Why is everybody raving about Beth Ditto’s body lately? The Gossip’s frontwoman, whose band is slated to perform at the Capitol Hill Block Party July 25, has recently been given the Barbie treatment and featured naked on the cover of Love

magazine. SW’s Mike Seely got a lot of flack from folks when he suggested last winter that an obsese Aretha Franklin was a bad choice to sing at Obama’s Inauguration. I think Ditto is a far worse offense in that she flaunts her “curves” and attempts to spew wisdom on why it’s okay to be huge. Last time I checked, being overweight leads to a lot of health problems. And Ditto, pictured on the left, is a heart attack waiting to happen. I’m no poster child for health myself. I eat fast food far too many times a week and haven’t been to a gym in over three years. But I don’t parade my offenses as feminist victories either. I applaud Ditto’s efforts to defy conventional female beauty standards. But to tell girls that it’s okay to be fat is well, really fucking irresponsible. Ditto needs to stick with music and skip the preaching on body image because it’s a bunch of bull.