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Over at Strange Horizons, author Karen Healey has an amazing essay about body transformations in young adult fiction. She looks at adolescent physical changes in several novels, including the Twilight series. Vamp-loving hero Bella, she argues, is hardly passive. More »
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This chart compares the body mass index (BMI) of superheroes in Marvel comics with those of typical American women and men. Researchers Karen Healey and Terry Johnson used physical stats from Marvel's Web site to show that the vast majority of female superheroes are underweight, though the males are mostly normal. Just to remind you, in the BMI scale, below 18.5 is underweight, 18.5-24.9 is normal, and over 25 is overweight. Healey's analysis of what this means is hilarious and thought-provoking. More »
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