It took almost 1000 people joining my Show Our Beauty campaign before I received my first legitimate criticism. I have seen only a few cynical comments, but otherwise the support has been overwhelmingly positive. I knew it was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped.
Dropped indeed! Not only did the negative comment come, it came with a blow. Go ahead and read for yourself:
Anonymous said...
There is no such thing as a "body image message".
Call this "campaign" for what it really is: Angry, jealous, bitter fatties and ugly people not wanting to be reminded there are hot, good-looking people on this planet.
No one wants fat people on the cover of their fashion magazines.
Why don't you people just go on diets, instead of forcing the acceptance of your body types on others?
IDIOTS!
What a mouth-full! Now, normally I might ignore such a comment, but I really feel that this deserves to be addressed for the following reasons. First, Anon. are you my ex-boyfriend? Sure sounds like you. Second, and more importantly, this poor soul misunderstood the campaign completely and I would like to allow him or her the opportunity to still join when it is explained in full. What if others also have not grasped the simple concept that I have laid out so clearly? What if the Jezebel article or the myriad of other blogs that have covered this have misstated my purpose? What if Faith Hill thinks I'm calling her a 'fattie'?
Rest easy, dear readers, for here I lay out an easy-to-follow explanation, primarily though the mechanism of responding to our Anon poster.
There is no such thing as a "body image message". Possibly a mistake on my part; I recommend the following in its place: "a message pertaining to the crisis of female-held body image misconception." My attempt at brevity obviously confused Anon. I would like to refer him or her to the studies done by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and the YWCA Eliminating Racism; Empowering Women foundations to assure Anon. that this crisis is real and needs support from women around the world.
Next, we move on to Anon.'s suggestion for retitling the campaign. I did some googling, and it turns out Anon. spoke the truth! I found lots of people that agree with her about the existence of bitter fatties and uglies. Let's take a look:
Oddly, these people that agree with Anon. seem to be young black men who wear green shirts and enjoy activities such as coloring, kickball, and, say, teasing little girls. But no matter - someone has to remind the fatties about the hot people on the planet! How else would they ever find out?
Certainly, Anon. just wants to make sure that we keep Faith Hill, Jessica Simpson and all those other fatties/uglies (fugly sluts!) off the fashion magazine covers. My position is that if said celebrities have to be airbrushed, then a normal human being can't live up to those standards, even one as good-looking and wonderful as I'm sure Anon. is!
Honestly, even my witticisms cannot fathom how to respond to the comment "No one wants fat people on the cover of their fashion magazines." If this is a legitimate cry for help Anon., I suggest a school counselor, or if you've made it this far in the real world hiding your judgmental self-loathing, then the American Mental Health Counselors Association has resources to direct you to someone you can talk to.
But onto Anon.'s charge - why don't all these fat people go on diets? Dear lord, has Anon. just single-handedly solved America's obesity crisis? Dr. Oz, get this prodigy a position!
I will give Anon. this much, he/she has hit the nail on the head about America's feeling on acceptance: we won't allow it! Conform! Change to fit our demands! I hope Anon. takes considerable consolation that at least his or her views fit the status quo. Everyone wants to be accepted by others! Uh-oh, I smell a paradox. Can you be accepted by people that hate acceptance?
Finally, I would just like to thank Anon. for the Napoleon Dynamite-esque sign-off. It's been too long.
So thank you, Anon. Thank you.
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