(Okay, only one of them is a model.)
First, Big Fat Blog has a “three quick questions” interview with Lindsay Hollister, a very cool American actress who has a size-acceptance mentality. From the interview:
[First,] I’m constantly torn between wanting to work and not wanting to perpetuate the myth of fat people. That we are lazy, sad, pathetic, etc. kind of people. Second, it affects me as a fat woman who has to watch these programs that portray fat people in a negative light. I am fat but also happen to be a successful, well dressed, outgoing woman who has been in a loving relationship for three years. Somehow, Hollywood fails to put that on screen and instead continues to write stereotypical roles for fat women. It’s an injustice to say the least, mostly due to the fact that the majority of Americans are overweight and deserve to see some real representation of their lives on the big (or small) screen.
Second, the Sydney Morning Herald’s “Entertainment Blog” has an interview with Paris-based model/actress Velvet d’Amour, who recently made a splash walking the runway wearing lingerie designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. What makes this interview interesting is that the blogger/interviewer keeps on asking mainstream anti-fat questions like “What do you think about TV programs such as ‘The Biggest Loser’? Do you think that they’re a good idea in encouraging people to lose weight?” Velvet does a great job answering these questions while (amazingly) keeping her cool. She also refuses to get drawn into dissing thin woman.
“do you do porn?” !!!
Are you kidding? What a jerk! Right after she called that mess out.
the ending was priceless. She really held herself together well. I’m so tired of hearing about all the “unhealthy” fat people. Are there fat people who are unhealthy? Sure. Are there skinny people who are unhealthy? You bet. Those questions would have certainly gotten a rise out of me – that’s for sure.
And I think she made an excellent point about fat people getting ridiculed at the gym, in bathing suits, etc. People don’t want fat people to get thin and “healthy” they want someone to ridicule.
[snerk] The interview was fine, but there sure were a lot of asshats in the comments section. I’d love to know how many of these folks smoke like chimneys, drink to excess, forget to wash their hands during cold season and the like. Frankly, I think that they should have to trot out all their own health practices and demonstrate perfection before they get to run around prattling about how fat people are all unhealthy.
Oh, and my new favorite expression is “fat ‘heffer.'” Give me strength…
I’m not a person who pays much attention to the fashion industry – I don’t read the magazines or the stories, etc. But of course on occasion one of them is on the front page of the Tribune Tempo section (which has the funnies in the back two pages, so I always see the front page of that section every day) or you see a 30 second bite on the TV news.
I have to say that the models I see in those look damn unhealthy to me and not at all attractive. They also look fairly unhappy to boot.
“Have you ever been a fat person going to a gym? It’s ridiculous. You go in and you are totally scoffed at. And humiliated.”
Um, no. In my experience, fat people make up more than half of the members. Also, fat people push themselves harder: steeper inclines on the treadmills, heavier weights, etc. The thin people are only there to maintain. I find few things funnier than some muscly dude huffing and puffing with only 40 pounds on the stack. Then I throw 180 pounds on the same machine, snap off the same number of reps, and then do the same number again, all without breaking a sweat. They just slink away.
I think The Biggest Loser is the best thing to happen on TV in over a decade.
Re fat people and gyms, the chain I go to is a big part of the problem; every fat person I know who’s gone in there to sign up has been chased back out with hard-sell “OMG YOU MUST JOIN US OR DIEEEE!” tactics. I hate the company (24-hour Fitness) with a passion, but there’s nothing else which is open at night which I can reach safely and easily on a bus line, and this is one of those cases where I prioritize my own needs over the desire to boycott — (also, the amount of my money I’m giving to this damaging corporation is less than I’d be spending at the petrochemical altar in order to own and operate a car. If/when I do get a car, and can find another gym open through midnight, I’ll drop them like a hot potato.)
mr_xeno and I are definitely not the only fat people at the gym we go to, which is great. 8)