Dan Savage vs Fatties?
I was perusing Facebook last night when I came across a link to this excellent post taking sex columnist/homosexual activist Dan Savage to task for his stance on fat people.
Now, I am a big fan of Dan Savage. I think his “It Gets Better” campaign to help gay youth who may be struggling with coming out or dealing with the aftermath of doing so, is one of the best examples of “pay it forward” and compassion that I’ve ever seen.
I also think that the author of this post, titled Savage Intent, has an excellent point when she points out the similarities between gay acceptance and fat acceptance, and the good fight Savage fights daily for the homosexual community while he slams the fat community. I also take issue — as I have for years — with Savage’s seemingly callous dismissal of the correlation of body acceptance and shame with eating disorders. The clincher of this post, for me, is this:
It’s the same fucking ignorance, the same fucking hatred that you are fighting against on behalf of gay Americans. The only difference is that your aesthetic displeasure is on the other side of the fence now. Now you’re the one who feels disgusted and appalled by the public display of what you deem unattractive or unacceptable. And now you’re the one dispensing baseless conjecture, stereotypes and unfounded “science” to claim that your opinions, regardless of how hateful, are fully justified.
And of course, media, including — perhaps especially — movies and television, continues create a barrier for a genuine understanding of the myriad issues that affect weight AND mortality. How many overweight — or even normal-sized — women do you see playing lead roles in movies or on television?
Regardless of where you think you fall on the whole issue of fat acceptance and why people are fat, I have to think that reading the scientific issues laid out the way the author, Shannon, does in this piece cannot help but at least make you think about the assumptions many of us tend to make concerning weight, health and mortality.
P.S. Shannon’s piece is very long, but please take time to read it in its entirety. There’s a ton of useful, relevant, scientific data in there, summarized in a way that really works.
P.P.S. I also thought it was pretty cool that the link to this article on Facebook came from Savage’s colleague at The Stranger, film critic Lindy West.
Thank you so much for the link love. I’ve gotten an overwhelming response to it and I’m happy that it is helping people understand the complexity of the issues. I haven’t heard from Dan yet, but I really hope he takes the time to read and respond. I would love to start a more nuanced dialogue about this subject, and I know that he would be an excellent person to discuss it with.
Anyway, thanks again.
Peace,
Shannon
p.s. I’m a guy. No worries, though. I’m used to it. 🙂
Someone should update Romeo and Juliet with gay and fat people.
Sorry about the gender mix up, Shannon. It was hard to discern gender from your post, and when I read it, I swear you had a female voice in my head. But wasn’t trying to be genderist. 🙂
Kim,
Nothing to it. 99% of Fat Activists are women and I have a traditionally feminine name… I probably would have made the same assumption. 🙂
I just wanted to express my gratitude for sharing my post with your readers. Thank you so much.
Peace,
Shannon
As a gay guy with a teddy bear physique, I have to say that I am distressed by Dan’s alienation of a very big (pun intended) demographic. Larger people are not necessarily out of control of our eating, and by extension, our lives. I laud Shannon for calling Dan on this erroneous and bigoted assumption of his.