claims were untrue, it said.

Lucas, who instructed London law firm Schillings to act on his behalf, said Associated Newspapers, owner of the Mail, had refused to apologise or accept the story should not have been published.

Meanwhile, the Mirror, Mail and Express have been making exaggerated claims about grapefruit, as Minority Thought reports. The Express' headline stated 'Eat grapefruit to fight off diabetes' although Jo Willey's article later admitted:

to get the beneficial effect, someone would need to eat 400 grapefruits in one sitting.

Moreover, NHS Behind the Headlines pointed out that:

consuming too much grapefruit can interfere with people’s drug treatment and cause harmful effects.

While the Express loves miracle cure stories, the Mail website loves articles pointing out a famous person has lost/gained too much weight. The paper asks today 'Why ARE women so unhappy in their own skin?' (own?). Maybe some of their recent articles, as highlighted by Angry Mob, are to blame?

At Enemies of Reason, Anton has written three posts about mental health. While the Sun has tried to avoid 'bonkers' by using 'zany', 'weird' and 'wacky' instead, the Star has no such qualms about using the word, splashing it all over the front page.

Also from Anton, a post about a Sun front page story reporting a crocodile sighting in the English Channel. Having written two sensationalist articles about the 'killer croc' the Sun should have admitted that it was, in fact, a piece of wood. But it appears to have forgotten to set the record straight.

It's not the only bit of forgetfulness from a Murdoch-owned paper. George Eaton at New Statesman explains how The Times' readers might not have seen the criticisms of Sky from BBC Director-General Mark Thompson during his speech at the Edinburgh Festival because of the paper's selective, partial reporting.

Chris Moyles shouldn't make fat jokes - that's our job, says Mail

The Mail has Chris Moyles in its sights - again - as it weakly attempts to create a new BBC 'controversy'.

The headline is Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles faces backlash from listeners after making offensive 'fat' jokes about Beth Ditto.

It hardly seems news that Moyles - like Jonathan Ross - might make some near-the-knuckle jokes on his programme, but the Mail is only interested in leaping on something minor to try and turn it into some 'BBC outrage'.

But by saying 'faces backlash' they seem to admitting that there isn't an actual 'backlash' they can report on. Usually they pick up some comments from the BBC messageboards or some other forum but none are quoted.

Here's how their article begins:

Chris Moyles has caused controversy by mocking Beth Ditto for being overweight - despite weighing over 16 stone himself.

The Radio 1 DJ angered listeners with his comments about the Gossip singer as he handed over to Fearne Cotton on Wednesday morning.

The joke started when Moyles joked he would look like Ditto if he dressed up in women's clothes, but quickly descended into something altogether more offensive.

But do they really mean 'offensive'?

Because if the Mail's thinks it was all so 'offensive', why do they willingly repeat ten of the 'jokes' he came out with?

Moreover, when it comes to remarks about Ditto's weight, are the Mail really in a position to criticise others?

For example, in March 2009 they said Ditto had:

squeezed herself into the tight-fitting lycra frock, testing its limits almost to the point of destruction.

See? She's so fat she nearly destroys her clothes! Brilliant!

And a few months later, one of their headlines came with a health warning:


She's so fat she'll hurt your eyes! Hilarious!

So is the real reason that the Mail is upset with Moyles because he works for the BBC? Or is it because making petty remarks about Beth Ditto's weight is their job?

All we care about is how a singer looks, not how they sound

Alexandra Burke, winner of last year's X Factor, has switched on Manchester's Christmas lights. The Mail, always keen to report on totally unimportant and uninteresting sleb gossip, is on the case. But rather than Daily Mail Reporter, we have a named journalist - Chris Johnson - writing the article. He begins:

Alexandra Burke certainly knows how to please a crowd.

Oh so she sang well then?

The X Factor winner dazzled during a live performance in a tiny little black dress which showed off her incredibly long legs.

OK, but how was her singing?

She was in Manchester to turn on the city's Christmas lights - but despite plunging temperatures the singer braved the chill in the revealing outfit.

In fact, there isn't a single mention of what she sang or how well she sang it. But they do include an upskirt photo, of the type more often found on the front of the Daily Sport.

And inevitably, the (moderated) comments are mostly about her looks too:

she is the ugliest winner yet, in my opinion and is distracting us with her legs.
- bob, wirral, 14/11/2009 8:53

They are not never-ending legs, someone like Gisele has perfect legs, these are stumpy and chubby, put them away love!!!
- Alycia Channelle, London, 14/11/2009 0:36

CHUNKKKYYY!!
- kriss, fort william, 13/11/2009 23:43

She has horrible legs, too muscly.
- Kate J., london, 13/11/2009 23:22

she looks a bit like a man in drag!
- ?, ?, 13/11/2009 20:31

not flattering at all. she's not got the face or body for the entertainment industry.
- roleen, hertfordshire, 13/11/2009 20:25

Why do so many people feel the need to leave comments like these? And why do the mods feel the need to publish such nasty and unbelievably inane comments?

Especially that last comment from 'Roleen'. Talent doesn't matter - it's only about how the face and body looks. But is that any surprise when that is all the Mail ever focuses on?

One other comment says:

Thought she was supposed to sing. Silly me.
- Keith Spencer, Derby, 14/11/2009 7:47

She is singing. The mic in her hand is a bit of a giveaway. But Keith, like Johnson and the Mail and many, many others are only interested in judging her on how she looks, not on what she's doing.

Recommended reads

An interesting article from Greg Mitchell about media coverage of the Fort Hood killings. When the Times used the headline The mother who brought down the Fort Hood killer, Roy Greenslade wrote:

I really thought we had got beyond the stage of describing women in such terms.

Now it appears that Sgt Mark Todd, not Kimberly Munley, may have been the person who actually shot Maj Hasan, thus stopping his rampage. Mitchell asks:

Just coincidence that a white woman got the credit over a black male?

Elsewhere, following on from the Express' bizarre front page about tea, where research funded by the Tea Council came to the staggering conclusion that tea is good for you, Nadia spotted a similar story in the Telegraph about eggs. Turns out, British Lion Eggs are saying eggs keep women trim. Must be true then.

Nadia has also mentioned a grotesque request from the Daily Mail for 10-14 year olds with body hang-ups to get in touch for a feature. This from the same paper that just a few days ago was - as Angry Mob pointed out - snidely remarking that Beth Ditto is not stick thin. And is always making fun of people if they are either too thin or too fat.

Also at Angry Mob, Uponnothing highlights that last week, Littlejohn used two of his favourite devices again - comparing events to a TV show, and the 'hilarious' imaginary conversation. He really is worth every penny.

Actress in bikini gets Mail's attention (shock)

The Mail website's latest news-free picture story of a famous woman in a bikini comes in the form of Christina Ricci shows off new boyfriend and a stunning bikini body on Miami Beach minibreak.

Ricci, apparently, 'stunned fellow beachgoers' as she 'flaunted a fantastic figure' notes Daily Mail Reporter before leeringly observing 'she was forced to readjust her bikini top as she stepped out of the surf.'

Her body is described as 'stunning' and 'enviably thin' just to reinforce the impression the Mail thinks very thin is the only 'enviable' body shape.

But could this be the same 'stunning' body as the one they said was covered in 'tacky tattoos' a year ago?

And the same 'stunning' body that they tried to make was underweight when they referred to her 'increasingly thin frame' in an article with several references to Ricci's eating disorders?

Becasue her body shape and size looks much the same in all three articles.

Mail has amnesia as it complains about 'fatism'

Lead story on the Mail website at time of writing is this:


Imagine that. Picking on someone just because they might be bigger than stick thin. The Mail is right to be outraged.

It's not as if the Mail would do such bullying. Like accusing a 9 stone woman of having 'blubber'.

Or calling Britney Spears fat with 'thick arms and thighs' and telling her it's 'time for a diet', saying John Travolta is 'obese' or describing Leona Lewis as 'dumpy'.

And the Mail certainly wouldn't dream of calling someone 'imperfect' because they have 'piled on the pounds' and have a 'cellulite riddled physique'.

'Horrific' indeed.

Mail points at and laughs at the 'blubber' on 9st woman

Big Brother winner Sophie Reade has done a photoshoot for Ann Summers today. She's blonde, got big breasts, and was on a reality television show - inevitably, she's on the Mail website again.

But as she's posing in lingerie, it gives the infamous Daily Mail Reporter chance to have a go at her weight. Not that they cared when she they were leering over her wrestling, in her bikini, in oil.

At 5ft 5, and 9 stone, Reade is, according to height/weight charts, the recommended weight for her height.

But the Mail knows best. They accuse of her having

blubber

and a

rounded tummy.

She doesn't have either. Is it even possible to describe a nine-stone twenty-year-old as having 'blubber'? Nonetheless, they sneer, she:

was still handed the chance to model Ann Summers underwear.

The use of the word 'still' in that sentence is as if the Mail can't believe someone they think is so unsightly can be an underwear model.

And yet, somehow, that doesn't stop them using four pictures of her in her pants (plus three others from her time on Big Brother).

They mention she was 7st 11 before her Big Brother stint, which puts her on the cusp of being under-weight. But that seems to be how they like their girls, because going from that weight to 9 stone means she has:

piled on more than a stone

and her weight has

ballooned.

Just so we can all see what the Mail clearly thinks is an unacceptable weight, here's Sophie's 'blubbery' tummy:
Hideous...

Clearly Sophie should be more like Kim Kardashian, who was back on the Mail website today with her two sisters.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians sure is hard work

the article begins, although the Mail website tries its best to keep up with every pointless move they make. The 'news' this time? They were at the opening of a cupcake shop.

Martin 'news is far more important to us than showbiz' Clarke must be so proud.

Sun calls singer 'huge'; she isn't

'Mariah Carey is a huge star', sneers The Sun, in an article so pointlessly critical about a famous person's weight it could easily have appeared on the Mail website.

'Three dancers struggle to lift Mariah Carey,' it says, illustrated with this picture:
Which shows two lifting her quite easily.

The accompanying words read:

Wow, MARIAH CAREY seems to have put on some serious timber judging by these pictures.

I feel for the three dancers straining to lift the diva's junk-laden trunk...

Looking at the combined muscle the blokes had to use to hoist her off the ground, it might be better for Mariah to stick to floor routines from now on.

She's getting too heavy to Carey.

Nice. Of course, just a quick look at that pic shows Carey isn't anything like as 'heavy' or 'huge' as they make out.

Indeed, they admitted as much a couple of weeks ago, when they wrote:

the singer was on fine natural form at a screening of her new movie Precious in Toronto last night.

Clad in a black dress highlighting her actual boobs, Mariah proved she doesn't need computer geeks to make her look hot.

Still, got to make a narrative out of the photos they have bought somehow.

The Mail obsession with Britney's weight

Britney Spears has been photographed in a bikini, and needless to say the Mail is printing all the pics because it's in the public interest (good for bumping up the website hits). But what have they decided about her weight this time?

Well, she's back to her 'former glory' and has won the 'battle of the bulge'. Whereas last time she

looked bigger around the middle and both her thick arms and thighs betrayed her continuing passion for fast food.

The story even includes this entirely hopeless paragraph:

And just last month the singer hit the stage in Paris last month looking less than svelte.

Typing one handed has that effect.

Now let's just look at two pics of Britney, from the Mail's articles. The last time, when she was fat and needed a diet she looked like this:

And now she has 'won the battle and shed the excess pounds' she looks like this:
See the huge differences? It's amazing she even got out her front door in the morning before.

All this, of course, just one day after the Mail article about the pressure on how women should look.

Blame the 'magazines' for judging women, says Mail

With a complete lack of self-awareness, sometime Mail columnist William Leith has written on a subject close the Mail's heart - the female body.

Leith was talking to a female friend:

Something, she said, is making women hate their bodies. And the problem is getting worse...

Every day, women are bombarded with the same message - you have to be more beautiful than you were the day before...

Figures must be slim, but also voluptuous. They must be worked on, but must also look natural...

This female body-hatred has got out of hand. You can see it in magazines in the newsagents. From a distance, the predominant colour is the tawny-pink of perfect female flesh. And then, inside the magazines, you get all those features about cellulite, bingo wings and muffin tops...

Something, she said, is making women hate their bodies.

Something is behind all these airbrushed breasts and jutting bottoms.

How ironic. And all the fault of those 'magazines in the newsagents'. Obviously the Mail would never comment on a woman's cellulite.

No, those articles on Fergie, Jerry Hall, Mischa Barton, Martine McCutcheon and Jennifer Lopez were all in 'magazines in the newsagents'.

And they would never write about bingo wings. Just look at the articles on Madonna, Anne Robinson and Sarah Harding to prove that. Nor would they repeatedly offer advice on how to get rid of bingo wings. Oh no.

And you would never find the Mail calling perfectly normal, healthy looking women fat and unsightly, or catching them without make-up and holding them up as a figure of fun, as they definitely haven't with Britney Spears, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kate Winslet (Call your stylist, Kate! Oscar winner Winslet steps out with scraped-back hair and NO make-up).

So the paper and its website that is always judging women based solely on their appearance is now wondering why some women may feel pressurised about how they look.

Imagine that.

Taking the Michael

It's not just women that the Mail website picks on over their weight. Now it's the turn of John Travolta to be the target. The headline 'Obese is the word: Recluse Travolta piles on the pounds' may be worded for the (feeble) pun, but to call Travolta 'obese' is quite absurd.

And the idea a 55 year old man isn't in the same shape as he was 22 years ago is ridiculous.

For once, this isn't a story by 'Daily Mail Reporter' so we can name and shame Simon Cable for writing such rubbish.

Recommended

Two excellent posts from Anton about topics covered here many times - the rather creepy leering over Emma Watson, and the Mail's obsession with highlighting fluctuations in Mischa Barton's weight (yes, her too).

Mail tells woman to go on diet

A few days after its article on BDD, the Mail has decided to make light of such issues, with another nasty and frankly irresponsible attack on Britney Spears' weight.

'Who ate all the croissants?' they ask, pointing their finger at the 'distinctly fuller figured' Britney as she arrived in Paris for some concerts:

After finishing the British leg of her world tour Britney Spears took a well-earned two-week break. But it appears that the holiday has had an impact on her figure - with Britney looking distinctly fuller-figured as she took to the stage in Paris. The singer's thighs and arms looked larger than before.

They include a series of pictures of her looking as if she's in fairly normal shape for her height. One of them includes the caption: 'Time for a diet?'

Thankfully, the comments also think the Mail is being ridiculous with almost every one of the nearly 30 left so far critical of the story:

• no wonder women feel constantly worried about their shapes and sizes, if someone the size of britney is criticised for being 'overweight'.
• She is what at the most a size ten!!! Come on people get a grip!!! This is what a normal sized person looks like!!
• "Time for a diet?" & "Who ate all the croissants?" Really? Are you kidding me?
• That's a "full figure"? God help the rest of us!

Of course, the Mail has form on this. In contrast to saying she has put on weight in the last two weeks, the paper was claiming back on 16 March that Britney was 'noticeably wider in the waist'. And on 5 March that she was 'bigger than ever' with a 'rather fuller figure'. In other words, her weight hasn't really changed over the last several months - she certainly doesn't look much different in the pics.

But the Mail knows that photos of Britney in stockings, boots and corsets will go down well with the their middle aged male readers, and thus they have to dream up an angle so it doesn't look like they are just using them so they can have a perv.

But it seems hard to believe the Mail feels it is perfectly acceptable to tell a young woman who looks normal, fit and healthy that it's time for her to diet.

Recommended reading

5CC finds the latest James Slack classic isn't all it's cracked up to be (surprise) - Britain isn't more violent than US, South Africa or anywhere else in Europe.

Over at Angry Mob, Lois Lane has written about the Mail's article on Body Dysmorphic Disorder - ironic given the Mail's obsession with finding fault with the look - and especially weight - of celebrities (such as Leona Lewis and Jennifer Love Hewitt). And their bizarre fascination with knees.

Meanwhile Uponnothing posts on the Mail's latest Facebook scare - it nearly destroyed a marriage!

At Enemies of Reason, Anton comments on the differences with 'final photos' of Diana and Michael Jackson, courtesy of Richard Desmond; and on the latest PC ban on crucifix nonsense.

Lady Scamp finds the Mail is now making stories out of the comments left on their other stories.

Recommended reads

The Daily Quail highlights the Mail's report on the fact white boys are doing worse than almost every other ethnic group in school. And it's all the fault of the immigrants.

Excellent sarcasm, also from Daily Quail, about the Mail's ridiculous fault-finding of Megan Fox and her, ahem, 'toe-like' thumbs. Which they didn't notice when she was bent over a motorbike or when they were ogling her boobies just recently.

While Sun Lies reveals the latest bit of homophobia from the Sun.