On body-shaming, and how not to do a joke
MMKAY, KIDS, I'M ALIVE. AND ANGRY.
So it seems that George Takei has taken to posting "funny" pictures recently that make fun of fat people, coming in Star Trek flavor and a special Holiday flavor. Um...
Okay, let's step back a moment here and just think about these little "jokes". What is the punchline of them? Well, it seems that these people (Shatner, Mulgrew and Santa) are fat. And...somehow that translates into comedy? Just...fat people being fat? I see fat people walk in my restaurant all day (I mean, I live in Houston, which statistically has a high rate of obese people). Absolutely zero of these people has had me overcome with laughter at their just being fat.
I don't get this phenomenon of "fat comedy", because most of the time, there is no punchline.
Well, enough obtusity. Let's get to the meat of the problem.
Body-shaming is never a good thing, no matter what that body may look like, but right now it especially goes for fat people because we currently live in a world where there is a HUGE social stigma against being fat. And let's be clear here - I'm not talking about "overweight" or "obese" people here. Tall and muscular people weigh more, and the measurement for "overweight" and "obesity" are based off the BMI, which is a whole clusterfuck of messed up.
No, I'm talking about straight-up fat people, and jokes like these are part of the entire fat-shaming culture. People don't tend to abuse the tall and muscular like they do the fat. There aren't jokes about "muscular people being muscular" or "tall people being tall", at least not these days. Rather, we laugh at the fat man who breaks a chair, who eats a cupcake, who just minds his own business being fat. It's disgusting, and leads to a fat-shaming mindset, the idea that it's okay to make fun of fat people because, well, they're fat.
People (at least, non-ironically) don't make racist jokes anymore, or homophobic jokes, or sexist jokes. Rather now, it's okay to turn that horrible abuse on fat people. Because they're fat.
Well I say no. These jokes aren't funny, they aren't cute and they aren't healthy. Every body deserves respect, no matter the size or shape of that body. Let's stop saying these "jokes" are funny and throw them into the pile with racist, sexist and homophobic jokes, kay?
So it seems that George Takei has taken to posting "funny" pictures recently that make fun of fat people, coming in Star Trek flavor and a special Holiday flavor. Um...
Okay, let's step back a moment here and just think about these little "jokes". What is the punchline of them? Well, it seems that these people (Shatner, Mulgrew and Santa) are fat. And...somehow that translates into comedy? Just...fat people being fat? I see fat people walk in my restaurant all day (I mean, I live in Houston, which statistically has a high rate of obese people). Absolutely zero of these people has had me overcome with laughter at their just being fat.
I don't get this phenomenon of "fat comedy", because most of the time, there is no punchline.
Well, enough obtusity. Let's get to the meat of the problem.
Body-shaming is never a good thing, no matter what that body may look like, but right now it especially goes for fat people because we currently live in a world where there is a HUGE social stigma against being fat. And let's be clear here - I'm not talking about "overweight" or "obese" people here. Tall and muscular people weigh more, and the measurement for "overweight" and "obesity" are based off the BMI, which is a whole clusterfuck of messed up.
No, I'm talking about straight-up fat people, and jokes like these are part of the entire fat-shaming culture. People don't tend to abuse the tall and muscular like they do the fat. There aren't jokes about "muscular people being muscular" or "tall people being tall", at least not these days. Rather, we laugh at the fat man who breaks a chair, who eats a cupcake, who just minds his own business being fat. It's disgusting, and leads to a fat-shaming mindset, the idea that it's okay to make fun of fat people because, well, they're fat.
People (at least, non-ironically) don't make racist jokes anymore, or homophobic jokes, or sexist jokes. Rather now, it's okay to turn that horrible abuse on fat people. Because they're fat.
Well I say no. These jokes aren't funny, they aren't cute and they aren't healthy. Every body deserves respect, no matter the size or shape of that body. Let's stop saying these "jokes" are funny and throw them into the pile with racist, sexist and homophobic jokes, kay?