Fatphobic covering of the MA size discrimination bill in the Chicago Tribune
You had to know the article wasn’t going to be exactly unbiased when it started like this:
In an overwhelmingly overweight nation that worships thinness, many describe prejudice against the obese as one of the last socially acceptable biases. Advocates for the plus-sized, particularly activists in the “fat acceptance” movement, want obesity to become a category legally protected against discrimination, like religion, race, age and sex. But not everyone agrees.
There’s not a whole lot positive going for this piece… Marilyn Wann makes a brief appearance, as does the author of the fat girl detective series (about one “Odelia Gray”), Sue Anne Jaffarian. At least there are two fat women coming out strong in favor of the bill. Oh wait:
“Legislation happens when people are too childish to police themselves,” said Sue Ann Jaffarian, author of the Odelia Grey mystery series starring a 220-pound heroine who is a reflection of her creator.
“But, as a fat woman, I don’t want a green light,” said Jaffarian, 55, who worries that such a law would validate what some consider unhealthy weight. “The downside of legislation is that the prejudice would go more underground.”
Totally agree on that one - if oppressed groups would just stop being so goddamn easy to oppress, we wouldn’t have to HAVE this silly legislation. Gawd. Can’t you guys/we just, like, stop that already?
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The criticisms of my students would serve as a good warning to visitors of Seeworthy: she talks too fast, she's too hard on us, she assigns too much work, and you have to be a dyke to get a good grade.
In other words, I'm a big, fat, queer, feminist meanie, and I am totally out to get you. Graaagh!
gag me. everyone who roars about how great that book series is should write Ms. Jaffarian and drop some wisdom.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure we should thank the world for not treating us with humanity…because god knows we are too childish to keep ourselves from wanting to be treated humanely…someone has to stop us!
Buh? Sue Anne Jaffarian thinks she’s fat because people aren’t mean enough to her to make her want to slim down?? How much meaner do they have to get? Are rocks thrown at our heads from cars sufficient to make us stick to the diets which will guarantee socially acceptable bodies (harhar), or do there have to be pointed bricks dropped from helicopters? Less fatties that way, to be sure.
Oh, and I think the “childish” people she is referring to are not the fatties, but the people who discriminate against them. But the “green light” thing is what sticks in my craw. I’m fat because someone told me it was okay? I think not. Sorry for the double post.
“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28. Do we discriminate in regards to pay scales for women, blacks, fat people? Sad to say, this ancient truth is nowhere to be seen in the modern American arena. We have such a long ways to go. Whenever a human is treated differently than the masses, we should take a cold, hard look at the situation. A hard look indeed. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR http://www.michaellgooch.com