Fat Rant Follow-Ups (From Men)
There was a blurb in the New York Times last week (the paper version, and I can’t find it online) about all the videos that have been made in response to Joy Nash’s Fat Rant. I love it when things snowball. (Jennifer, for instance, was inspired to buy a cute swimsuit.) A different person named Jenn linked to a video from the male perspective, and it’s pretty awesome. (Except, disclaimer: we are not against thin people.)
Apparently Joy Nash has received 2,500+ e-mails and 20 marriage proposals after the Fat Rant. (Maybe one was from this hot guy.) And she was supposed to be on Entertainment Tonight according to Big Boned Blog, but I’m not sure when. But of course, some people have a problem with her. In this case, Dan England:
I’d like to see Nash work her way down to, say, 180. Maybe 170. That’s not ideal for her height. But it wouldn’t be unhealthy. I have a feeling that fat people reading this will dismiss my words because they believe I think fat is “gross.” Not at all. As I’ve said, I prefer healthy women to thin women… Nash, I believe, is in denial. She isn’t working hard enough. Sure, she probably tells herself she’s doing enough by skipping the occasional dessert and walking around the block a few times. She needs an intense workout program. She needs a strict, lean diet. She needs to change her lifestyle.
Mr. England, I know you’re trying to be balanced and positive and all that, and I am on board with the whole health thing, but when you declare that you’d “like to see” a certain weight on a woman whose weight is none of your business, and when you address Joy Nash with a “You’re not trying hard enough, sweetie,” you just come across as a condescending asshole. And, sweetie, I’d like to see you try a little harder to get over yourself.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Video
It feels like a daily struggle to stay positive in the midst of all of this. Sometimes I wish we’d just have a self-esteem day in which only good things were said about all people no matter who they were or what they looked like.
I saw Joy Nash on ET some time last week, they showed about 50 percent of the YouTube vid and had a great interview with her. Unfortunately you can’t find her anywhere on the website (I searched by her name and “fat rant”).
That hot guy’s blog is pretty good. I’ve been reading some of his past posts and he’s actually got some good, realistic things to say.
Thank you! I Love Joy Nash! I was already on my path from acceptance to activist, but her video/rant pushed me to not only help myself but help others. F-that guy! I can’t stand people who even talk like that! Who the hell is he to judge her or her lifestyle! Until you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes…
She’s “not working hard enough?” In her video she states that she exercises. But of course she must be lying. Or “in denial.” After all, one can’t possibly believe what a fat person says about what she eats or how much she exercises! After all, if she ate “right” and exercised, she wouldn’t be fat! *eye roll*
And then he tells her what she “needs” to do to be thin- I mean healthy, he’s only concerned for her health, of course. Fuck him. Fuck him and his assumption that fat people need to “work harder,” as hard as they possibly can to lose weight as much weight as they can. Even if they’re not thin, at least they have tried their hardest. Because thinness is what everyone should aspire to, right?
I saw that video shortly after Fat Rant and, while I LOVE the general idea of it, I’m not in love with the anti-thin person angle.
And as for Dan England? Jesus H. Macy. Can he be any more condescending and “I know what’s best for you” about this topic? She’s not trying hard enough? As though being within the weight range England proposes is some goal she ought to be pursuing ahead of anything else.
Can there be a more privileged male statement?
OMG, that Dan England guy? Called her “sweetie” in his article!
“You’re not trying hard enough, sweetie.” That’s what he wrote.
What an asshole!
I didn’t see the anti-thin part (I didn’t watch all of it) but I agree, I am not down with that message at all.
He is talking about how curvy women are beautiful, then goes on to say that the “things” on magazine covers have the bodies of little boys and it’s disgusting.
And, you know, I totally bow to his right to have a personal aesthetic opinion, I just don’t think it’s the best argument to make in favor of fat acceptance.
is there anything more patronising than tacking the word SWEETIE on the end of a sentence like that? it’s ruined a perfectly good word!
Rock ON, joy nash!
And, sweetie, I’d like to see you try a little harder to get over yourself.
Amen to that.
Here’s the link to the New York Times piece on the Fat Rant:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/arts/television/27heff.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=837febce3ba0effa&ex=1181534400
Re: the “hot guy” references above, I’m pleased that all my long nights of photoshopping didn’t go to waste.
–Andrew
blog.dynamicfitness.us
the hot guy speaks! *gasp* *swoon* :)
“I am on board with the whole health thing, but when you declare that you’d “like to see” a certain weight on a woman whose weight is none of your business [...]”
God! Yes! Why can’t people see that THIS IS EXACTLY THE POINT? It is irrelevant what anyone would “like to see” on anyone else. SHE DIDN’T ASK. People (men and women) treat other women like wayward children who have no right to their own opinions or to look or be exactly how they want or are, and then they wonder why some people still think fat is a feminist issue.
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