Sunday 10 August 2014

Sunday Sundries: Grrrrrrrr...

This week's Sunday update could have gone one of two ways- I was either going to tell you about things I've watched recently (I have serious feelings about Ducky from Pretty in Pink) OR I was going to rant about a couple of things about fat that I've read recently. Since I seem to have woken up in a bit of a mood, guess which of these it's going to be...

(Aside: Hi, guys! In general life, things have slowed down a tiny bit, although I've still been way busier than I would like. Notable things this week: I ate about a million pizzas (or, you know, 3), said goodbye to my beloved housemate/friend, celebrated my other friend's birthday (with pizza), and got a little bit promoted at work- so all in all, not too shabby! Flip side: papa's still in hospital, I'm still tired, I haven't been running for about a month. Aiming to change at least the last of those today)

So. Here are the two infuriating things, let's discuss.

1) I read this article on the Daily Mail website (I know) a few weeks ago, and pretty much responded to it, out loud, with a string of profanity and then some throwing of my phone (onto my bed, I'm not an idiot). If you don't want to read it, because you're a sane and sensible person who doesn't want to stab themselves in the face today, the title of the article is 'Why are today's young women so unashamed about being fat?' (I KNOW) and it's basically an attack on fat people who dare to be happy in front of her.

Literally, this idiot's starting point is in an airport, waiting to go on holiday, and she's upset that there are fat people in front of her who are happy. When they're also waiting to go on holiday. From this starting point, this clearly means that all young, fat women are happy, all the time, and how dare they? Don't they know that they're disgusting flabby messes who should be constantly ashamed of themselves, and shouldn't be happy until they've starved themselves to a size that will please this one, stuck up, moron?

The main issue I have with it, though, is that this person literally thinks we live in a world where fat people are more accepted than skinny ones. This is an actual quote:
"We live in a society in which it has become ok to shame people for being skinny, but to come out and say 'You're fat. Not healthy, not a good look' would be tantamount to a crime."
I don't know where she lives, but it can't be here because that's the least accurate description of British, and Western society I've ever read. We actually live in a society where if you're not skinny, then you're nothing; where fat is discriminated against and openly mocked and commented on in the street, and where bitchy writers can be bitches online and think it's ok to comment on other people's bodies. You know what? It is not ok to comment on other people's bodies.

Since she probably doesn't actually know any fat people, she absolutely has no ideas what the girls she sees at the airport (or generally in the streets- you know, the ones she wants to tell to go on a diet) go through on a regular basis, and even if they don't get shamed for their bodies on the regular, and genuinely are happy with themselves, then they are fucking unicorns and there's no way that's a bad thing.

Basically, privileged white ladies who don't know anything about anything shouldn't write things for national newspapers. But when that newspaper is the Mail, then what the hell did I expect. And I know, I know, clickbait, but Jesus Fucking Christ, just why? Why.

2) In slightly less depressing news, but along the same lines, the Great British Bake Off is back (wooo!)  and the first contestant to leave was Claire Goodwin, a *gasp* fat women who is also adorable and has a pretty great fringe. During the airing of the show on Wednesday night, Goodwin actually had to put up with a whole string of tweets calling her fat. Which is just fucking fabulous, nice work Britain.

So, in response to said unnecessary tweets, Goodwn wrote a blog post that's pretty great, and has been summarised on Buzzfeed here, but this is hands down the best part:
"If we cannot as human beings monitor our own social conduct, then we must look to our companions to guide us. So maybe that is the answer. These so called trolls don't have any significant social contact to help them monitor their own behaviour. No one cares enough or is close enough to guide them. I'd rather be fat."
Translation: Yep, I've got a belly, but you guys have literally no friends or family that cares about you. Get a fucking grip on yourselves and start forming relationships before you DIE ALONE. I'll just be over here, enjoying my cake and my life and my social relationships.
The main reason all of this is so incredibly frustrating is that we're never talking about men. We're never talking about flabby dudes, chubby guys, men with guts. Their bodies belong to themselves, and they're not taught to be ashamed of them in the same way women are, over and over and over again. Any time a woman is being fat shamed, it's basically like saying to them 'what are you doing? Why are you trying to be unattractive to men? Do you even want to get married?' which is so ridiculous that I can't even because OH MY GOD not everyone has the same taste in people, and OMG maybe that's not all we can strive for in this world, you know? Men are allowed to do what they want because they are the menfolk and we must bow down to them, but women? You'd best be doing exactly what they tell you to, or you've pretty much failed at life.
THE END (I will probably be less angry next week. Perhaps.)

10 comments:

  1. Ohhhh my god I read that article. The moment that tipped me into fury was: "To top it all, these three were - I kid you not - sharing a bag of crisps." LIKE PEOPLE AREN'T GOING TO BE HUNGRY AT AN AIRPORT EVER. Skinny woman over there, you're fine, have a snack before your five-hour flight - but overweight people, you might want to just not eat until you reach a size 6. Enjoy your holiday. I hate to break it to this lady - but those girls probably *gasp* ate breakfast as well. AND THEY'RE PLANNING TO EAT DINNER LATER! OMIGOD THE HORROR!

    I didn't watch GBBO but Claire sounds fabulous. Her bangs are amazing AND she likes cakes AND she's wearing a dotty blouse. So, she's basically Zooey Deschanel. This is all good in my universe. Also there was a quote I read somewhere that said "You often see beautiful women dating homely men, but you rarely see beautiful men dating homely women." RIGHT?!

    Yeah, I'm going to stop prodding Angry Laura and go do something productive now. LIKE SIT IN MY NEW LIBRARY CORNER AND EAT A COOKIE.

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  2. I'm not even going to read the article, I know it won't be good!
    I hate that 'skinny fat' is a thing now - so much judgement of women's bodies out there.

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  3. I didn't read the article. But good for you for this rant! The woman who wrote it just sounds like an awful person. God forbid someone feel comfortable in their own skin, jeez!!

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  4. I love you Laura :-) i wont read the article because urgh but i loved claires hair also and her response to people being dicks about her. How cool is she? Everyone just stop judging people for any aspect of the way they look for fucks sake!

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  5. Uuuugh I clicked on the link to the article and I got so angry! Not only does she hate on "fat" women, but the "anorexic" ones as well (she must have the PERFECT body) - if someone is happy with who they are, how should that even concern her?

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  6. There was a similar article here in Australia when that Melissa McCarthy TV first started airing a few years ago. They were basically like "ew, get the fat people off my TV" and went on and on about how it was promoting "unhealthy lifestyles" and "why don't they just eat better and go for a walk". They were criticised pretty heavily but I think (and I might be mixing this with another awkward article) she responded by writing an article in apology which was like "I work hard to not be fat. Sorry if you took it as an insult". Eyeroll.

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    1. Just found the article, read it if you dare (or are looking for a reason to get angry). And her apology wasn't quite as bad as I remembered.

      http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/dating-blog/overweight-couples-on-television

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  7. I wrote a comment. And then the internet ate it. That was rude.

    The gist was essentially WTF lady writing the click-baity story that I haven't read yet. Who are you to judge and where is this world where skinny people are the oppressed ones? Cos I'm pretty sure you made it up

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  8. I don't think criticising anybody's body is okay.

    I HAVE been 'skinny-shamed,' when I was really ill a few years back. A woman in ASDA used me as an example to her daughter of 'if you don't eat enough, you'll look like that.' Since then I've been really sensitive about my weight and sometimes I do feel like it's more socially acceptable to insult somebody for being too thin.

    I read the article and... I don't know. I don't think she's saying that everybody has to have a perfect body type, just that people need to think about their health, no matter what their size. To me, that applies to everyone - big, small, little, large. I don't think they were saying they shouldn't be happy because they were fat (because they were going on holiday, who wouldn't be happy?) but that people in general need to not shy away from discussing weight, whatever what weight might be.

    I'm not being obnoxious today on purpose, I swear.

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    1. Dude that sucks. I was extremely active when I was in high school and I remember at my first job a couple of the girls (who were probably late 20s/ early 30s) taking obvious glee in telling me that when I hit my 20s my metabolism would slow down and my "perfect tiny body will blow up". I didn't parade around displaying my body or making judgements on them, but because they were insecure they felt it was okay to say stuff like that to me. It really sucked, and no one no matter what size they are, should be criticised for their bodies.

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