Fatism, Classism, Sexism: “People of Walmart”
One of my students first told me about People of Walmart, and even though my first reaction was that making fun of working class people is kind of not cool, a lot of my students insisted that no, it was funny, and I should check it out. Indeed, makes fun of lots of people, such as those who paint their cars as Clay Aiken tributes, or dye their hair to look like toupees, or dress like zebras.
On the other hand, it does make fun of fat people quite a bit, most often for wearing very tight clothing. (Of course if you are skinny and wearing tight clothing, it is described as “awesome.”) It also has used the term “back titty” more than once. (If there’s a word I can’t stand…) And occasionally there are posts where the entire point is “you are fat and your clothes are riding up“; conversely, there are posts where the fact that the person is fat is seemingly irrelevant.
This is another one of those things where I can’t decide if I’m being oversensitive or not sensitive enough. Is People of Walmart equal-opportunity free-for-all mockery, or are there undercurrents of fatism and classism (or even racism and sexism) that we should be pissed off about? And is it even okay to take pictures of strangers in public and post them online in the first place? Is Look at this Fucking Hipster equally bad? I’d love to know your thoughts.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Fashion, Fatism, Feminism, Humor, Question, Race & Ethnicity
Email us
Point for discussion: The Cake Wrecks blog also features Sunday Sweets in praise of top-notch professional (and some amateur IIRC) theme cakes. Would other readers who don’t like People of Wal-Mart be more inclined to like it if it had a regular feature like that? Maybe “Working It,” for people who manage to pull off looks that would be awful on anybody else/manage to look put together at a ridiculous time of the night/obviously do know how to dress for their body type on a budget? I don’t know whether I would or not, frankly. But it would be interesting taken on its own.
I think part of Cake Wrecks is that you are looking at a cake. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have never looked at those cakes and thought anything bad about the person that decorated it. You aren’t laughing at people, you are looking at odd and funny cake mistakes. Mistakes happen.
I don’t like sites that openly laugh at people. I have bad social anxiety to the point where it’s hard enough to go outside of my house, I don’t need to worry that I’ll be dressed oddly or say something stupid and end up on a site like People of Walmart or Not Always Right. Those sites really scare me.
I noticed you did a story about peopleofwalmart.com. Perhaps you might be interested in doing a follow up about People of Public Transit.
People of Walmart inspires sister site (People of Public Transit)
http://www.peopleofpublictransit.com/
The public bus and subway systems are littered with amazing photo opportunities. Many of us have been sitting alone witnessing something amazing and only wishing we could share the experience with our friends. Well now you can!
Thank you,
John Michael
Also, cakes don’t have feelings.
I only looked at the first five pages and I’m pretty sure my in-laws are on there. Wow.
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.
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?
oops. Nov 9.
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.
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.
“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.
Not that sweats are “OMG” worthy.
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.
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.
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.
Classism is the new racism, it achieves the same purpose; a way to distinguish yourself from the “others” that must be made to seem inferior to you in every way. It’s everywhere these days, but the real whackjobs come out of the woodwork for “People of Walmart”. Mocking people that have not harmed you in any way is despicable and sad. It illustrates not only their immaturity and lack of self esteem, but shows their shallow view of the world.