Melissa A. Fabello

Melissa A. Fabello

Bio

Melissa A. Fabello is a sexuality educator, body image and eating disorder activist, and media literacy vlogger based out of Philadelphia. She currently works as a Managing Editor of Everyday Feminism and is a PhD candidate in Human Sexuality Studies. Follow her on Twitter @fyeahmfabello.

Melissa A. Fabello Articles

blogging circa 1920.

So You Wanna Be a Feminist Blogger: 5 Steps to Get You Closer to That Dream

As much as I can appreciate any excited person exclaiming that they love “FEMINISM,” that doesn’t really leave me with much to go off of when considering whether or not they’d be a good fit for a position.

Read...

6 Things About Eating Disorders That You Probably Actually Really Don’t Know

"A common response that folks struggling with eating disorders hear is something along the lines of “Just eat,” “Just stop purging,” or “Just stop overeating.” And that’s akin to telling someone with depression to “Cheer up” or someone with anxiety to “Calm down.” That is: It’s not effective. At all. It’s actually kind of offensive."

Read...
Fat isn't bad.

3 Tiny Ways That Thin People Can Shift Their Language To Support Fat Acceptance

So you’re on a diet, and you’re really pumped about it. You truly, honestly believe that you’re—say—“getting your body back” post-partum (that’s a harmful concept) or improving your fitness a la the latest technological tracking device (that’s also a harmful concept). And while I think we need to throw a lot of these ideas in the trash, I’m also understanding of how diet culture makes you believe that these are good things – things, in fact, to brag about.

Read...
Two words: Manny Santos. Image: TeenNick.

I Just Finished Rewatching Degrassi – 3 Reasons Why It Made My Feminist Heart Burst

Street harassment. Eating disorders. Rape — three times, including one storyline that involved Zoe being sexually violated at a party by two star athletes who filmed the assault and distributed the video online. Intimate partner violence. Sexist school dress codes. Police brutality and racial profiling. Islamophobia. Sexting and child pornography.

Read...
School. Stress.

5 Ways to Keep Your Eating Disorder Recovery In Check When The Stress Of School Gets Serious

I finally looked at my syllabus today. It’s been sitting in my inbox for over a week, flashing at me to find out what I have to look forward to this upcoming fall semester – which books I need to buy (and how much money I’m going to drop on them), how many assignments I’ll be graded on, what I need to have prepared before our first class meeting.

Read...
long distance love . . . it's possible.

Long Distance Dates: How To Date Your Partner 3,000 Miles Away

Another awesome idea, whether the relationship is new or established, is to look at a sexual inventory checklist (like this one). The list goes through different sexual situations that are important to discuss with a partner – from body boundaries to birth control and safer sex options to what you’ve done, what you’d like to try, and what’s a big “no” for you. It’s a great, less-awkward avenue to talking about sex in a big way and to understand one another’s needs more intimately.

Read...

7 Tips For Surviving A Long-Distance Relationship

Dirty talk takes practice, but practice makes perfect. And watching your partner orgasm over video is almost as satisfying as it is in real life. I promise.

Read...

Sexual Fluidity: Queer, Straight, And Anything Else You're Feeling

Right now, today, as of writing this, I identify as queer. But I didn’t always.

Read...

For Love Of Pizza: How My Anorexia Revealed Itself

“I don’t have a problem,” I repeated, this time with my voice raised. And then, spitting defiance, “You’re just jealous.”

Read...