She is perfectly capable of ordering her own lunch, thankyouverymuch.
More to the point, this whole hating on skinny actresses thing has really got to stop. Or at least, just call it what it is: Good, old-fashioned, body snarking, just like when the kids on the playground called you fatty. (If they did that. In which case, I’m really sorry because it must have sucked. Just like… see where I’m going with this?)
As I explain in today’s Never Say Diet post, I am far from innocent in this, but I am working hard to reform. I have suggested sandwiches to skinny people myself many a time when I was feeling bad about my own body and/or particularly confused about all the many tangled messages we get about health, weight and beauty.
So that you sandwich-pushers out there don’t get too testy with me, I did a search for “sandwich” on this here blog to see what I needed to fess up about. There seem to be two.
April 1, 2010: I suggested that Lady Gaga eat a sandwich. Now, this was in response to her pronouncing that “pop stars should not eat,” and nobody could tell if she was being ironic… so maybe nobody could tell if I was being ironic either? But still. Very sorry.
November 18, 2009: I was very excited about that song “Barbie Eat a Sandwich” by Care Bears on Fire. Well… I still like that song. And the video where they chase a Barbie doll around with giant sandwiches. Maybe it’s because the sandwich is metaphorical, since Barbie is, after all, just a plastic icon for a giant corporation responsible for pinkwashing generations of little girls? And it’s okay to be snarky about corporations even though they are people too?
Certainly, if someone makes a video chasing Julie Bowen around with giant sandwiches, I am going to be pissed. Whatever is going on with her weight (which I cannot tell by looking at her and have not been informed about by anyone who has any reason to know), she’s a terrific actress, with rock solid comedic timing, making one of the best shows on television even funnier — and that’s why she won the damn Emmy.
And if she were a man, that’s all anyone would be talking about.
Thanks for taking this on. As a fat size-acceptance advocate this drives me crazy, especially when I see other fat size-acceptance advocates doing it. The cure for social stigma is not weight loss, weight gain, or doing to someone else the exact same thing that you don’t want done to you. I think the trick is pretty respect other people’s choices about their bodies and health just as you want your choices to be respected.
Amen, sister!
I do worry Julie Bowen specifically. When she was on the show Ed, she was not as thin, and she looked healthier back then. She was also funny enough to have a lead role on a popular sitcom then too. It’s not her size relative to other people that concerns me; it’s her size relative to her own previous appearance.
ST, I see what you mean. (Believe me, I do! I’m still getting over how Giuliana Rancic looks these days.) However, it’s really none of our business. Even if Julie or Giuliana were our actual IRL BFFs, the most we could hope for is to be able to express our concern, and I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t express it as “Eat a sandwich.”
Since Giuliana Rancic is NOT my IRL BFF, though, it’s not my place to discuss her with anyone, whatever my reason. Also, I’m betting thin folks hate concern trolling just as much as fat folks do.