Guest Blogger talking about Headless Fatties

Last week, I ran across a post over on Return to Sender, that intrigued me and moved me to no avail! It was the topic, about something we see all the time, but never often talk about… I had the pleasure of having Sarah fancy a quick post about her thoughts and about what this what we seen a lot of…

Last week I wrote a blog entry at Return to Sender: A FAT Girl’s Letter to the World, about headless fatties. It has definitely become quite controversial – a hot topic on my blog! There have been lots of mixed opinions about the topic and I think it’s important that people give this some thought – maybe just a little bit of thought, but some nonetheless.

So what’s a headless fatty?

I found Charlotte Cooper’s website, on which she coined the term HEADLESS FATTIES. A headless fatty is a picture of a fat person without a head, duh! Well, actually, its the phenomenon of the news media taking pictures of fat people (mostly women) and using them as basically spokespeople for the “obesity” epidemic – but without showing their heads. This is a legal way to media outlets to get stock photos and drive their point home. I understand why they do this and the legalities of it, but what I am here to say is that

I still don’t think it is right.

I don’t think it’s right because it uses someone’s body to promote a message shame and self-hatred; it makes an “example” out of someone’s body. This disturbs me deeply. My body is just that, my body. I will decided what message I want to send with it and what it will promote. I only get one body – I’ll put it to good use – but this isn’t good use. I couldn’t imagine seeing a picture of myself with an article about how people like me are unhealthy and ought to be ashamed of themselves. Using my picture to embody all of the stereotypes of fat people: a lack of self-discipline, a dependency on food, an early death, a strain on healthcare, etc.

This pictures hurt me. They make me think of being the fat angsty teenager. And the chubby child. And of all of the people who were chubby kids, fat teenagers, and are fat adults now, who struggle to love themselves and be accepted. These pictures bother me because they are so unintentionally symbolic – the removal of the head – taking off heads is taking off the brain, the mouth, and what people look at everyday. Left with just a body – it’s objectifying.

But I have a project I invite you to join…

Fatties with Heads

On my website, I have made a page called Fatties with Heads, for people to submit pictures of themselves – ALL of themselves, and be proud of who they are. No objectification, no talk of obesity – just beautiful pictures of real people. So, are you in?! Send your amazing pictures to me at sarah[at] tabayag [dot] com and be part of an amazing journey toward acceptance! Fat is beautiful!