Yesterday the new cover of JET magazine started floating around the internet featuring a much slimmer Mo’Nique and her husband. The headlines accompanying the cover spoke of her ‘getting healthy’ by shedding 40+ lbs. It seems like every site that I clicked on had huge pull-quotes focused on this transition. There seemed to be a bit of a divide in the fatosphere. While some congratulated her on her success, others felt that she, in a sense, sold out. As someone who was seemingly the queen of being fat and happy, the news that she “gave into society’s pressure” made some uncomfortable. Even when, from the posted interview snippets, she talked of how her husband became concerned for her health and she ended up changing her lifestyle to become healthier. By being healthier it was changing her eating habits and lifestyle choices. By no means, is she now a stick figure, but for some, it was as if another fat icon bit the dust.
So my question is then, when someone goes from being say, a size 24 or 26 down to a size 16 or 18, why is there such a stigma attached to it in the fat community? Is this the inbetweenie priveldge I touched on before? There’s no question that the person is still plus-sized. Does it have more to do with one’s own fat identity and wanting to see someone of the same size being happy with themselves? Is it considered fat hate? Is it the notion that, metaphorically speaking, misery loves company? I understand that some people reject the notion that skinnier = healthier however why does the fact that someone else decided that in order for them to feel and/or be healthier, some weight loss is needed make people so upset? People get upset when skinny people comment that being fat is unhealthy, so is it a double standard that fat people comment on other fat people getting skinny? Does it subscribe to the same line of thinking as ‘my weight is not your problem’?
What are your thoughts? If someone used the excuse of health as a reason for weight loss, is it valid? Where should the line be drawn between fat acceptance and fat hate? How does something so personal and sensitive as weight become okay to publicly debate?
(image from realgossip101.com)
