Fat Chicks Rule

Roger Ebert and WTF Samoa Air.

Roger Ebert, best known as a film critic for the show At the Movies has died of cancer at age 70. Roger Ebert wasn't a size acceptance activist, he tended to respond to criticsim. In one review he refereed to the different between plus size women and fat women were plus size women knew how to dress well and carry themselves where fat women did not. Activist Lesley Kinzel called him out on this and was surprised to get a response:

The shocking part happened when Ebert tweeted about my post, and then emailed me directly to assure me he had meant well, and to compliment and thank me for my “thoughtful and honest” writing. ROGER EBERT WAS THANKING ME. FOR CRITICIZING HIM. 

Despite his long career as a film critic, his Pulitzer price, his creation (along with Gene Siskel) of the thumbs up/down, he was constantly ridiculed about his weight. Anything from the ribbing by Gene Siskel (Roger would zing him back) to outright insults.

He took it all with a lot of class.

Speaking of class. Samoa airlines has decided to treat fat people as second class citizens by forcing them to pay by how much they weigh.

Like many Pacific island nations, Samoa has a serious obesity problem and is often included in the top 10 countries for obesity levels. As such, Mr Langton believes his airline's new payment policy will also help promote health and obesity awareness.

As I mentioned many many many times on this blog, stigma doesn't work. Stigma doesn't cause weight loss and instead makes fat people more miserable and less likely to undertake healthy habits. Samoa is a country that is the perfect example of how Health at Every Size is better than any weight loss program. The people of Samoa have always been big but it was not until they imported the western diet that they faced a steady decline in positive health outcomes.

The good, the bad and the obnoxious.

The good.

The billboard project and We Stand! has been creating not a flurry of action, but a feel good environment among fat activists. A post on Big Fat Blog talks about how the Billboard project has helped with dealing with growing up being bullied. I for one love to look at these beautiful positve imges as much as possible. Here's anther one to enjoy:

And starting tonight, you can vote for your favorite billboard. 

The Bad

Wired Magazine has an entire article devoted to selling strategies of Weight Watchers, which is changing their diet plan, again. The article starts by humiliating a current WW poster child with the same old stereotypes.

Things aren’t so bad that he would get the Kevin Smith treatment from Southwest Airlines, but it’s easy to imagine him breaking into a sweat carrying a pint of Ben & Jerry’s up a flight of stairs. He’ll soon be diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. His doctor suggests a statin.

Now the After, more than a decade later: close-cropped blond hair, 34-inch waist, and 15 percent body fat on his 6′ 3″ frame. In a form-fitting suit, the 45-year-old father of two cuts the figure of a Marine sergeant 20 years his junior. This is a picture of a man in control.

The author of the article manages to use every single fat stereotype there is. The fat man eats too much, exercises too little, and will have a 100% chance of being metabolically unfit and out of control.  The thin man has no health issues and is completely in control. Here fat people are villianized. If only those fatties would learn some fucking control, they would be thin. The author mentioned several factors for weight gain but leaves out the genetic component. 

The irony here is between this man and me. He put on 75 pounds since he was young. I put on 75 pounds as well but from yo-yo dieting. 

And who is he now, this humailted poster child? He is the current CEO of Weight Watchers, David Kirchhoff. He has to keep his weight off, restraining his eating because it would look bad if he were to gain the weight back, wouldn't it?

Weight Watchers changes its program based on what's popular. The low carb craze had led to a low gylcemic craze, and a hatred of bread. I'm gluten intolerant. My stomach doesn't like it. But you going to find people give up gluten in hopes of losing weight (Gluten free products aren't always low calorie). 

As part of her job, Miller-Kovach and her team constantly follow the latest trends in nutritional science. A few years before the meeting, for example, they had explored a concept called the glycemic index, or GI, which establishes a hierarchy of carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose. 

Weight watchers follows trends for one reason: they want your money. They don't care if you are healthy.  They are a not a lifestyle change, they are a diet, they encourage restricted eating.

The obnoxious.

My husband has traveled more than I have and I've been waiting to visit more places around the world. He mentioned we might want to wait for retirement, but I told him I wanted to go now before the airline industry implodes.

Case in point...

Apparently the UK court of Appeals have decided that fat people can't sue if they are humilated on a flight and because of this decision, airlines in the country are pushing for a "Obese tax" to pretty much force fat people to buy a second seat. This ruling goes beyond fatness, it means that if anyone is humilated on a flight, they have no recource to the law.

"The ruling confirms that disabled passengers have no right to dignity once the wheels leave the runway,” said Mr Barnett. “It also means that airlines are immune if they choose to embarrass overweight passengers by demanding a fat tax.”

The implosion begins. 

Another edition of the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good.

The Fat Girl's Flea Market returns! Saturday April 4th. Donate your clothes and your time!   And be sure to actually come.  This is the best shopping experience you will ever have.

Starting on March 29th, HBO presents the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency based on popular series by Alexander McCall Smith. Beautiful Jill Scott plays Mma Ramotswe who is the only female detective in all of Botswanna.  She is also fat, so it was nice to see a fat actress in the role instead of a fat suit.

John McCain's daughter Meghan sticks it to talk show host Laura Ingraham who insults Meghan's weight instead of her politics.

The Bad

Apparently school programs to stop rampant fatness aren't enough, they'll now be offering free eating disorder lessons.  There are also no fat dancers.  Okay they aren't giving ED lessons, but you keep pressuring kids to be thin that's going to happen.  The writer Dorene Internicola (who's email address I have yet to find) was nice to mention that "There are very few fat dancers" (At the very end of the article.)

Correction: there are very few fat dancers in the mainstream.  Yeah you see one or two on Dancing with the Stars, but we have yet to have the Big Moves/ The Glamazons power hour. You claim to be a reporter, perhaps you should learn how to be one.

The Ugly

When plus size Samantha Scafe contacted airline Jetstar on whether she would have to buy a second seat, they told her no. The story changed as the flight got closer.  She was forced to buy a second seat, except the two seats weren't together and they did the same thing on the way home. It isn't just Jetstar, this is a common practice of Southwest to tell fat people they only have to buy one seat until they get to the airport or have to get a connecting flight or have to fly home. I believe in one person, one fare.   And if you are forced to buy two seats, perhaps they should be together.