So this is going to come out jumbled but I did want to write it out. So when I first saw the movie Drive I remember noticing Christina Hendricks and thinking ‘she looks fat’.
Now here’s the thing I love Christina Hendricks. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her and taking a nice photo with her and having a little chat (seriously if you have sci fi conventions in smaller towns then you will be ensured you get to talk to the people you like because no one else is there). She seemed like a really nice person and she was very pretty. She was beautifully shaped and didn’t seem fat at all.
So why did I think she looked fat on screen? Me?! Me who is plus sized AND believes in the equality of women of all shapes in sizes.
The industry. That’s really all I could come up with. The fact that I don’t see women above a size 2 in great movies. I just don’t. Not unless they’re the comic foil and their size is utilized as a comic tool. And even then that’s been something that’s only as of late. Other than that I have to reach into movies aimed at a stereotypical black audience and then I’ll find more sizes but honestly not all those movies are really up to snuff and I fuckin hate Tyler Perry movies. I respect what the man has done but the movies are mostly just god awful.
So the industry churns out these movies starring incredibly tiny women who are sizes 0 to 4—with a 4 being a rarity. They keep them in our faces consistently and you start to think of this as the norm. Even the skinny women in the movies are always going on a diet or freaking out if they gain 3 pounds. So when I see someone who is ya know…a size above that then my mind goes to what society has said for some time now…”oh she’s fat” and I had to stop, think ,and take myself out of the movie because it was so ludicrous to think she was fat.
And here’s the point I’ve been trying to get to…if *I* can be turned into thinking she’s fat just for a moment. Then holy fuck how impossible will it be to change society?
