TV: It Must be Good for Something?

I watched tv yesterday.

Someone's PCOS didn't just cause her to be ugly and fat. No, it led her to suffer a psychotic break and turned her into a serial killer who was hearing voices in her head because the man she loved didn't love her back. I'd better lose weight or this could be me.

So I tried a different show. A woman's disgusting fatness was ok because she had a pretty face. As the main character's fat friend, she smiled and nodded. She agreed with most of what her friend said and occasionally offered sage advise. It was never clear how she gained the ability to advise someone on their dating life. It must have been from her years of observation because other than a few bad dates in college she said she had no personal dating experience. This is understandable. Fat women don't have sex. In fact, I'm sure that's why I haven't been laid in a while.

My personal favorite fat character is the mean lady at the store. You know the one - she drives up in a big van and unloads a car full of rude children. The children run around the store breaking things while the fat lady piles the cart with processed foods then goes to the register and is nasty to the sweet old lady in line in front of her. This woman is generally there so that we can see the kindness of the main character who puts up with the fat woman's obnoxious behavior. I'm not sure if the lesson I'm supposed to get is that I shouldn't purchase and eat anything shown during the commercials or if it's to demonstrate that as a fat woman I shouldn't have children because I'll turn them into disgusting pigs. Whew. It's a close call. Imagine the horror I'd have unleashed on the world if I'd given birth to a child that could grow up to be fat and rude, just like me and all other fat women.

This particular characterization of a fat woman is favored in pop culture as someone to jeer at. Where would People of Walmart come from if not from this particular stereotype of a fat woman buying candy bars in too tight leggings? Without this obese woman who would George Carlin hold up as proof of how disgusting Americans are?

I know I've written about fatness before, but I'm so tired of it. It's become stronger and more overt in mainstream culture than it was when I was younger. Maybe this is because people are fatter? I mean, I'm certainly part of the growing obesity problem in our country. But wow. Maybe it's because we're allowed to make fun of fat people because it is ALWAYS seen as their fault they are fat. So it's not longer appropriate to make fun of people based on color, disability, or sexual orientation, so we might as well pick on fatties.

We need someone else to suffer, and the fat girl who doesn't repent and go skinny is evil.