How To Piss People Off
I’ve been going through my mailbox from when I was out of town, and here’s one of the stories that I missed: sixteen-year-old Chloe Marshall won the title of “Miss Surrey” and is the first plus-size girl to compete for the title of Miss England.
“Everybody thinks you have to be a tall, slim blonde and I’m a curvy brunette,” she added. “I want to show it is possible to be beautiful and not a standard size zero… Other girls have told me I have really boosted their confidence, which is terrific…It’s really exciting, I’m really, really happy. I’m lost for words, I started to cry and everything. I’m over the moon.”
Of course, there’s negativity out there too.
Her size is just as unhealthy as a size 0. She’s overweight, not curvy, and shouldn’t be happy with that at such a young age.
Yes, there it is. She’s overweight, so she “shouldn’t be happy.” Sometimes I think being happy is a fat person’s greatest weapon, because it seems to piss people off so much. Neener neener! I’m happy!
Anyway, good luck, Chloe! And thanks to Lisa-Marie for sending me the link.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, International, Meta
Email us
My grandma always felt that “the best revenge is to live well.”
I hafta say i agree.
I have just learned that it’s more dangerous to be underweight (BMI less than 17.5) than overweight when it comes to complications. (this is in relations to EDs) So she is not as unhealthy as a size 0
Not to mention, Chloe is a UK size 16, which translates into a US size 12. And at 5’10” and about 168 pounds, her BMI places her in the healthy range used by the U.S. government.
If “average” is now “overweight” and “unhealthy,” I really do fear the direction our society is headed in.
That needs to be a shirt:
“I’m fat AND happy…does that piss you off?”
or
“Fat and Happy. Neener neener!”
Well I tried posting a comment there but both times it got kinda sent into the internet ether so I figured I could post it here:
What a beautiful way to show the world that beauty (and health for that matter) is not restricted to one small size. Kudos to Miss Marshall for her win and best of luck as the competitions continue!
And I would totally buy a “Fat and Happy. Neener Neener!” Shirt! :D
Wow! She’s gorgeous. I’m not a fan of beauty contests (you should have seen me watching the Miss USA pagaent the year my cousing was Miss Alaska USA…it was so hard to root for her and hate the whole thing at the same time ACK!), but she seems to be taking it in stride.
I rambled about that last point on my blog the other day. About how this obesity epidemic has armed all these naysayers with SCIENCE and indisputable FACTS, and these facts absolutely stomp out the notion of fat, beautiful and happy. She’s overweight- this is a FACT, so she is lazy, unhealthy (probably dumb) and a bad role model. Can’t argue with smarts, my friends. Can’t argue with science.
:p
She’s overweight- this is a FACT, so she is lazy, unhealthy (probably dumb) and a bad role model.
Psst… she isn’t even overweight, by U.S. BMI standards.
I was pretending to be an anonymous fat-hater there… not my personal opinion. :)
“Fat AND Happy . . . neener neener!” Sign me up! Can it have the BFD logo gal on it, shaking a “neener neener” finger?
She’s lovely. Good luck to her. It peeves me that someone can look at a happy healthy girl like her and think that she’s overweight and unhealthy. Man is our thinking disordered as a society!
There was just a discussion about her on Fatshionista:
http://community.livejournal.com/fatshionista/2637119.html
She’s gorgeous. And her smile is genuine and happy, not the plastered on fake smile we see so often. I hope she wins!!!!
That’s odd.
She has shiney hair, bright eyes, dewey, beautiful skin… did I miss the unit in life science in which these things were the markers of disease?
(Not that acne and fuzzy hair are markers of impending black death, either.
According to haters, it doesn’t matter if your skin is clear and your hair is shiny, if you are a size 14 and up, you are a diseased cow and deserve to be miserable.
Even if she doesn’t win, I hope she gets a good career out of this and continues to be a positive force in size acceptance.
I also reserve the right to be UNhappy, for reasons unrelated to to my size. Such as brain chemistry. Although that would make me a mad cow, I suppose…
I read about this over at Rachel’s blog. If average sized women are being shamed for being fat, then there’s no hope for us plus-sized ladies.
Look, I like her- but there was a rather unsavory part to her interview too:
“Not that Chloe uses the F word. In our interview the word “fat” never passes her lips.
“It’s because I’m not,” she explains. “I’m curvy, big, plus-size, if you must, but I don’t like that either because I’m actually an average size.
“Fat means someone who is obese, who doesn’t take care of themselves, who never does any exercise and lies around all day, being a slob. I take care of myself.”
The more women happy with themselves, the less customers the diet industry has. We can’t have that now can we!
Sign me up for the “fat and happy. neener neener!” shirts!~ Actually I think I’ll take two.
BFD, please open a store!
I wish I were fat just so I could wear one of those shirts. XD
Yeah, but it’s sad to find out that she’s actually a secret fat hater, too. Oh, excuse me. Only an obesity hater then. *rolls eyes*
Well, so much for size acceptance…
It’s too bad she isn’t more on board about using the “f” word. She is *insanely* pretty though. I really hope she wins. If nothing else she seems like a real person who just happens to be insanely hot, most beauty pagent people seem like regular people who have on too much make-up and don’t eat.
How do they know if she’s healthy or not? Some people CAN be overweight and still be healthy! Why is this so difficult to understand?!
This is why I don’t enter these competitions anymore, all the negativity.
Plus, I almost never pass as a woman.
I wouldn’t call her “fat” either. She’s larger than most people (both height and weight-wise), but nothing about her says “fat” to me. It might be the way she’s proportioned, I dunno. Her body reminds me a bit of Jordan Sparks’ and I wouldn’t call her fat either.
I think she’s 176, not 168 (12st 8 lbs). She looks heavier than 176 to me, but everyone carries weight differently. (I’m 5’10”, too, and look almost skinny at 177 lbs. She looks a lot like me at my current weight of ~220 lbs.)
Anyway, she’s absolutely gorgeous!
Ok be real…girlfriend is a little overweight. Yes, that is not good. She could stand to lose some weight. Does that make her any less gorgeous? NO. She is stunningly beautiful. But why cant we be honest and just say “yes, she is overwieght”. Its no big deal. Doesnt make her any less of a person in any way. Would she be healthier if she lost a little weight? Yeah, probably. An extra 20 pounds carried by anyone’s body is not good. It places strain on organs. HOWEVER, this does NOT make her digusting and I am not a hater WHATSOEVER. I am just being honest. Yes she is overweight and could lose a bit. Just like most other ones (referring to “Miss” contests) are UNDERWEIGHT and could gain some. That’s not good, either. Why cant it just be a happy medium.
It will never be a happy medium because everyone’s opinions of what is fat and thin are totally different. She is a UK size 16, but if she were American, she would be a size 14, which is the average size for a woman in this country. Would you still call her unhealthy and needing to lose 20 lbs? Because that 20 lb weight loss might get her down to a 12, which is now considered a plus size, and some people still don’t think a 12 is good enough.
Instead of a happy medium, how about accepting people no matter what their size is? You may not call yourself a hater, but you don’t fool me with your “but I’m only thinking of our health” either.
mgw:
Citation needed. On pretty much your whole post.
An extra 20 pounds on anyone carried by anyone’s body is not good? It places strain on your organs? What?
I think that would depend ENTIRELY on the “starting” weight.
*boggles*
Crap.
I meant to write:
“An extra 20 pounds carried by anyone.”
Crap.
Bree, I was thinking the same thing. There’s NEVER a happy medium when it comes to weight–people are always too fat, too thin, too fat in the wrong places, too flat in the wrong places, etc. And even people with “perfect” bodies are getting lipo-sculpted or are obsessing about those last three pounds. Madness.
Also, “20 extra pounds” isn’t crushing anyone’s organs, especially a pear-shaped girl like Chloe Marshall.
Back to the original title of this post — it brings to mind something I think Kate Harding said (or often quoted), about how a sure way to piss somebody off was to “be fat at them” — meaning of course, to go and be fat and still be happy, not giving a crap what they think. Because that what it really comes down to – not having Their Scared Opinion affect you in any way. Suddenly, the haters are irrevelant, and that’s what it really comes down to.
“It’s because I’m not,” she explains. “I’m curvy, big, plus-size, if you must, but I don’t like that either because I’m actually an average size.
“Fat means someone who is obese, who doesn’t take care of themselves, who never does any exercise and lies around all day, being a slob. I take care of myself.”
Tsk, tsk.. Poor Chloe doesn’t seem to realize that “curvy” and “plus-size” are just euphemisms for fat.
We have to keep in mind though, the fact that she is young and a product of her environment. From what I read in British media, British culture is just as, if not more, anti-fat than U.S. culture.
Hmmm. Jumping into the “say fat if you mean fat” conversation…
I’m British. I weigh the same as Chloe to within a couple of pounds, and I’m five inches shorter. I’m a different build so I’m also a size 14 to 16 (US 10-12, judging by the sizing at the Gap). And I would hesitate to call myself fat out loud.
Why?
Because, as Chloe says, this is actually average-size, at least in the UK. So – we are smaller than half the population.
I used to hate it when girls who were thinner than me went on about how fat they were. Because if they thought they were unacceptably fat, what did they think I was?
I’m not saying that I agree it’s automatically insulting to imply someone else is fat, but whether we like it or not, it continues to be a loaded word. And without knowing how someone else will take it, I’d hesitate to use it. Because I don’t ever want to be that girl who makes someone else feel unacceptable.
If that chick is a UK size 16 then I’m Elvis’ daughter.
Yeah, I was a little disappointed by the part in the interview where she buys into the whole “Fat people are lazy and don’t take care of themselves” thing, because she has an opportunity to say “Yes, I am bigger than all these girls and I am healthy, too. I take care of myself.”
But I also don’t think she’s fat, or even technically overweight. This, to me, just underlines the fact that even though the US is freaking out about obesity, the UK is actually worse at the whole thing.
I think it’s great! As a pageant girl myself, I’m glad she entered because I’m tired of people putting down pageants saying that they discriminate against bigger women, but this totally proves that wrong! She’s gorgeous!
But I have to disagree though about the size 0 comments. If you are heavily dieting or starving yourself, of course that is unhealthy. But most people who are a size 0 are that way naturally.
I’m a tad underweight and also a size 0, yet I am as healthy as a horse! My doctor says I need not to worry about gaining an ounce, and I know this also goes for a lot of my naturally skinny friends.
SOME people are a happy medium, but you can’t expect everyone to be within that “healthy range” on the BMI charts.
Hi, Lisa-Marie Presley! I thought you were in hiding because the press called you fat?
“If “average” is now “overweight” and “unhealthy,” I really do fear the direction our society is headed in.” – Rachel
I thought that already had happened.