‘ Goodman's 1995 book, a Thousand Diets ‘The Invisible Woman confronting Weight | Prejudice in America, implies, her thesis is that American society tolerates Loyaity to petried opinions never yet broke 3 chain o freed. a human ‘and even encourages prejudice soil in hie world—and never wil “arian ‘against people, especialy ‘women, who are not thin “The chapter excerpted her, “one Picture Is Worth a ‘Thousand Diets” focuses on the ways in which tte media render invisible or treat with disdain women whom Goodman refers to as 9." | i One Picture Is Worth A As the tite of W. Charisse W. CHARISSE GOODMAN Imour consumption addled culture, the mass media encourage us to absorb as many goods as possible far beyond the saturation point. We are urged to buy things we don't really need and luxuries we may not be able to afford Notonly is more better, but we ate advised that it will make us sexier or more successful. But this rule has one notable exception; if woman is perceived shaving consumed to0 much food, she finds sl has committed a social rime. By projecting the image of gluttony onto the large womnan exclusively, cur society can deny and rationalize its colossal overindulgence in the elt of conspicuous consumption. Greed, after all, is hardy restricted to a preoceu- pation with food. Movies, television, magazines, newspapers, and preachify- ing self-help books all reinforce and amplify the ignorant stereotypes about fat people that America holds so close and dear; taken together, they consti- tute a framework of ‘petrified opinions” which few dare ta question, ‘A survey of metely eleven mainstream magazines, including Vogue, Redbook, Time, McCal’s, even Audthon and Modern Maturity, tucned up an as tounding 645 pictures of thin women as opposed to 11 of heavy women. Seruinizing the local newspapers over a perio of several weeks tet me with | body count of 221 thin women as opposed to nine large women; newspaper advertising inserts added another 288 pictures of individual thin women and approximately a dozen heavy women {most of whom were pictured in a single store flyer for large-size clothing). An examination of almast 160 commer clals—after that point, it was either stop of incinerate the TV set—con- tributed 120 ads featuring thin women exclusively, 27 ads depieting heavy rnales, mostly in a normal or positive light, and all of 12 heavy women, half of whom, interestingly, were either African-American, olde or both. of ads inluding fat women, one offered an evil old cartoon witch, another pictured twa big women dressed a8 opera singer Valkyrie types, and a thd depicted ‘Ace in Wonderland’s mean-tempered Red Queen. A ... series of commercials for Snapple soft drinks featured a fairly heavy woman who read compli mentary letters from consumers of the product; however, in most of the Newspaper lasted ad 61 nora can be ch sues of vn 16for suggestions abut othe ype bt avon endence 605 S4606 HAPTER 21 Jobo Candy WHO'S THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL? ‘commercials this wornan is visible only from the shoulders up, while the rest ‘of her body i hidden by a very high counter. Ultimately, the burden of proot jn this tespect was no more than a counting exercise. ‘After drowning in an oeean of slende feinate figures everywhere Llooked, in was easy 9 see how women are persuaded that thinness equals happiness and ulfilliaent ‘The women of the media are not only overwhelmingly small but also smiling, self-satisfied exciting, dynamic, romantically involved, and senerally having 2 splendid time Thie is sheer marketing fantasy—and yet, fsa society, we buy it, we eat it up, we swallow it whole and ask for more Tuurvision ano Movies “The most obvious pattem in television and movies, other than the predom- nant absence of laige women, reflects the unsurprising fact that heavy me, = heavy ‘women, ate not as severely censured for being lange. Size in a mam is often although they suffer from the same general type of discrimination. considered either a sign of physical power or a matter of no consequence. In a scene from the movie Diner, a Intge man eats plate after plate of sand: wiches in a diner, apparently trying to seta personal record, The main char acters all male, ate watching him in awe and cheeting him on;no cracks are ‘made about his size or his appetite It is utterly impossible to imagine a big ‘woman playing the same scene. Im even a cursory review of macs media presentations, one finds many more large men than women. Take, for example, actars john Goodman, the late John Candy whose death has been attributed not purely to his weight but eso toa rapid and substantial weight lose), Cheers" George Wendl, Bob Hoskins, the late Jon Belushi (dead of an averdose of drugs, not food), the late comic Sam Kinison (car accident, not clogged arteries), Prench actor ard Depardies, and British comic Robbie Coltrane, to name afew. All these men have played characters who, although heavy, re nonetheless portrayed 26 lovable and appealing enough t omen. Can anyone imagine a fernele version of Cheers’ Norm—a lazy, work attract thin, conventionally attactive phobic, beer-guzaling woman who assiduously avoids home and husband— being hailed as funny, Jet Of course, we'te all well acquainted with chat popular movie plot involv lone "beloved," as one news article put it? ing the sweet but physically unexceptional male who yearns after the beau tiful, thin heraine and eventually, by means of his irresistible personality, wvins his true love (Minnie and Moskowitz comes immediately to mind). The male-dominated film industry never misses an opportunity to remind us that men should slways be loved for thernselves. But what about women? ‘yrhen Holly about an ordin: rman, Kathy Bat ge and who part went inst blonde who obv This is typical. ‘American Bln it ever, the cent not sexy. The on Bates herself in the Sylueste showed that "al beautiful ever casting director female version « my gucet" (Fink ‘Of the appr stream commer ters at all in the mother figure, Bates as her ta rented abig wor Dyin’'—Who's Go fat somen asr0 Television sh an effort. Rick series China Bear ber oven serie the Nielsen rar shows typically fs always a mat and shapes into On LA, Lou was dumped iro of atough attor oud, brash and anda real cash handsome, slenGOODMAN /One Picture Is Worth 2 Thousand Diets \Whhen Hollywood was casting for dhe 1991 film rane and johnnie, « story ‘about an ordinary-looking woman who falls in love with a plain looking ‘man, Kathy Bates, an Oscar-winning actress who portrayed Frankie on the stage and who just happens to be lange, was passed over forthe film yole-The part went instead (o Michelle Pfeiffer, a thin, conventionally glamorous Blonde who obviously wanted to prove that she could play a character role ‘hiss typical. Ifthe heavy woman has any consistent role in commercial ‘Acerian films, its asthe peripheral, asexual mother or "buddy, and rarely, fever, the central, romantic character. Message to al large women: You're tot sexy. The only beautiful woman is a thin woman, Bates herself pointed outin a 1991 interview that when she ead fora part in the Sylvester Stallone movie Paradise Alley, the character breakdown showed that “after every single female character's name was the adjective "beautiful? even if the character was age 82.” When Hates questioned the casting director about this, he replied, "Well if you want to make your own, | female version of Marty a movie about a lonely, aging, unattractive many, be iy quest” (Finke, 1991) Of the approximately 70 movies I randomly surveyed—mostly main stream commercial American films—only 17 had any large female charac tes atall in the script, most of whom represented the standard domineeting Rother figure, the comically unattractive woman, the whore figuse, and Bates as her Misery psychopath character. Only sit of these 1 filens pee sented big woman asa positive figure, and of these six, only three —Dadiy's Dyin'—Who’s Gor the Will? and foln Waters’ Hairspray and Crybaby —featured {at women as romantic figures and central characters. ‘Television shows are not much better, although they occasionally make smeffrt, Ricki Lake, who has since lost weight, was featured in the defunct beries China Beach; Delta Burke once co-starred in Designing Women and had her own series; and Roseanne’s show has long resided smong the Top 10 in Uedielsen ratings. although these women are encouraging examples of tal- tat overcoming prejudice, they are too few and far between, At best, TY sows typically reat large female characters as special cases whose weight fsatways a matter of comment, rather than integrating wornen of all sizes ‘ad shapes into their programs as a matter of course On LA. Law, heavy actress Conchata Ferrell played a new character who ‘Misdumped from the program after a relatively short tenure. Her role, that fa ough attorney, was variously described in reviews and on the show as ‘oud brash and overbearing,” "tubby. “aggressive,” "bullying, overpowering,” da real cash cove" At one point in the series, Ferrell's character marries & ndsome, slender man amidst tttering speculation by the fim's slender 607 33608. CHAPTER 21 WHO'STHE FAIREST OF THERA ALL? female attorneys as tothe groom's ulterior motive. Naturally, it turns out that one of th hie isa foreigner who has mertied the fat attorney solely to gain citizenship was the local cen the Span ‘Tue Pexsowais: “No Fat WOMEN, PLEASE” Temen poay ‘nothing but Although it’s true the personal are not strictly part of the media establish whodared to tment, they do constitute a public forura and mass-communication network, naked, but be ‘and they illustrate in a very raw fashion the reflection of media imagery in soto the mal the desites of men ven in ne “The patterns of the personals reflect the usual stale stereotypes and sex women are f fam of weight prejudice, Out of 324 ads by men seeking women in which the weight and men specified body size, 312 requested, or rather demanded, «thin body blond hair sh type. employing [no less than 17] synonyms for “thin.” Men have a most cre- beauty" appe: ative vocabulary when it comes to describing @ woman's body. Indeed, to cludes, intere judge by the phrasing of the ads, “slender” and “attractive” are one word, not ‘er0us portion: two, in the same fashion a5 "fat" and “ugly 1991). One nr This most interesting that male admirers of big women are commonly por 99-pound vor tuayedl as little boys looking for a mother Figures yet here, one finds men who ‘musicians d appear to be looking fora very small, dependent, child-woran/daughter fi pounds” but: tire and status symbol. Could it be that they have their own peculiar incest Orr, 1992) fantasies? Might one go even further and speculate that the preference for [tdjast neu women with andzogynous or hoyish figures represents a closeted hhomoxex- and body par ‘uality in some men, or an unconscious fear of and hostility toward the more terms ef his + powerful femininity ofthe large woman? grumpy, ext Ti any case, the overall impression of the personals is that men still care 1 though the fu more about a wornan’s body and looks than her qualities as a human being. set man (Gut! ‘An S/B/M (single black male) summed it up perfectly when he wrote, in ‘As fr pri search of & woman who "weighs no more than 140. Be any race, be yourself consequently bbe beautiful” Or else? as the ultima thin woman § tore are the Newsrares Next t0 the r “The problem with mainstream newspaper journalist is twofold: first, ts ‘That's why it hearty partieipation in the national pastime of describing fat people in con a different ise temptuous tetms; and second, that it purports to be an objective, unbiased words describ observer and reporter of news and culture. But when entertainment joural by sender ar words, "Huy are the ubiqu’ dressed, shap people ' ie Tscane sge scess aap on the way ofl ppm as" | tne oo) oa veh aces nels gorges? teen an | eet ety good gues olin personel ews swell he dere swt 34GOOPMAN/One Picture Is Worth a Thoutand Diets One of the best—or worst examples of journalistic weight prejudice twas the local sports columnist reporting from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics fon the Spanish beaches, and his disparaging remarks about local olde women possessed of the sheer tasteless gall to walk on said beaches in “nothing but” their swimuits. This same colursnist also deplored women ‘who dared to sunbathe undraped on a topless beach—not because they were naked, but because they lacked the flawless breasts and figures that appeal 2010 the male eye (Nevius, 1992. ven in newspaper articles that have nothing to do with diet and weight, ‘women are frequently described in terms oftheir approximate or specific weight and appearance, Phrases like “tal sexy... type, blond hair she balances on 102 pounds,"“slender beaut.” and "California git beauty” appear in one article alone about female stand-up comics whieh in dudes, interestingly, a graphic description of a man helping himself to gen: ‘tous portions of a buffet while the women sit and drink only water (Kano, 1991), One newspaper item about singer Ann Peebles refers to her as “the 8:pound vocalist" (Selvin, 1992); another article briefly profiling four blues musicians describes the one woman in the group as "5-foot 3 and 105 ‘pounds” but makes no mention of any of the three men’s physical attributes (01,1992) [atlost newspaper items omit euch detailed descriptions of men’s sizes tnd body parts. One interview of director Robert Altman describes him in terms of his age and hair color, and compares hrs to a "bemused, slightly the mountain of frumpy, extremely shrewd owl but makes no mention of his weigh, a: ‘Rough te full body shot accompanying the article reveals a clearly heavy ‘set man (Guthmann, 1992). ‘As or print advertisements, they lak the dynamic of television as, and consequent they ean come on que strong in their promtion of thintess asthe ultimate aphrodite, One det product ad out of TY Guile depicts» thn woman in a leotard examining her hips. Superimposed upon the pic- ture are the words "We'l help you tarn on more than your metabolism. Nex to the picture, the ad begins, "You're not only dieting for yourselt Tats why its so important to ove those extra pounds, Apothe itern i A ierent nave of thie magasine hawies an exercise machine, and while the ters describing the health benefits are in rater stall prin, the impos Biysender and lay ferate model in the ais quite noticeable, ax se the order! Get chat NordieTack figure you always warted"Then there tthe ubiqitows exercise club advertisement featuring worsen ho a> Arese shaped, and posed more pel ‘centerfolds than athletes or average 608 a