gay, smoking, fat

Whew, happy hurricane aftermath.  Is everyone okay?  I'm happy to report that I did not lose power, and in fact spent my Monday watching almost the entire second season of this glorious show:



RuPaul's Drag Race!  The most perfect application of the reality tv format that this world has ever seen.  And besides all the (staged) backstage fights, absurd challenges, and just incredible camp, I love that Logo, the (queer) channel that hosts the show, features moments of the queens talking about their experiences being gay and how doing drag has helped them after rough childhoods.

While I had that thought stewing in the back of my brain, I spent a lot of time today browsing Dave Eggers and Jordan Kurland's site, 90 Days, 90 Reasons, where 90 different writers and performing artists have written short essays on why they are voting for Barack Obama.  I came across Lemony Snicket's essay, which features jaw-dropping quotes from GOP politicians, including this one:

I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.

We can credit Mike Huckabee with this quote.  He said it in 1992, an important year in the AIDS epidemic, when many, less extreme people shared this same belief.  It made me think about changing public perceptions of fatness: on one end of the spectrum we have fat advocates who equate fat hatred with the passe belief that homosexuality was an immoral choice/ communicable disease; and on the other, fatness is like smoking; a bad choice for your health that we should shame and legislate around as much as possible.

Ah, obesity, the next great public health disaster.  Are fat people just "born that way"?  Or are they a product of some giant obesity lobby?  By the way, there is no such thing.

If you read Huckabee's quote out loud and change the word "homosexuality" to "obesity", does it feel natural for you to say?

The most problematic part of this comparison, and Mike Huckabee's wording, is that the idea of fatness is that it's "sinful" - morally reprehensible.  (Uh, it's not.  Prepare for a post on that soon.)  And that it's contagious.  (That is also untrue.)

So yes, as you can imagine, I fall into the camp that wants to push the stigmatization of fat people where it belongs, in the past, with the unfair stigmatization of homosexuality.  Which I believe is not incompatible with a productive dialogue about health that includes every one, regardless of sex, size, or income level.

Okay.  Looking on the other end of the spectrum, we have condescending reactionaries who write garbage articles like this one and think they are so clever.  The beginning of the article actually sounds like a satire, or a critique of the many ways in which we already shame fat people, but by golly the man is serious.  It stresses me out to think that this writer represents the epitome of what we're up against; a complete ignorance of what fatness is/means, an unwillingness to accept that shame is not an effective motivator and a handful of crude fat jokes.

We've already tried shame.  It doesn't work.

Quick post: Fascinating Diabetes Study Results

I saw this New York Times article linked in several places on my news feed in the past few days:

Diabetes Study Ends Early with a Surprising Result

Really fascinating.  Even though the experts quoted in the article don't reject diet and weight loss, this study will be important in challenging the perceptions of people that size is not the driving factor between heart disease and stroke in adults with Type II Diabetes.

Wacky fat people in movies

If you're reading this blog, you're probably a good friend of mine.  And if you're a good friend of mine, you probably already know about the Bechdel test.  But if not, now would be a great time to educate yourself!  So that's where this post is starting today.

To summarize, the Bechdel test gauges female presence in a movie.  In order to pass, two women with names must talk to each other about something other than a man.  For more information, you can visit bechdeltest.com.

You just can't deny this test.  It doesn't sound like that much to ask!

The Bechdel test isn't used to show whether a movie is feminist or not; it just has two female characters, with names, that talk about anything other than a man.  And I'm not boycotting movies that don't pass the Bechdel test - some of the greatest films I have ever seen do not fit the criteria.  But movies do not become great because of their lack of female presence, they become great in spite of it.

It's so important for movies to portray women depicted as people, with people issues, displaying depth of character and personal growth, rather than women people, with women problems, either static, nagging, or fully-formed and perfectly wise, inspiring the worship and growth of the rest of the cast.  Either way, movies lacking female characters run the risk of portraying women who lack depth, even humanity, and fall victim to crude stereotypes.

But stupid comedies aside, we do have a lot of serious movies that capture women as flawed, complex, interesting people who face tough decisions and experience emotions all across the spectrum.

(April, "Revolutionary Road")

(Ree, "Winter's Bone")

(Marge Gunderson, "Fargo")

(Thelma & Louise, I'mserious)

These are all leading characters.  They are (usually) White and (come on, this is Hollywood we're talking about) thin.

What happens when we get a fat women (and often a fat man) character in a movie?  I mean, when we actually see them.  Well, we see fat men more often than fat women.  But when they do make an appearance, they are played for laughs, not for depth.  Or if we're lucky, depth comes much later on.

Hollywood starts us out early, with Disney movies:

Here's Aladdin's (albeit strong) woman (of color):

(I can never find those Disney princesses just standing like normal people, GAH.)

Not that Aladdin is without his haughty, enchanting, exotic female admirers:

But, inevitably .  .  . it's all fun and games until the fat lady, well, sings.

Then there's this movie, which was considered a triumph for the portrayal of a fat woman in a comedy:

(Megan, "Bridesmaids")

Eventually, Megan turns out to be engaging, wonderful, and quite lovable.  But man does she have to prove herself.  In her first few scenes, she is overly talkative and exceedingly strange.  (Although for me, with my brother's wedding pending, unexpectedly relatable.)  There's that scene on the airplane where she makes a total scene - but turns out to be justified.  And of course, in the trailer, she's the only one shown to have gastrointestinal issues in that one horrifically gross scene, where everyone is. . . well, I don't want to give anything away.

Maybe the movie's crowning triumph is that it features TWO fat women:

Oh, yeah, not weird at all.

Don't get me wrong, I really loved Bridesmaids.  And I thought both fat characters were hysterical and well-acted.  Buttttt why is it ALWAYS the fat girl with the absurdly strange/downright toxic personality?

It's interesting, when I googled "comedies with fat characters", of which I know there are so many, for some reason I kept seeing Martin Lawrence as Big Momma and Martin Lawrence again in "Norbit".

"Norbit"

Yes, these are revoltingly dumb films, but there is an old precedent for shaming fat women in movies as comedic gold.  And these less blatant nods to our society's fat hate, those quick laugh, largely un-google-able moments, exist in cult movies, great movies, movies that I grew up watching and love.

I tried to find the kissing booth scene from Revenge of the Nerds, but all I could find was this quote:

Lewis: [in line at the Kissing Booth at the Homecoming Carnival] Hi, Betty. 
Betty Childs, Pi-Delta-Pi: A nerd? I'm not kissing a nerd. 
Lewis: You have to. I paid my money. 
Betty Childs, Pi-Delta-Pi: [Lewis tries to kiss Betty] It's time for my break. 
Stan Gable: [Stan brings a short, fat, ugly woman, instead] Kiss this, nerd. 

Ugh.  And once again, I loved that movie.  But yuck.  They bring the same actress into several scenes, the terrifying fatty who scares all the nice boys away.

Then there's stuff like this, that just confounds me:

I wasn't too into The Hangover because of stuff like this.  Is the line "it's funny because he's fat!" supposed to be funny because he's fat?  Or because it's offensive and the token Asian character is saying it?  Or the situation is not funny but his saying that makes it funny?  I don't get it.  Did people laugh at this?

I offer these crude examples as a small, obvious portions of a fat-shaming whole, where almost every comedy I have ever seen includes a fat person, even in the smallest of roles, who is quirky, off-beat, incompetent, lazy, mean-spirited, and a general laughingstock.

In a later post, I hope to return to movies that deal with fatness in a more balanced way.  I wish I could go more in depth, but I'm not really a movie buff.  In the meantime, help me out, comment and leave a comedy that played a fat person for big laughs.

Quick post: sick of targeting garbage media

Hey every one, a quick update.  (I heard that sigh of relief.)  If you go through the archives of this blog, you might see some small changes.  That's because I'm trying to tighten up the style of the blog and, more importantly, make it more rigorous.  So, adding links and avoiding sentence constructions like "I have heard".

In the meantime, I have a few posts in the works.  And I've been thinking a lot about something I said about mass-produced media in my previous entry: "These blatantly fat-hating, insipid forms of media are not worth my time and energy to attack."  (Once again, is it tacky to quote myself?  As long as I'm not using it for self-promotion, it's fine, right?)

I realize that a huge and especially stupid chunk of fat hatred comes from tabloid-style magazines and newspapers, idiotic movies with an entire cast of one-dimensional characters, daytime television shows targeted towards women with a heavy corporate sponsorship/emphasis on dieting, anti-size acceptance bloggers with about as much credibility as me, etc, etc.  And while I've decided that they are not worth attacking, I'm trying to find the line between credible media and idiotic media.

And I realize how snooty and privileged that sounds.  I'm sure there is a line, but it's thick and blurry.  And I'm trying to find it.

But at the same time, maybe it doesn't make a difference.  Any thoughts on what's worthy of my attention?

We could all stand to lose a few pounds

AHA!

I love that feeling of epiphany.

It came to me today when I was thinking about something that my dad had said about my blog.

He agreed with me that the media's incessant harping on weight loss is disproportionately targeted at women.  But he also insisted that these are insipid, low-class forms of media, and the fact that people are taken in and swayed by it is a symptom of another problem: the dumbing-down of America.

I may not like it, but I understand the core of his argument.  And yes, it's annoying to scroll down a reputable website showing me an image of an acai berry on the side, or a cartoonish woman in profile with her belly rapidly inflating and deflating, or either of these, really:







And I'm not even going to address tabloids whose survival depends on their depiction of celebrity weight gains and losses.  These blatantly fat-hating, "insipid" forms of media are not worth my time and energy to attack.

And right now, I'm going to leave aside the issue of the fact that fat people with normal personalities are not allowed to exist in TV shows and movies.  Today I'm going to talk about reputable, mainstream media.  They do not singlehandedly shoulder the responsibility for fat hate, or spawning an endless network of feel-better-look-younger-road-to-a-happier-thinner-better-you websites and magazines.

(Don't get me started on articles like this one, which suggest that fat people who are comfortable with their bodies are somehow setting a dangerous example for the rest of us.  But I digress.)

But they are complicit in the "every one can afford to lose a few pounds" (ECATLAFP) phenomenon, folks.  It's particularly scary; now fat people are not the target, I am the target!  Or else I might be fat one day?  Or else I will no longer be beautiful?  Regardless, t's what my friend AJC brilliantly referred to as societal control.  Because the thing is, it's not technically untrue.  So look out!  It's everywhere.

She insists she sleeps better, her allergy symptoms have disappeared, her mood has improved, and -- not her goal but a nice bonus -- she has shaved 10 pounds off her solid 5-foot-5 frame.  - Washington Post, "Paleolithic Diet is So Easy, Even Cavemen Did It", January 2, 2010

Gah!  It's subtle.  And it's every bit as stupid as this:

But it begs the question, which banal rhetoric is fueling the other??

"Two groundbreaking new studies address the irksome question of why so many of us who work out remain so heavy." - New York Times, "Dieting vs. Exercise for Weight Loss", August 1, 2012

 Researching now, I am overwhelmed by the amount of articles devoted to weight loss, exercise, and health.  I will update with more examples as I see them.  Have you read anything like this lately - a casual mention of the fact that your body at its current weight, regardless of its level of health, is not sufficient?

RTFO presents Jill Scott, "Hate on Me"

Sometimes even I get tired of having a platform to vent my thoughts, and I just want to dance to this song.

Two BAFLs speaking out against fat hate

Happy anti-bullying month!  October is here.  And my non-fatosphere blog roll and facebook news feed was all abuzz about two awesome women using a public platform to speak out against fat hatred.  Do yourself a favor and check it out!

First, Jennifer Livingston, an anchor on a CBS morning station, speaks out against a man who sent her a letter critical about her body, saying that she is setting a bad example to her community.  Kudos to her for, instead of shrugging it off, calling out this e-mail for what it really is: bullying.  She says: 

If you are at home and talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your children are probably going to go to school and call someone fat.

Of course, I dream of a world where "fat" is neutral description rather than a taunting insult, but that is not where we're at.  I absolutely agree with Livingston.  Parents set an example for their children, and we cannot accomplish anything in a world where kids are taught to be cruel.

Next is my permanent crush, Krista Burton, who blogs at the highly popular Effing Dykes.  Even if you identify as straight, I highly encourage you to read it - her long-winded posts are so entertaining and in equal measure compassionate and hilarious.  This entry's topic is about a straight woman who asks Krista to blog about how all lesbians are fat.  She pours her heart out about generalizing, the word "fat", and queer bodies.

The post is here.