Mike and Molly - the plus-sized love story appearing in a television near you - is actually one of my favorite new shows. It reminds me of the movie Marty, about a lonely, bumbling chubby man who finds love. (Which makes sense, because that's what inspired the creators to make the show).It's a sweet story about two larger people who fall in love at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting and who overcome their own insecurities in order to try to build a relationship. I love the female lead, Melissa McCarthy. Plus, this is a show that doesn't involve much brain power, so I pretty much watch it every week. Yes, it relies too much on fat jokes, but Simon and I chuckle every episode.
If only Marie Claire had asked me MYopinion. Instead, they asked former anorexic Maura Kelly who has never even watched the show. Click here to read the article, titled "Should Fatties Get a Room, Even on TV."
It's filled with gems like this:
So anyway, yes, I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room — just like I'd find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine (sic) addict slumping in a chair.
It also includes cheerful diet tips like "eat fresh foods" and "avoid sweeteners."
Here's the deal. Fat people know how to lose weight. EVERYBODY knows how to lose weight. It's not easy to do. I lost almost 70 lbs a few years ago. In the past couple of years, I let 30 lbs creep back on and am now struggling to take it back off.
And you know what? It doesn't bother me. I'm happy. I have a fantastic husband, great job, fun friends, fabulous family and adorable cats. And none of them care whether I weigh 30 lbs more than I should.
I actually feel sorry for Maura Kelly. She's in her 30s and has never been in love. She obviously has body issues. Undoubtedly, her life is a carefully measured regimen balancing exercise and the number of grapes appropriate to eat in one sitting. She cheekily says she's not a sizeist because "I have a few friends who could be called plump." (Um, I'm guessing not anymore.) I would like to see her plump friends - I bet they are a size 8 instead of a 2.
The backlash has been awesome -- 1607 comments, tens of thousands of emails. In fact, she had to slap a pseudo apology onto the blog post about how she didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. I'm sorry, but I blame Marie Claire. They knew she had food issues. They obviously approved the article. Fat people have enough to deal with to have to put up with this level of hatred on top of that. No more Marie Claire for me!
I'm going to close with an a comment that I stole from Jezebel that was stolen from a commenter (Beth)on the original blog post, because it's awesome.
Dear Maura Kelly, I sincerely apologize for my disgusting body and all the various rolls of fat on my person. When I married my fat husband back in June I didn't realize it would offend anyone when we got to that "you may kiss the bride" moment, or we would have skipped it. If I'd realized how unacceptable it is for me to have love or happiness, I would have called the wedding off entirely, of course. I have told my husband that there will be no more kissing or cuddling or FATTY SEX until we both lose some weight. I hope he understands... I really am so sorry for being so fat and happy all this time! In your very honest and sensitively written article "should fatties get a room?" you write that fat people should walk more, yet you also write that fat people walking across a room is something you find disgusting. I take long walks around my neighbourhood most days, is this too much? I want to find the correct balance between getting thin and not upsetting anyone with my jiggling body parts. I also swim twice a week and go to the gym once a week, are these activities also disgusting to you? Perhaps I should start doing these activities at night so nobody has to be offended by them. Do you think that would be best? I don't own a television so I haven't seen Mike and Molly. But I do hope they take garbage like off the television soon. As you say, it's implicitly promoting obesity. Surely anyone who watches it will see the yucky fat people making out and suddenly think to themselves "I should gain some weight, that looks like fun." And then where would we be? By the way, I haven't ever had any health problems before but if anything does come up I'll be sure to stay away from the doctor so as not to be a drain on anyone's health costs. Thank you for writing this meticulously well researched, world-changing article. I really think you are going to cure obesity with this! Yay! Your plump friends are very lucky to have a friend like you who is in no way a hateful bully or an ignorant sizeist jerk. Best wishes, Beth
Read more: http://jezebel.com/5673680/what-was-marie-claire-thinking-with-this-fatties-piece#ixzz13eSXzMlb
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