Radicalism & Marie Claire

Last week this thing happened on the Marie Claire website. You may have heard about it. Today we’re discussing that event, as well as the nature and purpose of radical body politics.

Links mentioned in this episode:

The original “Ew, fatties!” blog

Lesley’s 1AM screed on fatshionista.com

Lesley’s Marie Claire guestblog

Marianne’s response on The Guardian

The New Museum of Fat Love

Re/Dress NYC (yes, again)

The Adipositivity Project

The music heard in this episode is by Revolution Void.

9 Responses to “Radicalism & Marie Claire”

  1. car Says:

    While I was listening to you talking about Mike and Molly, I was wondering where all this vitriol for shows like this came from and when. Roseanne starred two fat characters, and I don’t remember hearing anywhere near such criticism as Mike and Molly is getting. But I was in high school then, so I might not have noticed as much.

  2. meerkat Says:

    This is all I can think of when the “heroine/heroin” question is pointed out.

    http://www.myvideo.de/watch/6694514/Right_Now_Someone_Is_Reading_This_Title_46_Anime_mix_AMV See time 1:34 for the reference.

  3. Ms. C. Says:

    Yay! A new Fatcast!

    I too wish I lived in magical Jezebel commenter land, but I don’t, so I’ve stopped reading the comments there when it’s something I actually care about. They aren’t as bad as YouTube, but…

    I felt that your guest stint on Marie Claire’s website was an excellent opportunity to reach an audience that you probably wouldn’t otherwise, & I am glad you did it. The backlash the original article received is a sign that more people in the mainstream are ready for fat activism. Keep up the good work!

    Please don’t judge me for this but…the Adam Sandler movie you are trying to place is called “Waterboy.”
    I hate that I know that.

  4. the hooker from "Demons" Says:

    You know what would be a great thing to discuss on a future podcast? Fat self-help books. They make the assumption (Fat is a Family Affair and Fat is a Feminist Issue) that people are fat for one reason and one reason only: they overeat. I’ve know a few fat people that undereat actually and by undereat I mean maybe one actual meal a day and a snack here or there.

    Why do these books always assume this? Discuss!

    In response to the first comment, I think the hype that Mike and Molly are suffering from didn’t occur with Roseann because of two major reasons: Roseann was already an established stand up comic before the show. Everyone knew who she was and that she was fat and unapologetic. No surprise. The show was really a vehicle for her. Also although we had stupid things like the President’s Physical Fitness program and Weight Watchers, we weren’t being constantly inundated with obesity epidemic [sic] B.S. on the news. Recovering from the Regan years and the Gulf War were foremost on everyone’s mind.

  5. living400lbs Says:

    The point about how “people writing about the ‘obesity epidemic’ seem like they don’t know any fat people” reminded me of something I’ve seen in research, which is that less than 5% of the population is actually deathfat and even fewer are superfat. MOST people officially classified as “obese” are inbetweenies. Meanwhile these articles are illustrated with pictures of people who are superfat.

    If you think of “the obese” as being this very small portion of the overall population, then yes, you can pretend that you don’t know any of them. It’s also total denial, but what else is new 😉

  6. Vanessa Says:

    I just wanted to thank you guys for giving us the Fatcast. I know you say the same things over and over again but remember — when people hear and read your words, they can adopt them to use in their own lives when confronting sizeist attitudes. We need to hear these things over and over again in many different ways until it becomes something we can accept and absorb on a wider scale.

    Thank you! Keep talking!

  7. silentbeep Says:

    Just getting around to listening to this now! ha

    I wanted to bring up a point about Adipositivty project in that I think it’s an effective site because it’s approach is visual, in the sense that it hits people perhaps in a more emotional, “gut level” way. The written activism that our blogs do is great, but the written word is naturally more attuned to a more “thinking” approach – not bad just different. The thing about a visual art form like photography is I think it affects people’s emotional, instinctual centers more readily, because it is appealing to one of the bodily senses. of course, the written word can also affect people’s emotion, but that effect can be really subtle. A visual art form feels so much more immediate for me.

    Also I think it’s a great approach for different learning styles – some people are visual learners and something like Adipositivity project can really reach those people in a way, that a blog devoid of visuals, cannot. Just my two cents…

  8. Celebrating the Community « Fat Heffalump Says:

    […] this week I was listening to the Two Whole Cakes Fatcast on radicalism and Marie Claire from Marianne and Lesley, and they were talking about the sense of […]

  9. arcane_scholar Says:

    I’m with Marianne, adverbs are the sparkle on the fucking vampire mmkay? 😉

    I am so sad to hear Suki is Molly. 🙁 I don’t watch the show because I don’t have enough Sanity Points, but I did love Suki. There was never any inclination that Suki was unattractive or should lose weight or is fat because she eats. I mean, obviously, she loves food because she’s a chef, but that didn’t seem to play into the normal stereotype. I mean, a fat, woman chef is not very well received, even though people say they only trust fat chefs. They mean, of course, fat male chefs.

    Marianne, I’m not sure I understand your love of Ben Stiller movies like Zoolander and Dodgeball. Would you ever care to expand on that? It always seems to themed around ridiculing people. Am I missing something? lol

    As for the “making money” thing, that’s kind of why I stopped reading Shakesville. It was constantly filled with posts about how we, the readers, need to donate or THERE WILL BE NO MORE POSTS AND YOU ALL HAVE BROKEN MY HEART BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT SUPPORT ME. It was really frustrating and upsetting. So I’m so glad y’all are doing that, and come from a place where activism isn’t about making the bling. I mean, if one can figure out how to join the two then I think that is FUCKING AWESOME.

    I have no idea who Gabby is, or what her story is, any links? 🙂

    I would also like to add that I wasn’t big into the Adipositivity thing until recently. I’m more of an academic and like to approach things in a logical/factual manner. However, recently, I’ve been following Adi on FB and came across pictures where I’ve seen bodies that look just like mine. It has been alarming the effect that has had on me. I felt like it rocketed me forward in my journey to fat acceptance. It was like “Hey! My boobs do that too!” and “OMG, that’s exactly what my ass looks like” or whatever. I mean, there is such a difference between knowing it is okay to be fat, and to be in the body you’re in intellectually and then seeing that you’re not the only one in this body you’re trying to accept. Does that make sense? I mean, both of you are near my size, and I found it much easier (which I am kind of embarrassed to admit) to continue to follow y’all through my ups and downs because when you talk about things they actually apply to ME instead of just the masses of fats in the world.

    Kate Harding was my first blogger, and I really enjoyed a lot of stuff on Shapely Prose, but it was always a struggle for me to be there because the writers there are much smaller than I am. I still struggle with the whole “fat comes in all sizes” thing because, yes, I get that the concept of fat in this country is ridiculous and even if one is not classified as fat, if they /feel/ fat they are going to go through a lot of the same things I do. And I understand that inbetweenies are often treated with as much distaste and hatred as us deathfats, but it /is/ still different and I am still the type of fat that is considered “not okay”. Like I totally feel outside the movement sometimes, because I’m not one of those fats people say “Oh, you’re not fat” or “you may be fat, but we know you’re still healthy” because people just don’t believe that about a 400lbs person you know? I am the fat that horrifies people. So to be able to see myself included is a powerful thing.

    Of course, it is not /better/ than what y’all do, it’s just different and offers another level. And I totally agree, Lesley, that you have to cater your writing to your audience. Because as much as I hate “tone” arguments and shit like that, people are more likely to listen to something when it is closer in line with their thinking. So to reach an audience that is outside the FA world, one has to alter their speech. Otherwise, I feel, they’re just preaching to the choir.

    Great job ladies! Another cast I thoroughly enjoyed. 🙂

Leave a Reply