Ellen hating on the fatties?

Sort of. Given the choice between finishing Twilight Princess (I’m not ready!) and watching daytime television, I opted for the latter, and ended up settling the Ellen show. Today one of her guests is Jordin Sparks, the most recent American Idol winner (for those who don’t follow the show). After asking the obligatory “is it real to you” questions, the first topic Ellen decides to tackle? Jordin’s “fatness,” of course. She brings up the below image of her as a model for Torrid maker of shabbily-made, over-priced but nonetheless cute apparel for the mid-range fatties.

“what they call a plus sized model, which I’m sort of offended by. This is a plus size? I think that’s insulting, this is a healthy size, that’s what I think!” To which Sparks responds, “Well thank you, that’s what I think, too.”

Fattiesaywhat? Pardon me? Not only is Ellen equating being on the lower-end of plus-sized with healthy, but by doing that she’s effectively saying that those who really are plus-sized - or god forbid self-described as fat - are unhealthy; similarly, those who weigh less than Sparks must also be unhealthy, if she’s a paragon of fitness. And how does Ellen know this? Did she check her blood pressure? Bone density? Can she verify that her liver is functioning as it should?

And beyond what Ellen said, what the hell is wrong with Jordin Sparks, agreeing that she’s not “plus-sized, just healthy”? I’m not sure if she was just disoriented or genuinely dislikes being referred to as plus-sized, but either way she comes off as agreeing with Ellen. There have been a lot of folks on the fat weblog circuit celebrating a fat(ter) girl idol winning, but if this is how she’s starting her career as an icon for the fatlings, I have to say I’m disappointed. It’s one thing to celebrate people having realistic ideas about their bodies and body image, but it’s quite another to distance yourself from fatter fatties so that you can celebrate how “healthy” you are.