Elizabeth Licorish

Elizabeth Licorish is a freelance writer and author from Philadelphia. She wrote and co-authored Innovation for Underdogs in 2008. In 2012, she wrote and edited Charles Manson Now. She received her MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University. Whenever she's not writing, draining chain cups of coffee, or cleaning the cookie crumbs out of her computer keyboard, she's either running in circles or sprawled out over her yoga mat.

September 2, 2015

Health and Fitness

High heels are deathtraps, not a rite of passage: Why we need to #freethefeet

by Elizabeth Licorish

If a woman (or man) desires to wear high heels, that should, by all means, be his or her prerogative. But it’s important to understand the acute and chronic health risks associated with shoes designed to forcibly alter a person’s natural physiology, posture and gait. And yet, in our society, the choice to wear high heels often isn’t a choice at all.

August 24, 2015

Fat shaming

Are fitness transformations a form of fat shaming?

by Elizabeth Licorish

Last Friday, the Internet went wild over a new “skinny acceptance” initiative called “Project Harpoon,” whose creators Photoshop pictures of plus size models and celebrities like Melissa McCarthy, Rebel Wilson, and Tess Holliday to fit culturally imposed beauty standards. Project Harpoon even sunk so low as to nab Instagram photos from everyday women and digitally hack them to pieces, too.

August 19, 2015

Lifestyle

The 10,000 Calorie Challenge: Is competitive eating’s spectacle becoming mainstream?

by Elizabeth Licorish

Who isn’t enthralled with the incongruity of competitive eating? In a clash between the waiflike and the morbidly obese, the waiflike almost always inhale the most hot dogs, wings and chili cheese fries. For instance, the insatiable, 105-pound Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas consistently out-gorges men four times her size, once polishing off an entire Thanksgiving turkey in 10 minutes.

August 11, 2015

Feminism

Kiran Gandhi’s marathon menstruation was a smashing success

by Elizabeth Licorish

This week, Kiran Gandhi, Harvard Business grad and traveling drummer for M.I.A., made headlines for running the 2015 London Marathon while menstruating freely.

August 5, 2015

Fitness

Lena Dunham knows fitness works best when you #moveforyourmind

by Elizabeth Licorish

Sprinting down that deserted, suburban street, in a pair of worn-out Reeboks, I outran the dinner plates my parents flung at each other, the insults classmates hurled at me about my buckteeth, my bad mushroom cut.

July 30, 2015

Fitness

Obsessed with baby bodies: Why we project our body shame onto babies

by Elizabeth Licorish

Why do we project our body shame onto babies? Is it because they can’t talk back? Is it because we think they won’t remember? Are babies really oblivious to societal pressure?

July 23, 2015

Social Media

#Bodycheck yourself, wreck yourself: Why Instagram wants you to hate yourself

by Elizabeth Licorish

Instagram’s #curvy prohibition represents institutionalized body shaming at its worst, especially considering the platform continues to allow #thin and #skinny, though, like similarly permissible hashtags #anorexia and #bulimia, they come with a generic National Eating Disorders Association-approved mental health disclaimer.

July 13, 2015

Media

Is sexualizing Serena Williams the best way to defend her womanhood?

by Elizabeth Licorish

The Internet rallied behind J.K. Rowling Saturday when she smacked down a random Internet troll named “Rob” who claimed Serena Williams won her sixth Wimbledon title because she is “built like a man.”

July 9, 2015

Lifestyle

Why are women the keepers of Hollywood’s diet “secrets”?

by Elizabeth Licorish

Disbelief is the foundation of envy that keeps us hooked on celebrity gossip, desperate to shell out $5 for the latest flimsy tabloid magazine. We tremble with anticipation for the next elite diet tip to drop.

July 1, 2015

Lifestyle

Dear female athletes: Please don’t follow Tara Lipinski’s 1,200-calorie diet

by Elizabeth Licorish

Glancing at Tara Lipinski's itemized intake, I learned she considers two Hershey’s Kisses and a can of diet cola a “cheat snack.” She, like many celebrity diet gurus, employs the words “balance” and “moderation” as euphemisms for “extremism” and “deprivation.”