The diet industry has exploited our health fears for centuries – here’s how

Food companies have a new way to make money: the obesity crisis. It’s just the latest chapter that follows the Tudor corset craze and 20th century ‘sweater girls’

I thought I was unlovable because I was fat, but now I am free

After struggling with body image my entire life, my journey has switched from one of weight loss to one of life gain

Thanks, Jamelia, for your nasty judgment of fat people. We’ve heard it all before

Here’s a translation of Jamelia’s supposedly well-meaning rant on Loose Women: ‘I think you’re unacceptable as you are, and I don’t like it’

Fitspo: how strong became the new skinny

Health has become fetishised on social media by ‘fitspiration’ devotees posting pictures of ‘clean’ food and gym-tight abs. But does the trend inspire better living – or is it promoting a new form of body fascism?

I had anorexia – but not because I wanted to look like a fashion model

A French plan to ban skinny women from the catwalk ignores the fact that anorexia is an illness. We need to look at the causes not outcomes of self-loathing

Facebook removes ‘feeling fat’ status option and emoji after campaign

Social network responds to petition from anti-body shaming group to get rid of status option and double-chin emoji

What is the average penis size? Find out with this interactive graphic

A new study has produced a chart to determine where a man’s penis size falls in relation to the rest of the population

Leonard Nimoy’s photographs of fat, naked women changed my life

The late actor’s Full Body Project was bold and radical. It was the first time I’d seen women like me presented as objects of beauty instead of punchlines

Yoko Ono and Madonna both fight ageism – in radically different ways

Ono and Madonna have both felt the sharp edge of the ageism stick recently. Is it too much to hope that an artist can be loved for who she is?

It’s not Cindy Crawford’s job to fix our Photoshop culture

When someone else’s photos leak without their permission, it’s an invasion of privacy. Why not this time?