Free Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls by Jes Baker Page A

example of beauty in order to be worthwhile. As noted in many feminist texts, this includes taking up as little space as possible—not only physically, but emotionally, verbally, and on every other front as well.
    In one Facebook conversation, some friends and I noted how it’sthe fierce fatties that threaten everyone’s paradigm; not necessarily those who are fat and apologetic. Gabi Gregg of Gabifresh.com (and the one who started the fatkini photo trend) nailed it when she said: “If there is a fat person on television trying super hard to lose weight, crying about how hard life is, and talking about how they eat to cope etc., then everyone is at home crying and cheering them on. Put that same person in a crop top while they smile, and the pitchforks come out.” 9
    Preach, girl.
    If a fat woman buys into the same mumbo jumbo as everyone else, we might feel empathy for her. We’re ALL for her working toward her goal, just like us. Or maybe we just allow her to exist without acknowledgment until she has become our version of desirable. But if she shows any glimmer of happiness, self-esteem, or success without following the commandments? Well then, off with her head, and LET’S TELEVISE IT!
    Fat women who deliberately take up space, speak out, and achieve the happiness we all desire are the perfect trifecta of terror. They represent a terror that we can’t control, and so we throw our hate at them by the handful in hopes that they quiet down, shut up, and get back in line.
    Jesus Christ, we’ve got so far to go.
    3. Limited Media Representation

    Another reason we find ourselves “in hate” with fat people has to do a lot with how they are represented (and are NOT represented) in the media. When fat bodies do appear (significantly less often than slender bodies do) in television shows, movies, political comics, literature, and animation, they are consciously presented in highly curated ways, all of which are meant to initiate knee-jerk reactions. They give us a limited way of processing fat people and none of the presentations are particularly positive.
    Lindsey Averill, co-producer of Fattitude: A Body Positive Documentary, has done extensive research regarding the problematicportrayal of fat figures in pop culture. She shared her findings in an interview with Refinery 29 : “There are 10 to 15 archetypes for fat characters. But, they tend to be problematic, meaning outside the normal sphere of culture. Fat characters don’t have average experiences or stories. They don’t have their own stories at all. They’re the subplot.” 10
    These canned archetypes are not actual people, like Melissa McCarthy (for example), but rather characters Melissa McCarthy plays . The fat archetype can range from the Best Friend, to the Hypersexual or the Asexual (as Averill mentions), to the Slovenly Roommate and beyond, but there are three very general fat person tropes that I personally find to be very present and harmful: the Stupid Fat Person, the Funny Fat Person, and the Evil Fat Person. Allow me to illustrate:
    Â Â  •     The Stupid Fat Person: One of my favorite examples of this character is perfectly demonstrated through the comedy duo Abbott and Costello. There is a thin person and a fat person . . . and when it comes down to intelligence, guess who’s the idiot? You guessed it! Other examples of stupid fat characters include Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants , Peter Griffin from Family Guy , Curly from The Three Stooges , Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , Dudley from Harry Potter , Eric Cartman from South Park , and Homer Simpson of The Simpsons . Nodding your head yet?
    Â Â  •     The Funny Fat Person: Oh, how we love to laugh at fat people. Thousands of memes have been created just for this form of entertainment. Comedians often play off of this archetype, something found in even the earliest comics. A