Check out the essay I wrote for Xhibit P, a interactive site that covers issues in pop culture. My essay is about the lack of storyline and sexuality of Glee's fat characters. Don't just read my essay but the entire theme is all about body image including Zoe Spencer's article about black women's booty or Franchesca Ramsey video about photoshop: "Pixel Perfect".
In my essay, I point out that the character Mercedes who is a regular on Glee is non-sexual (she remains the only main character in Glee who has not had a long term relationship) where Lauren (who is reoccurring) is hypersexual. Fat women are often characterized (especially in media) as either giving it freely so people will like them or not getting it at all because no one wants them.
A entry from a blog called Live Once, Juicy explores the myth of fat sexuality (from a list of myths about fat people from Pattie Thomas' excellent book Taking up Space) and how fat people being asexual is a myth. Fat isn't asexual. She points out that asexual is an orientiation of people who aren't interested in sex. In other words, the real myth here is that fat people aren’t sexy, she writes.
This is a modern phenomenon possibly brought on by media which puts conventionally pretty people as positive and desirable compared to fat people who are often headless and associated with disease and death. But look at nudes in the past and you'll see chubby and fat.
However there are people out there who either prefer a fat partner or don't allow media to cloud their judgement about what is attractive. The problem is that fat people also believe the hype. They don't consider themselves sexy because they don't look like what the media has made desirable. And a suitor might be potentially be turned off by the low self-esteem.
So it's important fat girls that you improve that self-esteem. Give up those magazines, try to avoid those images that make you feel like dirt. Go to Fat Positive events. I just went to one on Saturday, the Fat Girls Fleamarket. And it wasn't the "new" clothes that made me feel good, (although I did snag an Igigi dress for $10), it was the feeling of comradarie of this event. Here was a place that I could not only get cool clothes but wouldn't feel like a leper while shopping.
Social Network with Fat Chicks Rule!