Life in the Fat Lane
posted in The Slightly Deeper End, Weighty Issues |Anyone else tired of models who put on fat suits to see what it’s like to be overweight in America and discover to their shock and horror that (*gasp*) they’re not treated as well as when they were thin and, you know, MODELS? Tyra Banks did this recently. While at the gym this morning (yay!), I caught a “news” segment (I was a captive audience, I had no choice!) where another model donned a fat suit and walked the streets of New York to see what it was like. Apparently it (surprise!) sucked and she (surprise!) was not treated as nicely as when she was thin and beautiful.*
My favorite part of the segment was when she said, “It’s tragic that people are still judged on their weight in America” and followed it up with something along the lines of “beauty is on the inside.” Um, hello? Cog in the wheel of the modeling industry? What with the whole contributing to the problem thing? I’d like to see a segment where a beautiful model just tones it down for a day and sees what life is like for an average, non-5’11” woman. Now THAT might be mildly interesting.**
While we’re on the subject of fat, has anyone tried the Peppermint Ice Blendeds at the Coffee Bean? =) Yummmm…
*Not to say that being beautiful requires being thin, but that’s certainly the norm in most societies nowadays. Also, I realize weight can send certain socio-economic signs which might tie into her preferential treatment when she was thin, but those socio-economic cues are related to concepts of beauty so it really does come down to thin = beautiful. (For an interesting discussion on how thin = pedophelia = beautiful, i.e., the sexualization of children and their bodies and the emulation of this corporeal ideal by women, you should talk to my brilliant Roomie.)
**Fairness requires that I add there was one comment she made that I actually did find interesting. She had thought that being in the fat suit would call a lot of negative attention to her, but found that she was rendered virtully invisible by the suit. Made me think of the way we deal with individuals who are different in any way – we attempt to ignore the difference, which draws more attention to it than anything else could. An interesting juxtaposition of the obvious and the ignored. The (absolutely no wisecrack intended) white elephant in the room.