"Headless fatties"

I know, I know, I've been slacking off the blog lately.  This week, I moved to a new place AND started a new job.  Ahh!  Still, I really appreciate all the warm feedback on the blog and the interesting articles that you all have been sending me.  Thanks for the support, and for caring.

Today, I want to call attention to a phenomenon of which you are well aware, but might have never given any thought.

credit commonhealth.wbur.org

The "headless fatty" stock image.

Look, they even caught that sugary drink bottle.

Come on, I know you've seen these pictures before.

credit CharlotteCooper.net

credit metro.us

For me, it's evocative of the way major news outlets have to block out the eyes of prisoners for legal reasons, except that the headless fatty phenomenon sends a different message.  These aren't people with stories.  The news outlets that are responsible for broadcasting these images are objectifying fat people to be held in contempt and disgust.  They are erasing their humanity in order to make the same, tired points.  And oh, do we absorb their fat-shaming messages.

We are spoon-fed images about what constitutes "very fat".  We connect the information from these reports with people whose lives do not intersect with our own, that we free to hold in contempt. It's easy to for us to ridicule these faceless bodies.

And it doesn't seem to matter whether it's a news story about obesity in America or an empowering article written by a fat person. 

credit deathandtaxesmag.com

This image is a little different than the others.  The fat woman is facing the camera and wearing a cute dress.  She is smiling as she gets a romantic kiss on the cheek.

Why don't they show her whole face?  Is the photographer reclaiming the headless fatty, and showing that she is allowed to be happy and fulfilled?

Still, show me what else you got, internet . . .

credit CharlotteCooper.net

credit antidieter.wordpress.com

credit current.com

credit shakesville.com

credit upstreamdownstream.org

credit rioiriri.blogspot.com

UPDATE: I meant to include the link to Charlotte Cooper's essay that originated the term "headless fatty".  It's not very long and it's very eloquently written.  You can find it here.