Well, it seems as though I've stuck my foot in my mouth again! On the last post I posted a picture that I found to be funny. It's a picture of a super obese man with a t-shirt that says "I beat anorexia". I guess I found it funny because of my own struggles with weight. When I posted it, I hoped it wouldn't be misconstrued as malicious.
Manny posted a very heartfelt comment about someone close to her that struggled with anorexia for many years.
Her comment got me to thinking (I know, I'm always in trouble when I start thinking). Would I think a picture of someone who weighs 60 pounds wearing a t-shirt that says "I overcame obesity" is funny? Hell, no!
This raises the question, why did I think the fat guy was funny? I've been obese my entire life and absolutely hate to be made fun of. I'm just as bad as the rest of the world. I am my own worst enemy.
Fat bashing is the last acceptable prejudice. I Googled "making fun of fat people" and over 100 websites popped up. The more I read the madder I became. Most people feel it's not ok to torment someone with disease or handicaps, but it is ok to slam the obese. Well, guess what? Obesity is a disease and can also be a handicap!
This rant must come to an end. I appologize to anyone I may have upset by posting that picture. To those of you who still like to make fun of fat people, (obviously, my self included) remember that you could become one some day!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Bashing
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40 comments:
You Rock sign!
What do you say, later on today, we do a jello shot and go beat up on g?
I know your heart is genuine. That's why you are my favorite.
Ok, I'm sitting here with wet hair, so I'm off to make myself beautiful.
My sis and I are going out to eat and it's my turn to pick.
I was just here!
How can I be 3rd?....
MANNY!
You need to be stomped like an ant!
Jenn, quit suckin up to that Starbuck slurpin, game playin, man eatin..Harpy!
..."oh I woke up so happy today. I think I'll go torment some old fuck on every post in blogdom".
I have a few rounds left in the arsenal.....
Manny, by the time that happens, it'l be dinner time!
Manny~ I'm on my way with Jello shots. Do you like blue or red?
Gman~ You are getting slow in your old age. Bwhahahah!!! I'll take that gun away if you don't play nice!
This is how Crabby and I had our first...uh..."discussion" online years ago. She did a VERY VERY hilarious fat girl picture with many of our heads on it. It WAS funny...but I sat silently looking at the picture for a long time and .... it was what I saw in the mirror daily. And it was an iimage that I had hated for many years.
That Christmas, she photoshopped the most VERY VERY awesome photos for all of us, very sexy, very glamorous..I still have mine. It was one of the images I used as my inspiration in my weight loss journey I had a few years ago.
Anyway, The View talks about this sometimes, Joy likes to say SKINNY BITCH and that's funny...but...is it really?
Good post Sign.
Milkmaid~ Your comment reminds me that no matter what, we shouldn't be calling each other names. It hurts.
Permission to call g names please.
When I was way young, like 7 or 8, my mom overheard me making fun of someone. She told me if i didn't stop, I would grow up and have a child like that. I stopped right then and there.
g-You were 4th. babe not 3rd.
Red please.
We are who we are and we are all stuck here together. I like being stuck with you. *smile*
OK, click counter, now I can't just show up, read and run.
Manny~ I'm glad to be stuck here with you too!
Gman~ I've been watching you and I know you don't read my crap!
well I have a slightly different take on it and I think you're being a bit hard on yourself.
There are so many issues we need to deal with and when we're blogging we are surely going to say something or post something which will offend someone.
If we are constantly afraid of doing that and censoring ourselves we may as well forget about blogging.
I didn't feel in the slightest you were making fun of someone.
Obesity and Anorexia are serious health issues and if in posting this it opens up a discussion about these things I think that is great.
One of the best ways of talking about and getting the attention of people is through humor as long as it's not mean and cruel.
tc
LMAO, sign, you noticed that too?
I don't believe it when people say they don't check their counter.
btw, g was at my blog calling us names like "sit to pissers" Then he yelled at us for eating all the nutty chocolates. If he read my post's, he would know I don't like the nutty ones, I'm a cordial type girl.
I don't like the cordial ones. You can have mine if I can have your carmels.
Manny cordial? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Thats like saying Hitler over reacted a bit.
you can have my caramels and nuts. When I said cordial, I meant cherry cordials. Them's my favorites. Liquid centers. Mmmm good.
Squirrel is taking forever getting ready. I was able to clean my house, post new, play my game, and start a fight with g.
No shit Sherlock, I understand Mannyspeak.
Can't we all just get along? First, I'm fat and the shirt was funny.
This is the one reason that I hate blogging, cause people take it way too seriously.
It's your blog, and you can post anything you like, if others don't like it, then don't read it.
You please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people, all of the time. Okay?
Sorry, but I just had to say it...
OOOOohh, Cutebuttgirl....HOT!
Jenn, I been hittin your site, just to jack with you! Hahahahaha
Gman~ Stop flirting with my commenters. Lure them to your place.
I'm glad you weren't jacking something else.
Do you people not appreciate the picture? Can you relate?
Jenn, quit ruining my program with Cutebuttgirl.
Peace sign? Piece sign!Your IQ?
Number of times anyone has to say anything to you? Number of times you took 1st grade? WHAT!!!
Gman~ Get a grip!
I just might be right now!
Hmmmm...Okay, first off, I can see how some people might be offended by the picture of the, ummm, ROBUST man with that particular t-shirt. Anorexia is a serious disease, I don't dispute that.
BUT...as for the picture itself, and whether it was intended in the spirit of making fun of fat people in general, I don't think it was. I figure the guy saw the shirt, thought it was amusing considering his ample size, and was just trying to make people laugh a little.
I do understand, though, about the fact that overweight people DO get picked on, or made fun of, whatever. I have watched my Mom struggle with her weight most of my life...she's 5'3" and I've seen her get over 300 pounds. I know she's been made to feel inferior over the years, but she is truly beautiful. It's all in the way a person carries themself.
Don't be too hard on yourself, hun...I think you posted the pic in the same way the guy bought the shirt to begin with. To bring a chuckle to someone's day. :)
btw...I freakin' hate blogrolling! Hardly anyone shows up as updated. You're one of the few...yet I rarely show updated on your blogroll.
GAH!
Well, lookit that! I'm showing as updated! LOL Thanks for the tip!
Well, if I can make a comment here, that dude in the picture was obviously proud of his shirt. I don't think he was tied up in moral knots over the matter. Everything in this world can't be life-and-death serious. I mean, a fat joke (or a straight fraternity boy's gay joke -- see below) isn't on par with the usual daily headline, "Today in Baghdad a roadside bomb killed [fill in number] of U.S. troops."
I'm a gay guy living in a pretentious little "gay ghetto" in Washington, DC -- the "gayborhood," as we call it. I'm 5'7" (i.e. short) and have no particular body shape ... just sorta there at 155lbs, occupying a bit of space on this planet. But in this gay ghetto, the obsession with bodies, as in having that perfect, 20-something beautiful boy muscular body is astonishing.
The things that guys do ... and not surprisingly, more than a few people have some sort of eating disorder. [A friend of mine who lived in Africa once said that poor, i.e. Third World people, don't have eating disorders. It's not an 'option'.]
As for me, being around so many of the -- sorry -- hot guys on a Friday or Saturday night can be a very ego-deflating experience. Esp. when you're in love with one who wants nothing to do with you.
Even being on a college campus most days as I am ... well ... that too is rather ego-deflating. So many of the (straight) guys are so damn attractive. That's even a bigger losing proposition for me, though.
I guess I could become a gym rat and get in that kind of shape (even at 37). But I'm not that crazy-motivated. Maybe I should be.
Not really sure where I'm going with this other than to say rarely in this life are what we ideally want to be and if we were able to reach it quickly, it wouldn't be a problem ... so it's kind of a self-negating proposition.
I suppose people take corrective actions to "better themselves" in their lives only when they are really ready to do so (of course, the "better" can be problematic in its own way).
I kind of have a psychological - utilitarian view, I suppose, of how people behave when it comes to things like taking care of their bodies.
An infomercial for the Ab-Flexer doesn't really do it. (Besides, those are really just soft-core porn videos anyway.)
Sorry, Signgurl, to go on so long about this and not really say anything.
sometimes people want to find fault in everything. no matter what we say someone will always be offended.
it's a no win situation. people just need to calm the fuck down and not want to find fault in everything. drives me crazy. pretty soon people will stop talking out of fear of hurting someone elses feelings.
i was a big girl for many years-i do not take offense to anything being said about overweight people. i made myself fat not someone else. it's about taking ownership and not blaming others because of something you [not you, but in general 'you'] do to yourself.
Hi Signgurl!
As someone who is a) fat and b) doesn't like to eat, I have to say that I was truly, deeply unoffended by the picture. The dude has such a silly, happy grin on his face and is playing with the whole weight obsession thing, that it made me smile to look at him - and consider making such a shirt for myself. Never let it be said that I didn't have a sick sense of humor! I've also been in a hospital room with someone commiting suicide through anorexia, so I do get that it is a serious mental and physical disorder. But life is short and we all need to release through laughter. I saw myself in the picture and got a chuckle. So screw me!
*S*
What does the G in GMan stand for? Cause I can think of a lot of G words and some of them aren't so nice.
Help a bitch out please....
Jenn
we are all human...we love you because you are a wonderful person, with a good heart...do not beat yourself up too bad over this k?!?
I didnt comment when I seen the pic because I was afraid that Id hurt your feeling. I was mad to say the least as I have too many in my family who have gone the other route and I almost lost a cousin to anorexia and she is just getting back to a normal weight but her life is forever changed because she now needs people to watch her to make sure she eats. I know you didnt mean it ain a bad way. But thankyou for realising that it could be taken the wrong way. We still love you.
Sign-looks like some folks may have missed it. I'm glad you understand that I wasn't offended.
Sign, Elliot Ness is back. I screwed up the addy's somehow...I fixed it I hope......G
Oh my goodness....I'm speechless.
Some peeps!!!!
Manny..in case you come back to this thread, I just now read your story down there, I hadn't before I posted...how brave for you to speak up and did so in such a great manner.
I love you SignGurl! You rock! XXOO
the gentleman in the picture chose to wear the shirt. that mitigates the "fat joke" element of it, i think. this isn't a t-shirt hanging on a rack or that the gentleman in the picture was forced to wear during a frat initiation
and i didn't think you were laughing at him
----
dealing with weight issues is stressful. i was overweight - mot really bad, but heading there
i viewed the picture as part of your exploration of those issues and didn't even think about the way it might be "viewed"
i think that you are correct to understand that there are sensitivities, but don't dwell on it
and i don't think anyone else should take this opportunity to try to use this as a lever to make you feel bad
and - i think the reason that you understand the sensitivities of people's feelings about the picture is because you have lived it.
that you would consider that someone might be hurt, shows that you are NOT insensitive
I laugh inappropriately. I can't help it. I'd love that damn t-shirt, but it's awful. And, it's awful to think how cute my husband, 190 pounds ago, would be *wearing* that t-shirt. (Really, he would have been adorable in it.) But, that's wrong, and awful and bad. Or, is it?
Your site is edgy. I love it.
Jeff
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