Self-esteem is baaad, mkay?
So Fat Lot of Good and Axis of Fat have already posted some great responses to the Susie O’Brien piece on why self-esteem is bad for fatties, the economy, and Good Thin Folk (also published in the Herald Sun, that bastion of outstanding journalism).
I don’t really have the patience to go through most of the sheer ludicrousness, but I did want to comment on a couple of things.
The first the idea that having a very, very few fat people in roles that aren’t overtly about ridiculing them will somehow make everyone WANT to be fat – ASPIRE to be fat, even. I mean, if the models at Australian Fashion Week are doing it, it makes sense that the rest of the population will follow like mindless sheep. Never mind that those models were only used in one show, and that was for a plus-size label.
According to Suzie:
… it just doesn’t make any sense to also be sending the message that it’s not only OK to be fat, it’s a sign of self-empowerment.
Suzie dear, I think you may be seriously confused if you thinks that encouraging self-esteem in fat people is the same as encouraging people to get fat as a form of self-empowerment.
Oh, but self-empowerment is not ok:
But the discourse of self-empowerment surrounding the move is stopping us asking why so many young people are size 16 or more in the first place.
I’m thinking that if staying under a size 16 requires shaming and social ostracism, maybe a better question is how the limits of ‘acceptable’ bodies are defined and policed, not how we come to exceed them.
And then there’s this doozy:
Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than those of a normal weight.
Hang on, WHAT? It’s ALARMING that fat people aren’t depressed and suicidal? We’ve been given Fashion and Fat Models and that has somehow made us all forget that we’re intrinsically worthless and should just kill ourselves quickly so the good thin folk don’t have to pay for us while we malinger? WHAT?
Yeah, fuck you, Susie O’Brien.
Oh god. I was tempted to write about this article but I just couldn’t. The stupidity of the entire thing was too overwhelming.
I mean, how are you supposed to engage with “But it’s time to get real – fat people may be happier but they’re also digging their graves with a fork, and we’re all paying for it”?! FAT PEOPLE ARE HAPPY BUT THEY SHOULDN’T BE BECAUSE THEY’RE GOING TO DIE AND I’LL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.
That’s way too much crazy for me to process.
I think the word is “batshit”.
I’m starting to think she has a case of fat-envy, what with the fatties getting all this encouragement and happiness and not having to sacrifice and all. Hmmm, jealous much?
(Also: Yay for first non-spam comment! Hi!)
I am still fuming about the whole thing. I know it is ludicrous and ridiculous and all but it makes me furious despite that. Why? Because I know so many people will read her column and agree with her. It is so damn frustrating…
Thanks for the link to my post!
I didn’t even have the brainspace to properly discuss the omgfatpeoplearen’tdepressedomg thing. Just too much fail to even consider.
I find that people love to make this ‘role model’ point about encouraging fatness because we used to be owned when we were following the ‘advice’ of ‘experts’. And once you are the status quo’s bitch the assumption is you always will be- wrong.
It is also assumed that we are stupid of course because fat is a mere question of cals in/out.
And by the way, saying that fat people’s empowerment is stopping questions about why people are fatter is nonsense. Ask any questions you like about anything you like, just don’t bother to pretend you have any answers because we know you’ve got nothing.
@Bri – I’ve been ranting lately that scientist should have to do arts degrees before they design studies so that they can see their biases, but last I checked journalism was an arts degree and it hasn’t helped S O’B see her biases. Or, like, make any sense at all.
@cutselvage – thanks for your excellent post! You had much more patience with her idiocy than I do.
I can’t believe you don’t catch yourself writing that down. I mean … “I find it alarming that some people are not suicidal”. Yup, looks good to me, let’s print that.
OK, so she made me too mad and I ended up posting about it: http://corpulent.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/we-are-still-here/
Yeah, I caught that bit about how horrible it is that we’re not suicidal enough for her, too.
There’s not enough yuck in the world.