posted
Here's a thing. Whenever the slim imperative or whatever comes up you often get someone voicing the "fact" that slimness being attractive is just a sociological quirk of Western society and that elsewhere in history and the world, being fat is somehow thought of as either OK or - lol - desirable. But according to this dude who went through a bunch of literature from like, everywhere and everywhen, slim chicks been the ideal everywhere, forever.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Nathan Bleak: I know WoStarr sees that as a GCSE level observation
I don't really. I just said that for laughs... you know, because Samuelnorton said I should back down less and suggested I should be more vindictive and stuff, cause it'd be entertaining.
Honestly though, I don't see the point in an article confirming that it's OK for girls to be a size 10-14 because they can still look good. I'd write it if someone offered me money, which I suppose is what journalism's about, but I don't think I could honestly justify it as a worthwhile exercise. Except financially. The idea that we need journalists to tell us this sort of thing is ludicrous.
-------------------- pudgy little saucepot Posts: 738
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posted
I didn't say 10-14 in the feature. If you actually read the article you'll see it says "size 14 and larger" - the size at which it becomes harder to get fashiononable clothes (a lot of fashion shops stop at 14); the size at which, if you're a girl and appear onstage in an indie band, you'll probably get called out in reviews for being fat long before they analyse your harmonies or the delicacies of the tunes you're singing. (And yes, I should know.) And while this article could be - has been - seen as just another facet of that - "Ooh, but telling a girl that she looks nice at a larger size, why that's just as demeaning as telling her she's hideous and should lose weight, because it's still judging by appearances!", I still feel that pieces like this, when taken against the larger arena of the mass media, must surely have some kind of positive effect on girls who want to punch themselves in the belly and thighs because they think they're too fat. Society does judge by appearances, and its naive to think that this will stop any time soon. If features like this in mainstream publications can help larger girls feel positive about their bodies, then I'm all for it.
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posted
But on the only evidence we seem to have (a convenient female focus group) it made girls of various body shapes and sizes feel bad about themselves and angry about the article, and as author your response was "they're so stupid".
So... your intention sounds really socially laudable but when a bunch of women's sense of their own attractiveness seems further punctured by your article, you show them contempt rather than compassion.
I don't see anything wrong with just writing something for money, but saying you're doing it for a social purpose and then assuming readers must be stupid if they didn't get the message - and saying your work is a small act against mass media propaganda, when it's clearly part of that mass media and is seen as putting across the same messages... is either naive or dishonest.
Again, no reason why you should show those TMT women any compassion or not think they're stupid for reading it against the way you intended it, except that you're now portraying it as a bit of a crusading article written on behalf of those women of unconventional shapes and sizes. So your response seems like "can't you see, you tubby spastics, I'm trying to help you, I'm on your side!... OK, I won't bother then, fuck you fatties."
-------------------- pudgy little saucepot Posts: 738
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posted
I hope you're not taking the piss, BM. There's nothing funny about finding yourself beneath an obese stage-diver in an electric wheelchair.
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quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: Have you heard their latest release - The Mnnnnnnngh EP? NME's all over the motherfucker.
I can't believe I just spent 45 minutes on this nasty piece of shit. I wouldn't have put up with this when I was 14:
Tubby Spastic Blues by the Tubby Spastics
I got the tubby spastic blues Trudging around in my grubby plastic shoes My shirt all flecked in dribble My carer helps himself to a fiddle Those Tubby Spastic Blues
Out patrolling the care home grounds Hood's under siege by gangs with Down's Got jumped by six of those SameFace clowns They kicked me to the floor Dropped down their drawers And covered me in their stinking browns.
I got the tubby spastic blues Trudging around in my grubby plastic shoes My shirt all flecked in dribble My carer helps himself to a fiddle Those Tubby Spastic Blues
Saw this girl, real fit looking bird Yeah, we get it up in case you hadn't heard Shuffled up to her as my groin got stirred She whsiphered "My name is Faye" Tried to think of something to say But all that came out was 'Hmmmnnnnnnuurrgh'
I got the tubby spastic blues Trudging around in my grubby plastic shoes My shirt all flecked in dribble My carer helps himself to a fiddle Those Tubby Spastic Blues
I got the tubby spastic blues Trudging around in my grubby plastic shoes My shirt all flecked in dribble My carer helps himself to a fiddle Those Tubby Spastic Blues
Out patrolling the care home grounds Hood's under siege by gangs with Down's Got jumped by six of those SameFace clowns They kicked me to the floor Dropped down their drawers And covered me in their stinking browns.
I got the tubby spastic blues Trudging around in my grubby plastic shoes My shirt all flecked in dribble My carer helps himself to a fiddle Those Tubby Spastic Blues
Saw this girl, real fit looking bird Yeah, we get it up in case you hadn't heard Shuffled up to her as my groin got stirred She whsiphered "My name is Faye" Tried to think of something to say But all that came out was 'Hmmmnnnnnnuurrgh'
I got the tubby spastic blues Trudging around in my grubby plastic shoes My shirt all flecked in dribble My carer helps himself to a fiddle Those Tubby Spastic Blues
posted
The Tubby Spastics aren't a blues band, Nathan! With their constant wailing and (often unintentional) self-harming, I think they could best be described as 'emo'.
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quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: Too much guilt.
You've just got to fight through that feeling. You'll never get anywhere in life if you keep giving in to the constant nagging voice that tells you you're a pathetic, arrogant twat of a human being. You've got to blot that stuff out.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: What is your particular problem with me this week, Thorn?
Nothing! I meant myself as the pathetic arrogant twat. I've just realised how you read that, but I meant it like you were doing the decent thing, while I was being pathetic and arrogant, ignoring the guilt for cheap laughs.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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posted
If that's the case then I'm sorry for misunderstanding your intention and acting touchy but, coupled with you calling me a wanker yesterday – for a reason I couldn't quite fathom – I figured you must have some kind of recent issue with me that I'd missed or that you just don't like me based on my posts and persona. I don't like confrontation, I don't want to piss anyone off here. And that includes you. If I thought that was the case I'd have stopped posting long ago. Again, apologies if I overreacted.
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quote:Originally posted by jonesy999: If that's the case then I'm sorry for misunderstanding your intention and acting touchy but, coupled with you calling me a wanker yesterday – for a reason I couldn't quite fathom – I figured you must have some kind of recent issue with me that I'd missed or that you just don't like me based on my posts and persona.
Yeah, no. I don't think that's an over-reaction - I had a moment of lurching realisation when I realised what I'd written. The wanker thing yesterday was just a stupid aside "Did it ever occur to you she might be dead? Insensitive." Just meaningless flannel to keep my name in people's consciousness. urk. Sorry.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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posted
No worries. It's my problem if I can't deal with the cut and thrust of the boards. But, you know, just wanted to check if I'm sitting at a pub table with a bunch of people who wish I'd go home.
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