Is Fat the New Black?
Most Americans say they would have no problem voting for an African-American for president.
What about voting for a fat candidate for president? Would you?
[The obese William Howard Taft doesn’t count – he was president nearly a hundred years ago, when there was no YouTube, and prosperous men ate eight-course meals. Anyway, his surname is an anagram for Fat-T.]
More than ageism, and at least as much as racism, fat-ism is running amok – worse now than it was in the 1990s, and virtually unprotected by any laws. Women feel the sting of its stereotypes more than men, so says a recent Yale study on the subject, and it holds the overweight back from getting jobs and getting raises and promotions in the jobs they do have. Another Yale study two years ago found that rather than be fat, nearly half of the people surveyed would give up a year of their lives, a third would rather be divorced than fat, and one in five would rather be childless than fat.
Maybe all this is why the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is in Los Angeles for its big annual press conference Thursday; California has been especially receptive to extending job protections to women, minorities and gays – maybe it’s fat people’s turn to demand the same.
Rebecca Puhl, who heads community and weight stigma initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, says that where other bias taboos -- race, gender, age – are no longer acceptable, weight discrimination still gets a pass, in part because people assume the fat ``lack self-discipline,’’ are lazy, or have other character flaws.
http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/
If NAAFA is making its case in LA, it’s putting itself into the lion’s mouth. In some ZIP codes around here, a woman who wears a size-ten dress [two sizes smaller than the national average] is regarded as a blimp on legs. Actresses get respectful reviews for being brave enough to wear a fat suit and ugly themselves up. A New Yorker cartoon of recent vintage shows an outline of the US, all in white except for two tiny black regions – LA and Manhattan. The white key reads ‘’too fat’’ and the black key reads ‘’too thin.’’
Michigan has a longstanding law against fat discrimination, and Massachusetts, says Puhl, is considering one. Maybe California will indeed be where NAAFA wants to make a stand. NAAFA will also need to sort out fat’s many mixed messages in order to sell its own effectively. Is fat genetic? Environmental? The fault of poverty? Of full-frontal ad campaigns for junk food? Of high-fructose corn syrup sweetener? All of them? Is it possible to call for ‘’fat power’’ if you also argue that the society, or the individual, has the power to control it?
I’m be really curious to see how an anti-fat discrimination measure would fare in the Legislature – and how long it would take for someone in Sacramento to let slip a chubby joke.
-- Patt Morrison
This really annoys me. First off society keeps talking about how obesity is an epidemic, and how all we have to do is eat better, then the next minute their is a mcDonalds commercial telling you to go buy a burger and super size it. The reason why poor communities are more over weight is NOT because they are layzier. It's because healthy fruits and vegtables and organic food are EXPENSIVE! Fast food costs a few bucks. Healthy stuff really does cost alot, which some people take for granted. I know some bigger people who do eat pretty healthy, and excersize regularly. Then their are those skinny as a rail and all they eat is junk food. Is it the big persons fault that the skinny person has a higher matabolism?
Besides that, I dont really see how someones weight and life style choices are anyone elses business. If that is how they want to live their life let them. There is no reason at all for someone to make rude comments. Mind your own business and worry about yourself.
Posted by: Lisa | August 18, 2008 at 11:48 AM
This article entirely misses the point. These aren't discrete problems. Fat bias is part of the whole edifice of racism and classism and sexism. It hits minorities harder, women harder, the disabled harder, older people harder, the poor harder. It's part of the grand edifice that keeps telling us that whites, the wealthy, men, the young - they're all just plain better. You see it in the very first comment - if fat is more common among the poor and minorities (South Central LA), it must be laziness. Because we all know that the poor and minorities don't work hard. Good grief.
Posted by: Jane | July 19, 2008 at 06:12 PM
Haze! You are a friend to me now.
We often deal with losers who have no lives or self esteem who think its ok tear us down to make themselves feel better. And they say that WE have no self control?
I have no time for such lowlifes. Nomatter what percentage of the population they are. And Fat Obsessed CNN can give my derriere a smooch as well.. Do I sound elitist? Damn straight! We used to have manners in this country. I know the people who criticize don't actually care about me. And believe me! The feeling is mutual.
Posted by: Tracy | July 18, 2008 at 09:40 PM
People who have legitimate problems with thyroids and stuff is fine. I happen to be hypoglycemic with a really high metabolism which means I have to eat all the time. People give me looks, because I eat a lot, not because I'm fat. I wear size 00 jeans. But people who are around on a daily basis judge you on how much of what you eat, exercise, whatever, not your size.
If you have problems with random people making fun of you, you are too touchy. You don't know who they are, what they think or what problems they might have and you will never see them again. Ever. It is a case of how everyone makes the team now, and there is no failure. People have to accept that not everyone can be perfect, but don't blame society. If you have a chronic condition fine. But if the condition is just being Obese and thats is and you have a problem with people taunting you then lose the weight. Losing weight for the obese has to be easier than gaining weight for those who have the opposite medical problem.
Everyone just likes being able to blame society instead of taking anything upon themselves.
And for people who have suffered more than Blacks, how about us Native Americans? Everyone seems to forget. But I guess thats because the majority were wiped out in Genocide and the rest are pushed to the side on reservations.
Posted by: Bee | July 17, 2008 at 10:39 PM
Haze -- THANK you. I also am a proud fat activist, but I am saddened by the racism and privilege-blindness in this article.
"More than ageism, and at least as much as racism, fat-ism is running amok"
At least as much as racism? How on earth would the author of this article know? Is there some sort of new measuring stick for how much any given -ism is running amok?
"The new Black" is an old meme. Every group wants to be "the new Black" because they want to exploit the generations of work -- and blood, and lives -- Black people in America have sacrificed to combat White supremacist racism and gain some measure of human rights.
But there is no such thing as "the new Black." There is no way or reason to compare the experience of Black people in America to the experience of any other group. No reason that doesn't involve exploiting and erasing the Black experience, that is.
There is no "new Black" because Black is still Black. White privilege and White supremacist racism is still rampant. One need only read this article to see it.
Posted by: kmd | July 17, 2008 at 05:17 AM
The problem I have with this article is that it misses the point almost entirely. The point is to have acceptance yet this article clearly illustrates what the predjudice is. It is still approaching being fat as a fault. Not something that is simply a trait. We would never suggest to someone of another race to change their skin color.
"Is fat genetic? Environmental? The fault of poverty? Of
full-frontal ad campaigns for junk food? Of high-fructose corn syrup sweetener? All of them? Is it possible to call for `'fat power'' ifyou also argue that the society, or the individual, has the power to control it?"
Posted by: Jennifer | July 15, 2008 at 09:01 AM
I am a proud fat activist, but this article is so painful to read. Is there any way to advance pro-fat activism and legislation without having to rely on racist attitudes and hierarchies of oppression? I think so, and I think it's really unfortunate that NAAFA is now associated with such a problematic article. Publicity for fat positivity and activism should not come at a cost of reifying other underrepresented groups' oppression; if that's the case, it's a sad cost to pay, and not worth it to me.
Posted by: Stefanie S | July 15, 2008 at 08:38 AM
In in answer to your question, fat discrimination is illegal here in Santa Cruz County. I can't say it has changed anything in the way people treat me in general. If anything they are more careful when they fire people who are fat due to the ADA concerns.
BUT 2 out of the three doctors I met have treated me like a human being and were very kind to me. I have PCO (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome); a condition that went undiagnosed for about 20 years due to the fact that its main characterisitc is andriod (male pattern) obesity in women. And 5 to 10% of women have it here in the United States.
It is an endrocrine disorder that some believe is triggered by enviromental stress. They body thinks there is a famine or disater and kicks itself down into a metabolic low gear.
In essence everything you eat, turns into fat. You constantly crave sweets and sugars. And other horrible things happen to your body due to the rise in testosterone. But I digress.
My most triumphant and saddest moment was when a doctor told me that all of this; the weight, the cravings, the lack of self-control as due to a disease not my own lackings. It was not my fault. I had been dieting myself to death, exercising to no avail, and finally collasping into a ball of self-loating because some Dr. threw birth control pills at me and told me to loose weight to regulate a endrocrine disorder.
I am fat now. I have a master's degree. I am an adminstrator for a non-profit. I have spent most of my life trying to redeem my ugliness by being nice and helping people. But no matter how many kids I have helped and self-esteems I have enhanced I still can't walk down the street without someone yelling the most rude comments about my weight. I can't eat my twice a month dinner in a restaurant without people starting at me and my husband. I can't go shopping in the store without worrying my groceries look like what a fat person eats. And I can't even eat my six tiny meal a day diet to maintain my insulin levels without people I work with staring at me like I am eating all the time.
I miss being able to be me and go out hiking, canoeing, swimming (in a swimsuit), boogie boarding, and so forth without people pointing and in loud voices (from cars and whatever) and calling out FAT!FAT!
I also cringe at the thought that one of you photojournalists is going to take a picture of me, behead it, and use it as a general photo for a fat article. So many children and adults are subjcted to this invasion of their privacy and you think it's okay to cut off our heads and mock our poor bodies.
Posted by: Haze | July 11, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Hell, it happened to me and I reside in one of the "fattest" states in America. I was one of the best performing managers my company (Crosland) had and was still told that "the one concern we have with you is your health, because you know you do have a little extra weight on you." It's disgusting that there are people out there that look at nothing other than your appearance, especially when you have accomplished more in a short period of time than other managers have in the course of their career. So sad...
Posted by: Cliff | July 10, 2008 at 04:32 PM
just as walmart is getting all the benefit from preying on poor people in the recession, mcd's will get all the $$$$...people live a fast food junk lifestyle...crap in, crap out....I think it is a mentality that eating more crap means you can afford it.....but then your quality of life is crap....in previous centuries, fat was equated with wealth, in our modern economy, the reverse is true....the same way that crap such as bling is bought using credit to "display" artificial wealth.....we can study it til we are blue, but our crappy lifestyle is catching up to us...and quality lifestyle will have to be relearned.....money is NOT the answer in having a high quality lifestyle....unless you are modeling bush cheney and other scum......only money made helping others is good...the oil barons represent bad money, they are evil...and somehow they pulled the wool over the eyes of gullible Americans....we need to now wake up....and CHANGE our country....
Posted by: Change NOW | July 10, 2008 at 10:55 AM
It;s not just a myth that "fat" people lack self-discipline and bad habits: obesity correlates with socio-economic status and lifestyle, as documented by a study right here in the Times some months ago, showing that CD5/ the westside had the leanest people overall, while South LA and then East LA the heaviest.
Councilwoman Jan Perry who represents one of those "overweight" districts wants to ban new fast food restaurants, so clearly she feels it's lifestyle and what's available (social pressures/ opportunities). But I'd disagree, because anyone can change their lifestyle to include more walking and cooking lean foods if they're not available cheaply at restaurants.
Even if it's true as she'd argue that poor areas have poorer quality vegetables, there are still plenty of meals that can be made from them -- like my mother did, an immigrant from Poland in the late 50's on a very tight budget. And even if you can't afford a gym, you can walk, jog or if you feel unsafe outside, work out to exercise TV like a lot of middle-class women too shy about being "fat" to go to the gym -- until they've lost some of that weight. Just MAKING THE CHOICE INSTEAD OF BLAMING SOCIETY is one real factor, and tends to skew with socio=economic status: black, brown or white.
I'd also disagree with the researcher from Yale that it's now "taboo" to show ageism, as much as sexism and racism: not in L A, it isn't. Looking old and looking fat are about the same, and if age is something you can't help, that's what gyms, trainers and plastic surgeons are for. Things are quite different at universities like Yale, where credibility and academic pedigree often mature with age.
BUT based on my personal experience, if you lose weight and work out, and look better than you did years younger, regaining much of your physique and facial bone structure from youth (if you were blessed with good genes in the first place), being a "mature woman" CAN become a second chance. But old and thin but LOOKING old and out-of-shape, forget it in L A. People subconsciously see someone like that as not being at the top of their game in other respects, as well.
From a health viewpoint, people as much as 20 pounds overweight, unless it's muscle and they work out, have less stamina and much above that, it DOES affect your work performance in many jobs -- in a way age doesn't until maybe over 70, but we all know 89-year-olds sharp as a tack, and still quite mobile.
In general, we need to keep pressure against discrimination for "fatism" AND ageism -- just ask anyone over 50. And we need to THINK differently, remembering that sometimes 50 IS the new 30 even without plastic surgery (think Michelle Pfeiffer, Sharon Stone, Andie McDowell, Esa Pekka Salonen and George Clooney.)
Posted by: skeptical reader | July 10, 2008 at 02:43 AM