Fatism Doesn't Exist
At least according to John Ridley at the Huffington Post, who says it’s “insulting” to complain about weight-based discrimination:
I can’t change my race or my gender. Despite my best efforts and millions of dollars spent trying to locate the fountain of youth, I just keep getting older. Yet, same as millions of Americans I can moderate the number of Big Macs I shove in my pie-hole.
But in the Everybody-Give-Me-A-Hug victim culture in which we live, the obese want a spot at the table along with those who face discrimination based on the way that God or Nature or our Intelligent Designer created us.
For the vast majority of those who are obese — those with a Body Mass Index over 30 — their size is their choice. They choose to take in more calories than they burn. They choose to take in high fat calories over low-fat ones. They choose to fad diet, if they choose to diet at all.
For some reason, it’s the slam on “fad diets” that really gets me. We live in a culture where we convince fat people to hate themselves, that discrimination against them is fine and dandy because they deserve it, and then when people PANIC and turn to unrealistic diets because fat is evil and they have to get it off them quickly and at whatever cost, we slam them for that too. Even though the culture is selling the promises of these fad diets in the first place.
I would respond more to this, but I’m too busy shoving Big Macs in my pie-hole. Obviously.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Fatism, Media, Tidbit, Weight Loss
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That’s when you know that this article is nothing more than spitting in the dark.
It’s not actually a thought out, reasonable argument. It’s pure, vitriolic hatred.
It’d probably blow this guy’s mind to learn that there vegetarian fatties, or that thin people eat Big Macs. Or, even if it didn’t, he still somehow find a way to blame vegetables for teh FATZ and Big Macs for the awesome state of thinness. That’s just how hate works.
I have bingo, and I haven’t even read the story yet. No fatism, my fat ass. HuffPo KNOWS there is and that they will get bunches of fatasses to take the flamebait. But I won’t be one of them. These people need to be taught a fucking lesson about the wrongness of using us to beef up their page hits.
It’s quite trendy to bash fat people now. Everybody wants to get on the bandwagon!
But what really gets me? Do these whiners actually believe they are HELPING anybody by being so cruel and hateful? People like Ridley just make me angry and defiant.
Oh, my. What can I say? I thought Big Macs had all the essential food groups: two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun.
PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE PIE.
http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/pie.htm
:D
What I find extra-specially irritating about this is that as a rule, HuffPo readers are distrustful of EVERY SINGLE OTHER kind of mainstream news coverage, yet swallow (har) the obesity epidemic whole.
What amuses me about this is that I’m fat but I’ve never had a Big Mac in my life. It blew my best friend’s mind (she’s a thin girl) but only because she thought, and I quote, that it was the quintessential American experience.
I think Big Macs are gross. Any sandwich with Thousand Island dressing on it makes me go “blech”. I’d much rather shove something more sumptuous into my pie-hole, like… well, like pie. Mmmmm. Pie.
I’m so glad (dripping sarcasm) that I can add another “lifestyle choice” to the list of things that people like Mr. John Ridley can hate me about. After all, people like him have been hating me for years for “choosing” to love women instead of men. Even though you can’t choose who you love. At least that’s what my mama says. And don’t you be insultin’ my mama, John Ridley. That I won’t take from the likes of you.
…
Because, even if Big Macs were the be-all and end-all of fatness, people should totally be discriminated against because of how they choose to live their lives. Righty-ho then.
Well, add Jim Ridley to the growing list of fattie hating hypocrites. That makes him, what, number 1 trillion?
And Big Macs are gross. I’m with B. Any sandwich that is smothered in Thousand Island dressing is just plain nasty. Old-fashioned mustard and ketchup is fine with me.
There’s an old saying: If you don’t like it, you can lump it. And us fat folks have plenty of lumps. Take your pick.
LOL. The last sentence that you wrote about shoving a big mac down your pie-hole… LOL
You’re great!
So I started reading this post and when I saw Big Mac, I immediately realized that it is still breakfast time at McDonald’s and I need to go to the post office and McDonald’s is located right behind my place of work….
So guess what, I’m going to go to the P.O. then I’m gonna go be like all the other “fat people” at go get a sausage mcgriddle and shove that down my pie hole while I read some of the other great posts here….
LOL…. fad diets… McDonald’s…… I’m big… I’m beautiful… They are just jealous…. ;)
Have an awesome day!
she thought, and I quote, that it was the quintessential American experience.
Your friend must have never had a chicken fried steak with sawmill gravy and biscuits. American corporate monoculture is no substitute for a home-cooked southern meal.
So, according to John Ridley’s logic it would be fine to discriminate on the basis of religion. Religion is something that people choose after all, and if folks don’t want to be discriminated against they can just make a different choice. While we’re at it, lets discriminate on the basis of hair and eye color, since there are dyes and contact lenses readily available.
(Note, I’m being sarcastic here. There have been cases of discrimination on the basis of hair texture. “Ethnic” hairstyles are often frowned upon in schools and workplaces in favor of chemically relaxed hair and extensions. This is primarily a function of racism.)
It’s just that simple, just like changing everything you do and eat to fit into the “ideal” body.
Or, you know, we could chuck discrimination altogether and live in a society where people’s personal choices are their own damn bidness.
I dedicate my next platter of chicken fried steak to John Ridley, in honor of mind-numbing stupidity.
So, since we can also “choose” religion, does that make religious discrimination open game, too?
Wow, have any of you looked at the comments on that page! Some really interesting discussions going on there relating to discrimination in hiring fat people, and also whether or not homosexuality is a choice. I haven’t gone through all of them, but I didn’t see anyone bring up the religion argument yet.
Just about every single one of the comments on his article starts “I’m not weight bigoted but…” or “I think discrimination against obese people is bad but…” Sigh.
And I love this guy’s rant about choices. Eesh. Clearly one can also choose to be a rude, bigoted dickwad.
You have to love the bile filled language used to make his point – the whole image of people “shoving” big macs into their “pie hole” (a term I’ve only used when someone is suggesting that someone shut up – never heard it used positively) is one that is kind of angry and violent.
“… if they choose to diet at all.” Screw you, buddy. I’ve been on more diets than I can count you sanctimonious jerk. That’s one of the reasons I _am_ the size I am today.
Lots and lots of ignorance and hostility on display in that comments thread. Okay, Mr. Ridley, is fatism isn’t real, why is there so much hate on parade in the response to your essay?
Of course, he definitiely invited all the asshats to come out to play when he did the spiel about fatties driving up health care costs.
So wait… does he not realize that that last paragraph essentially said:
“They Chose not to go on a low calorie diet. They Chose not to go on a low fat diet. But they chose to go on other diets if they chose to go on diets.”
So essentially… the fatties just need to find the right diet. Otherwise their would be SO MANY DIFFERENT DIETS.
What a douchehound I hope he rots. I’m sorry, is that douchehoundist of me?
I don’t see a definition of “fad diet.” How about we define a fad diet as a diet with a
I’m so goddamned sick of that argument. “Oh, it’s silly to not discriminate against fat people because THEY MADE A CHOICE”
Well, you know what? Even if it WAS a choice, that gives NO ONE a fucking right to discriminate. I just cannot understand what is so freaking hard about that. You can’t discriminate on religion, and that’s pretty much a choice, right? And some people think being gay is a choice, and these days its getting less and less OK to discriminate against them?
But oh no, fat people don’t deserve consideration because we’re too busy shoving big macs down our throats to be worth anything.
>_
What a moron. I can’t even eat MacDonald’s food without running to the bathroom.
Most women, especially those who are “of a certain size” have already tried every type of diet imaginable. Millions of years of evolution, fueled by the need to survive food shortages and famine, works against any attempts to become fashionable thin.
The BMI is also a ridiculous standard, as it does not take into account the differences between men and women, different body types, and the fact that muscle is heavier than fat. It is nothing more than an oversimplified height-weight chart.
I always want to ask: Why do you care if someone is bigger than you think they should be? Health care costs? Then outlaw cigarettes. They take up too much room on an airplane? Then buy a first-class ticket. You don’t like the way they look? Then don’t look.
I meant “fashionably thin.” NEED COFFEE NOW!
What incredible vitriole. I can only imagine how he would react should he someday get injured doing exercise…why should you and I pay for those injuries when it was his choice to put his limbs at risk.
More of the same. Food is either virtuous or sinful. And the only people who need to worry about it are people who are fat.
Choice is a strawman. Even *if* all fat people chose to binge eat, does that make it right to dismiss all fat people as being sinful, evil and bad?
You don’t “choose” to binge eat Cindy. Binge eating is a disorder like anorexia and bulimia. I’ve struggled with BED for 17 years. It’s a hell I do not “choose.”
Weight discrimination DOES exist. And although some obese people do choose to be that way, there are some that don’t. Hell, as a skinny person myself, by the way I eat…it could be safe to say I don’t really “choose” to be skinny. I eat Big Macs and fast food at least 1-2 a week. I love it and I take in more calories than the average overweight person….yet I still stay skinny. And yet, I even get discriminated against for being skinny and accused of being anorexic.
Ashley, you’re right. Skinny women are discriminated against as are fat women. It’s body discrimination. That’s the new black.
Ridley is one of those people I could just kick right in the can with a pair of stompy black steel-toed combat boots and not think twice about it.
And why does he assume that every fat person eats Big Macs/McDonald’s/Fast Food? He definitely needs to get out more.
I hate Big Macs; a Whopper with cheese is more up my alley. :)
This guy would probably be stunned to learn that there are those of us (like me) who didn’t choose to be fat, and changing our bodies is not as easy as it sounds (or healthy).
And whether or not someone chooses to be fat shouldn’t even be an issue when it comes to basic human rights. No matter what we look like or how we got that way, we all deserve respect.
So basically, he’s not saying there is no hate or discrimination–
he’s haying there is no unjustified hate or discrimination.
Grmph. If I was that stereotypical strawfattie, I’d probably have a stroke about now. Too bad I happen to have terrific blood pressure.
And if all that fat hating in the name of dismissing the existence of fat hatred wasn’t enough to enrage me, he went and invoked “Intelligent Design”.
“No matter what we look like or how we got that way, we all deserve respect.”
Exactly right Charlotte!
And yet, I even get discriminated against for being skinny and accused of being anorexic.
I don’t mean to niggle here, but I have to point out that being typecast as anorexic is on a vastly different plane than discrimination against fat people. Thin people do not encounter the same kinds of weight-based discrimination in the same degrees as experienced by fat people.
Ridley’s article smacks to me as justification for continued discrimination – a classic game of blame the victim. Hey – fat people shove Big Macs in their pieholes all day, therefore it’s okay if I harass them and discriminate against them!
Uh.
How come the biggest idiots always seem to have the biggest mouths?!
John Ridley is a sexist idiot. He has established this over and over again, so this post is no surprise. You can also find a post he once wrote in the past where he talked about how hot it was to see women running for office get into hair-pulling catfights. This involved Elizabeth Edwards, after her cancer diagnosis.
Seriously, you’re all perfectly correct, but this is not somebody you should allow to get to you — he’s a doof, and that’s kind of what he’s known for, so he doesn’t so much hate fat people as he disrespects almost everyone. He’s just…not worth the trouble of caring.
Having just read Linda’s comment, I’m left wondering how people become like John Ridley. I’m completely serious. I always kind of assume they were bullied or abused early on, but any other ideas?
My idea, is he most likely has either Histronic Personality Disorder or Narcissitic Personality Disorder.
It tends to be some bad life experiences and such. It’s hard for me to really see how someone could be so cruel without having some form of brain chemical malfunction. Maybe social environment played into it too.
Jules,
Please pardon my inartful comment.
I too am in recovery for BED, onluy since 2001. While I didn’t choose the disorder, I do choose how I address my triggers and coping behaviors. While there is an *element* of choice involved in the behaviors surrounding eating disorders, I agree that we certainly don’t choose to have a disease. We don’t choose the complicated feelings that trigger us to eat in a driven way, but we do choose how to cope with them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that a binge means you’ve failed or are immoral.
Cindy – I completely agree. We are not powerless over our disorder.
Hey E.Black, size discrimination is not “the new black.” Size discrimination is size discrimination. Racism is racism. There are intersections and similarities and causes and effects, but don’t play the who’s-more-oppressed game.
Colin,
“The new black” is, I think, a reference to fashion. As in, every five years, black becomes the shade that should dominate your closet. Invariably. a new shade replaces basic black garment that is the building block of a great wardrobe. It gets called “the new black.”
I don’t think that was a reference to race. I could be wrong, of course, but I wanted to throw that out there
“I can only imagine how he would react should he someday get injured doing exercise…”
This is bitchy of me, but I can’t wait. Cannot. WAIT.
Hi Cindy,
I realized yesterday what you meant after I read your comment a few times. I certainly don’t need to explain BED to you. You know this pain. I was also in recovery but I am relapsing pretty badly lately. Yet, I fully agree with you–while we may not “choose” the disorder, we CAN choose how to go about healing our lives. And Rachel, I never said we were powerless–that is not the impression I meant to give. Eating disorder or not, I think what Ridley said in his article was horrible.
When I here people say stuff like that, it makes me really sick. I’m not ignorant enough to truly believe that being fat is entirely one’s “choice”. Genetics and society play a large part in what makes us the size we are. If you come from a family of large people, chances are, you’ll be fat to. If you’re constantly surrounded by ads for McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Potato Chips, Cookies and Snacks, you can only ignore it so much before you indulge, or even over-indulge. The society that ridicules us for being fat is the same one that is entirely dependent on our fat-asses to stay afloat.
What an awesome post! You really summed it up. If it wasn’t for overweight people being treated so poorly, there wouldn’t be women and teenage girls sick with bulimia and anorexia. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Anorexia and Bulemia are illnesses? :O I thought they were a sign of good health! (lots o’ sarcasm)
Rachel, you are right that discrimination against thin people and discrimination against fat people aren’t to the same degrees, but like someone else said, weight discrimination is weight discrimination. They might be on different pages, but of the same book.
Sure we can eat less than our body requires. And our body will adapt until we are eating 500 calories a day and still not losing more weight, but we are insanely obsessed with food and have no energy because our body has shut down to save itself from this imposed famine.
Sounds smart to me….