7.29.2010

Its like they want us to be naked

Oh noes! Fat students can buy school uniforms! Teh horror!

I think this may qualify as old news, but its too silly of a moral panic not to comment on.

"We want to make sure our schoolwear range is accessible for children of all shapes and sizes.” -Marks and Spencer spokesperson
Won't someone please think of the children? Oh, wait, I guess that IS what they are doing. Thinking about affording fat children the same opportunities to buy stuff as thin children. What should be a boring press release has been mutated into an excuse to fat shame. As if they really needed the excuse.

It should be alarming that an article about something so mundane would be a platform for outrage, but this is what we are up against. Even the most utterly boring victory for fat people is cause for epic hand-wringing. Its not even like this hasn't happened before. I've seen some especially unhinged fat bigots compare plus-size clothing stores with crack houses. No matter how reasonable our demands are, we'll still have some who act like we are murdering kittens with our bare hands.

What on Earth do they think we should do about the clothing needs of fat children? Send them out naked? Wrap them in burlap sacks lest they forget to feel ashamed? Fat stigmatization dominates our culture and society and yet its promotes genuinely feel like we aren't doing nearly enough to make fat people hate themselves. And lets not let the media off the hook, either. BBC News felt this was an appropriate angle to report on without the slightest counterpoint. And no, the retailer doesn't count as a counterpoint.

Fat children should be able to get clothes for school. That should not be a controversial statement. That fat stigmatizers treat it like it is is just a way of trying to control the debate in their favor. So our response must be two-fold.

Fat children should be able to get clothes for school and you're an idiot if you think otherwise. Maybe that's not inclusive, but screw that.

5 comments:

Dee said...

My theory is that they'd like fat people to be forced to wear tight, ill-fitting clothing all the time, lest we look nice and accidently garner even a shred of respect or self esteem.

Brian said...

I don't think your theory is that far off, Dee. These people are obsessed with the notion that fat people are being coddled (HA!) and I'm sure this just feeds into that.

kate217 said...

I think they'd like us all to wear identical colorless prison-like garb with a scarlet "O" emblazoned on the chest. One wouldn't be allowed to wear attractive clothing until one had "earned" it by starving down into a socially-acceptable size. (US 6 or below.)

kate217 said...

Sorry, that last was for women. I have no idea where "plus size" begins for male models.

Brian said...

Plus-size barely exists as a concept for male models. There are no high profile opportunities, so its all catalog modeling. The concept is very different, though. I am at the cusp of being able to shop places. Most high-end places, I'm sized out. At least at retail locations. At major department stores and some more low-end retailers (Old Navy), I'm right on the line. I might be in their general sizing, or I might be in the Big/Men's section. I'm at the same spot for suits. I will say, though, that my impression is that most Big/Tall models of the big variety are a good deal smaller than me, but they might just be a good deal taller and actually wear the same size. Its all very indistinct.

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