Your post pretty much proves Ten’s point.

To answer your question, I believe society does put fat men in a position where they have to take on the fat jokes…they have to be okay with their bodies being an object of other people’s laughter. We are socialized differently, even about how to deal with our bodies/fat. I think this is problematic in many ways for men because they are taught it’s not supposed to bother them.

The skit…I think it can be taken as a simple fat joke or it can be taken as pushing the boundaries. When I see people posting dancing Chris Farley icons (from that scene) on their Myspace, I assume they are posting it as a fat joke, as I see people do with other photos of fat people. It’s supposed to be shocking. However, in that skit Farley does what fatties aren’t allowed to do on television…women or men, generally. I tend to agree with BigMovesBabe.

And I felt the same way recently when I saw a fat drag queen gyrating on stage. It was fat protest (and she certainly framed it that way). It’s sad that a fat woman wouldn’t be accepted if she gyrated that way on stage–accept, of course, in certain contexts. But in that context, a whole lot of people who probably have nothing to do with fat acceptance and who might otherwise gasp at a fat person daring to gyrate, cheered for her, loved her, and gave her money. And I think that makes a difference…in some way.

There’s a million ways a sketch like this could have gone and been extremely offensive, but the reason it’s a classic is because they didn’t go down those obvious “lets just mock fat” paths.

I’d say before fat even enters the equation a male comedian has it easier than a female comedian. And don’t forget that the fat tv husbands aren’t just actors, a lot of the time they produce their shows, so I would assume they have some say in the matter of casting their tv wife.

I think in general it’s more common to see a bigger man with a smaller woman (height, weight, muscle, fat, whatever) so it’s not so surprising to see that reflected on TV.

In Big Moves, it’s assumed that people of all sizes–fatties and fatlets alike–can and should be performing together, and can work the fabulous regardless, it’s difficult for me to remember sometimes that the outside world doesn’t look at us the same way. So, us going to a mainstream showcase without any audience development or preparation around size diversity, etc., has occasionally been jarring. In the same way, watching this clip and realizing that the millions of SNL viewers would think this was funny, that feels shocking, like I’m dancing along in this rose-colored mist of fattie love, tra la la, and then the mist blows away and the enormous chasm between us and the rest of the world is gaping open at my feet.

In a meta-sense, not offensive. It just needs to be viewed outside of its cultural context. In a practical sense, in a _cynical_ sense, offensive a little. The writers knew at least some of the buttons they would be pushing for their viewers, and they were working it. But then, that’s a lot of mainstream comedy for you.

That’s right! Men have a penis!

“not making fun of women is more of a matter of respect and decency”

How about some respect and decency for men too? I apologize for being politically correct, but I believe we’re all human and deserving of proper treatment.

I find it’s always been more socially acceptable to openly laugh at men than women because we’re socialized to believe that women are delicate, fragile dainty things that will snap under anything that could… well, snap a woman’s fragile little brain.

With men, making fun of them is the method of masculine socialization – shaming men into becoming men and growing up.

But really, the initial quotes from Bina and Crystal nailed it.