I rarely agree with Tracy Clark-Flory but she is the only person involved with Broadsheet that will ever admit to mistakes and for that I have admiration. Hell, she is about the only one that will update stories and interact with the commentators. What I found most interesting about this retraction is that Broadsheet apparently has an editor. The original story is all the fault of this editor for first pushing the story than not doing some fact checking by say calling the GQ or the photographer or maybe Jone's agent or PR firm to get a comment. It is this lazy ass editing style that is by far the single biggest fault of broadsheet. There are way to many stories that lack reporting be it the writer actually reading studies that they are commenting on, contacting and interviewing subjects, or even getting basic facts about stories correct.

And by “fat,” we mean “reality.”

The first step in defining an enemy is dehumanizing them and here broadsheet says skinny women are not real people. Why oh why is it always fat versus skinny with broadsheet? Why is it that broadsheet that always jumps to sexism on health issues implying that the only way to be a real women is for a women to have a body type that is statistically more likely to have health issues? BS is quick to claim that any image of a skinny women is likely to be a bad influence (and how degrading to the intelligence of women this line is) but you want women to get type 2 diabetes and joint pains.

But hey, if tabloids are going to make their bones off women who have the temerity to gain a few extra pounds -- shouldn't women profit, too?

And how do these tabloids make money could it be by meeting the demands of their consumers? If the consumers did not care about celebrities (and that term is used loosely here with a former c level star from over a decade ago) weight gain than the tabloids would move back to baby stories or who is sleeping with whom.

Which all leads to refuting this "then at least a nice dose of female empowerment".

No, its not female empowerment since well its females that demand stories about former celebrities getting fat.

Is there really a need for a tampon critique in broadsheet every 6 months or so? What is the problem the product or the advertisement? If it is a product good luck finding a movement of real world women wanting to buy new cloths every month or feeling empowered by blood stains. If its the ads what would you suggest as this is how many embarrassing products from diarrhea medications to condoms are advertised.

Because she was able to quickly rebound to a pre-pregnancy weight she should hide from the world because others will be sad and mad because of leaking breast or something. Why is it ok for broadsheet to attack women that are attractive, famous and/or skinny?

Here is a women that has been wildly successful and proof positive that women not only can succeed in the board room but become icons. She has overseen Playboy Enterprises though 3 paradigm shifts in the industry and has continued to see profits until the last couple years. More than that she is a leader in first amendment issues, issues surrounding choice and AIDS. If I had a girl this is who I would want her to look up too.

The study only deals with the United States of America because the issue only deals with the United States of America. The issue being the clear difference between the POPULATIONS born in winter months and the POPULATIONS born in other months. Lets stay here for a minute. Because you where born in December means nothing because you are part of a Population not a population. Just like how a number of people can be wealthy even though they live in Hatti, but the population as a whole is poor. And there can be poor people in Monaco even though the population as a whole is rich. The population differences between winter and non winter kids are not even that great but there is a significant difference. All this survey did was to say that around half of the observed differences in these populations can be explained by the higher number of lower income single mothers having kids. If this holds up this is no different than the explanation (poverty) why kids in Mississippi have greater issues than kids born in Massachusetts. Again, does not mean if you are born in Miss you can't win a Noble award or if you are born in Mass you can't become a junkie.

Only fire can prevent fires.

So Smokey the Bear is a fire apologist that is taking part in victim blaming? I feel so much better now, I have been blaming myself for years because the "fire culture" has been telling me that it is my fault I got burnt by a lighter by telling me "safety" tips like don't run with it in my hand.

For real, I wish I wrote that response.