April 30, 2010, - 11:37 am
Big Fat Liars: People Mag Picks Morbidly Obese Actress as “World’s Most Beautiful”
It’s one thing to be against the government getting involved in what you eat or how much you weigh. Big Brother shouldn’t be in our kitchens or on our dinner tables. But it’s entirely another thing to be subject to the constant, intellectually dishonest promotion of fat people as “beautiful” and “sexy.” They aren’t . . . unless you’re a chubby chaser.
The Real Notorous B.I.G.: I Hope the Silkworms Got Paid Overtime to Make This Dress
And so goes the lying, latest issue of People Magazine, its “World’s Most Beautiful People” issue, which is on the stands today. The magazine’s completely dishonest editors chose disgusting-looking, morbidly obese actress Gabourey Sidibe as one of the “World’s Most Beautiful People.” Come on. You know they don’t believe that. And we don’t believe she’s among the “World’s Most Beautiful People,” either. (In an appropriately-designated “Special Double Issue,” no less.)
This girl’s weight is sickening. She’s gross to look at. And it’s unhealthy. But People is engaging in the usual affirmative action for fat people because the editors clearly feel bad for Sidibe. She was correctly dissed by Howard Stern, who said on his satellite radio show that she would not find more acting work. This choice by People is in response to his and others’ on-target comments. It’s the whole reason this mediocre actress was nominated for an Academy Award this year. But Stern was incorrect, only because the hypocritical, usual Hollywood types felt bad for this fat chick the way they’d never feel bad for a wounded American soldier in Iraq or a victim of Islamic terrorism.
And part of it is because she’s not just any fat actress, she’s a Black fat actress in a ghetto movie promoted by Oprah and based on a “gangsta lit” book. Let’s face it: there have been plenty of equally ugly White fat actresses, like Camryn Manheim. And People didn’t lie to us and tell us they were the “World’s Most Beautiful People.”
Regardless of race, I’m beyond tired of the conventional Hollywood types telling us that being this fat–the girl is morbidly obese–is “beautiful.” If they really believed this, they’d cast Sidibe as a romantic lead in movies like “Somewhere in Time,” as superheroes’ girlfriends in movies like “Iron Man” and “Superman.” But that never happens. Because we’d never stop laughing. No-one would buy it.
It’s also beyond tiresome to tell people–particularly girls and women–that weighing over 300 pounds, as Sidibe does, is okay. Stores like Torrid discourage weight loss and healthy lifestyles by selling cross-your-heart hammocks (in place of bras) and thongs that look like true-to-size Golden Gate Bridges to these humongazoids. They fool girls into thinking anyone wants to see the world’s largest hamburger buns in this stuff and will think it’s “beautiful.” And now this People Mag stunt.
Enough already. It’s not hot. It’s not the “World’s Most Beautiful,” or even beautiful at all. It’s not even cute. Building morbidly obese fat people up to think so, only sets them up for health problems, and–more severe–extreme romantic and social disappointments.
Sorry, Gabby Sidibe. You’re not the “World’s Most Beautiful.” Just the world’s most artificially and unduly hyped fat chick. The hype and the lies are the only things bigger than you.
I’ve never seen a larger Empress with no clothing. Or rather, with no tent. It isn’t a pretty sight. And definitely not the “World’s Most Beautiful.”
If you wanna gorge yourself into oblivion or beyond that into a size 524, that’s your business. If you wanna tell me that’s the “World’s Most Beautiful” . . . excuse me while I have a good laugh.
For those who say I’m shallow because I’m attacking her for her looks, that’s not the case here. On the contrary, I’m faulting People for doing the exact opposite: lying about her looks and promoting them as “World’s Most Beautiful.” It’s dishonest.
Next, they’ll be telling us Barack Obama deserves the Nobel Prize. Oh, wait . . . .
Tags: fat, Fat Chicks, Gabby Sidibe, Gabourey Sidibe, Howard Stern, intellectually dishonest, morbidly obese, People, People Magazine, World's Most Beautiful People
I really don’t think anyone’s looking at Gabby Sidibe and thinking, man, I’d really like to weigh 300 lbs. Fat acceptance has really not come that far – thin is still idealized in nearly every facet of the media ever. Even the larger women who say they are ok with themselves still wish they had flat abs, for the most part. One overweight actress on the beautiful people list isn’t going to change the avalanche of images that women get telling them otherwise.
The only thing that this – and stores like Torrid – do is stress to women that they’re not totally worthless if they’re overweight. It IS possible to want to lose weight and get healthy, but still want to feel like a worthwhile human being while you’re doing it. And that should include feeling like you can have a successful career and nice clothes, even if you’re fat, because you can. Torrid doesn’t ONLY sell thongs, for Christ’s sake, and I know at least one slim-but-well-endowed girl who buys her bras there.
hellcat on April 30, 2010 at 12:08 pm