blog posts make good eating (and linkage)
I wrote a really long, considered post about my experience as a Fat Activist and the way my stance on FA has challenged some of my relationships with other people, as well as the way people I have just met think of me. But LJ (where I was posting it initially for my friends only blog) ate the entire thing.
Not. Happy. Jan.
Oh well. You will have to make do with these links…
(anti) Obesity Activists are the Real Public Health Threat
Does thinking about food make you fat?
Type 2 diabetes causes weight gain rather than being caused by weight gain
Another piece about Lionel Shriver and her fat brother
Fat Rights apparently encourages fatties to eat ourselves to death (another article prescribing to the Lionel Shriver school of thought)
and this. (please read warning below before following this link)
WARNING: The last link is a photo of a fat man on sitting in an economy class airline seat. He obviously doesn’t fit into it so well. The commentary is demeaning to fat people in general (as you can well imagine). Not for the faint hearted.
Feel free to discuss any of the above items in comments!
Meanwhile I shall attempt to recreate my chomped up post…
The thing I don’t get about the last link is this: sure the guy is “obese,” but he’s also HUGELY TALL. (Even taking into account that he is having to sit on the armrest–and, OUCH, by the way.)
There is no way that man would ever, ever really fit in that seat, fat or not. But that, apparently, is not the problem. Or even part of the problem.
Drives me crazy. My husband’s long legs can wrap seven times around the passenger next to him, and it’s just part of the discomfort we must all endure to fly. My fat thigh sneaking into the next seat, though…that is a MORAL OUTRAGE!
sorry.
am enraged enough tonight.
i did my fantastic toning class (am the only chick on 6kg weights WOOT!) and nicked up to the shops to get some envelopes and was heckled and had abuse hurled at me cos i’m fat by a carload of indian students.
i wish to all fuck i’d punched them in the face cos i was very very pumped… and i have a mean right hook….
The fat guy overflowing the aircraft seat? It’s poorly done photoshop. If you look closely, you can see where the top of his seat has been erased when he was ‘dropped in’ to the image.
So it’s just predictable hateful mockery / anti-fat propoganda / hate speech.
The way that the picture of the air passenger is taken from behind lets the viewer project his or her prejudices onto him, the same way the Headless Fatty pictures do. Viewers can imagine that this guy is just fine with the situation! Completely doesn’t realize he’s fat! Doesn’t care about himself at all! They can avoid recognizing that this guy has been forced by the airline into a situation that is causing him physical pain, and tremendous embarrassment.
Ok I am having a very very hard time believing that this photo is real. In the article right under it, it is said it is “thought” to be genuine, but pulling it into photoshop the top of the seat does appear to disappear in an un-natural way. I am thinking it was erased because it was too light if he was actually sitting in front of it. I was prompted to check it out because the fact that he is sitting ON THE ARM of the seat (it is not lifted up) looks really fishy, also with the way he is sitting it would mean he is sitting with his weight on his left leg on that arm and he is not lopsided or anything meaning he would have to either be suspended with a leg on either arm (which it doesn’t look like since the other guy is sitting fine next to him) or he is levitating.
You know what though, regardless of whether this is fake or not, it should show the ridiculousness of the size of the seats not inspire hatred and vitrol towards a fat person. Goodness knows he can’t be comfortable like that if it was true I just don’t get why people find it ok to look at something like this and spew vileness towards the person and not get upset at the company for treating HUMANS like that!