Comments on: Fatism, Classism, Sexism: “People of Walmart”

By: skippy

skippy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:50:04 +0000

People of Walmart doesn’t make fun of people simply for being overweight. It makes fun of people who are wearing inappropriate clothes to a store such as underwear, swimsuits, strange costumes and clothing, have their bumcracks and cleavage hanging out. Some of those pepple just happen to be overweight. There are plenty of skinny people on that site, too. And I don’t buy the idea that it’s classist – it’s not mocking people in lower-quality clothing, it’s mocking people who are dressed bizarrely.

By: Des

Des — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:48:38 +0000

I hate sites like People of walmart with a burning passion. I don’t understand people that find this kind of horrible stuff funny. It makes me cringe.

By: Pigtails

Pigtails — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:09:38 +0000

I have noticed lately on that site them making fun of people just ’cause they’re overweight. It’s so not cool. When the site first started, I thought it was hilarious. I saw them making fun of a person in pj pants. I wear pj pants to Walmart and find nothing wrong with it. Whatev.

By: Amy K.

Amy K. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:39:13 +0000

Not that sweats are “OMG” worthy.

By: Amy K.

Amy K. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:37:35 +0000

“you now have to wonder if your 2 am run for cat food will become public mockery fodder because you dared to leave your house in sweats.” -Amy

I’m with Jadette – I’m never dressed to the nines like her grandmother, but I refuse to leave the house in sweats and can’t understand when people do. The people without pants, or their ass just hangin’ out… I would do a double-take at the store, and feel just fine about sharing my incredulity with the world. It’s that “Oh my Gawd you would not believe what I saw at the store today!” reaction that makes me appreciate People of Walmart.

By: Jadette

Jadette — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:45:13 +0000

I’d also like to point out that PoW has a featured Charity of the Month. They’re doing *some* good. I know to some of you, that’s like the Clan having a bake sale… but the only other “blog” type site that I visit regularly that features a charity is Perez Hilton. So to me, it counts for something.

By: Jadette

Jadette — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:41:15 +0000

After much thought… I think I would much prefer my own fat ass to be emblazoned on PoW instead of the generic “fat people walking” footage on the news.

Also, maybe it’s just a sign of how lazy/stressed we are as a society these days. I’m sure several of us had great-grandmothers who wouldn’t go out to check the mail unless they were dressed to the nines. My own grandmother never left the house without pantyhose and a slip under her dresses, even in the 100+ degree summers of Houston. While times change, I find myself agreeing with her, somewhat.

I’m not saying you have to wear your Sunday best to pick up emergency toilet paper at 3AM, but have we gotten to a point in our lives where PANTS is just asking too much?

Somedays… Okay, yeah, pants is asking a lot…

:-)

Quick note to address a previous comment: Dude, don’t judge a site based on the comments left. Not even this one. At a certain point, the jerks and trolls come out to play on every site. Many of my favorite sites have *terrible* commenters, so you know what I do? I don’t read them! I don’t want to allow morons to ruin or effect my life so much. Even the blandest of news stories will attract some true creeps. They’re not worth our time.

By: Annitspurple

Annitspurple — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:32:37 +0000

oops. Nov 9.

By: Annitspurple

Annitspurple — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:32:15 +0000

I just had the misfortune of clicking on the PoW link above when checking the comments here, and I’d like to point out that their Nov. 8 entry titled, “Not So Much,” which mocks a fat woman for wearing sweats with the word “bootylicious” across the butt is clearly fatphobic.

The caption on the photo is: “If the entire word “Bootylicious” can easily be read across your ass, believe it or not, it’s probably not actually bootylicious.”

These guys need to seriously get a life, and stop worrying so much about how other people choose to dress. Am I the only one who really doesn’t care if others look “absurd” (by who’s definition?) in public or not?

By: Bronwyn

Bronwyn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:11:13 +0000

I don’t think sites like People of walmart are cool at all, but I also don’t think we can exactly take away their right to post pictures of people and I just hope that the people in the pictures never see themselves because I’ve been there and it’s not a good feeling to see yourself being mocked in what is decidedly NOT a good-natured way.

And since I see cakewrecks being mentioned, I think it is in essence completely different. Sure, you might be sort of indirectly making fun of whoever decorated the cake but it’s not like that person’s identity is right there for you to mock either; You could make the argument that most of the people of walmart photos don’t have faces showing but since when does that matter? A cake is a cake, and cakes don’t have feelings. People do.

Overall I dislike sites like that, because it just breeds hate and snark and there’s a pretty thick line between good-natured jabs and downright insulting, and that site is on the wrong end.