On our March 1st show, about weight discrimination, follows in the wake of the media frenzy surrounding Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines.
Over the Valentine's Day weekend, famed writer and director Kevin Smith was removed from his flight for being 'too fat' - and after bringing public attention to this incident, he received an apology from Southwest Airlines and was given a seat on a replacement flight; however, when the woman seated next to him was subjected to the same humiliating experience, Silent Bob became 'Not So Silent Bob.'
This brought a backlash from the media, and from members of society, who considered Kevin's weight, health and lifestyle to become the subject of criticism, proving that one's size is still considered the last 'socially acceptable' grounds of prejudice, discrimination and hate.
When it comes to obesity and being overweight, the filters of acceptability seem to fall away. People seem comfortable making comments, criticisms, and derogatory comments that degrade and insult a fellow human being, eroding away their confidence and attacking their sense of self.
To examine this issue further, we brought in four wonderful guests to talk about weight discrimination, the rights of people of size, and 'fat advocacy': Jill Andrew (Fat activist and founder of Curvy Catwalk), Prof. Anna Kirkland (author of Fat Rights: Dilemmas and Difference of Personhood), Peggy Howell (PR director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance), and Natalie (known from her appearance on Kevin Smith's SModcast).
Due to length, you can read the rest of this entry HERE.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
From Jill Andrew:
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great review of our radio interview CHRW! I absolutely am thankful for the opportunity you provided me with.
While I didn't mention this in the radio interview... fat phobia and fat discrimination also has a long history of intersecting with racism. We see examples of this within historical Nazi beliefs against Jewish people that often conflated fat Jews with stereotypical characteristics like laziness, sloppiness and even assumptions that they were diseased simply due to their weight. Going back even further, we see how African American women were portrayed as overweight, asexual "jolly" "mammies." Come to think of it Black women's body image has been used at so many various points of history to attempt to box us into multiple false identities--from the oversexed beast to the asexual "fat" "dark" mammy.
The more we see fat discrimination as a human rights violation the sooner it will be taken seriously.
As for the airlines...I suggest since they want to charge fat people for 2 seats...why not start fitting 2 skinny people into 1 seat--charging each of them full price per 1/2seat. Talk about an uncomfortable flight, eh? lol. Silly eh? Well so is taking advantage of economic gains (the sale of more seats) of someone's size!
BITE ME! Toronto Int'l Body Image Film Arts Festival is scheduled for July 16-18,2010. July 16 launch party takes place at XEXE Gallery followed by film screenings, talks etc. at the National Film Board Toronto on the Saturday and Sunday.
BITE ME! Toronto Int’l Body Image Film Festival (March 12-14, 2010 rescheduled to July, 16-18, 2010)
• BITE ME! is the first international festival of its kind to directly challenge Western ideals of beauty, femininity and girl/womanhood. Through film, arts exhibits, live performances and panel discussions, male and female participants will deeply explore their connection to and with their bodies through a variety of lenses: sports, health, fashion, education, workplace culture, the media, the home etc.
Fabulously yours,
Jill Andrew, PhD (c.)
Toronto, ON
info@bitemefilmfest.com
info@jillandrewmedia.com