Fattism and the Marie Claire Article

I checked Twitter this morning and saw a few comments from fellow bloggers about a Marie Claire blog post. Clicking onto the link, the title alone made me sick:

Should Fatties Get a Room? (Even on TV?)

Yes, the article is as bad as you might expect. Maybe worse.

In response to a new TV show called “Mike & Molly,” which is about an obese couple that meets at an Over-Eaters Anonymous meeting and falls in love, author Maura Kelly complains that she is sickened by the thought of watching fat people make-out. In her words:

“I think I’d be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other … because I’d be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room”

What is wrong with the author of this blog post? Or the folks over at Marie Claire who not only apparently prompted the content of the article but decided that it was OK to publish it as well?

It’s not OK.

Marie Claire is a magazine aimed at young women and girls. It is a magazine that primarily features beautiful, very skinny, and heavily airbrushed models, actresses, and celebrities.  You will rarely find overweight or obese models in their ads or editorials. And, when you do, it is made out to be a big deal.  Just like most fashion and beauty magazines, a form of Fattism already exists in these publications by the overt exclusion of people with a BMI over 25.

It is very sad to read an article like this anywhere, but especially in a respected fashion magazine. When a publication is already a part of the vicious media world that encourages the ever-increasing problems of eating disorders and disordered eating issues, then perhaps they might want to consider helping combat the problem rather than make it even worse.

As much as the media likes to portray one standard of beauty (read: thin), it’s never been more necessary for us to recognize that health and beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. We’re not all size 0, 2, 4 or even a 12. We should never be expected to weigh a certain weight or wear a certain size solely because of the media images that inundate us every time we look at a magazine, turn on the TV, watch a movie, or go on the Internet.

The author asks if she is being an “insensitive jerk” with her attitude. I say, yes. But, perhaps even worse, you’re being a bully. For the author and anyone else who agrees with her, I have only one suggestion – maybe it’s time to work on yourself before you ask the same of others.