Phobic Click Bait is the New Black

When life hasn't told you enough that you're not shit, literary publications are asking you to hold its beer.

As a plus size athlete, fatphobic comments run steadily like water.  And being a black woman, I have enough traumatic stories to keep you drunk for an entire month.  Bring the Johnny Walker and we could have a marvelous party in self pity -- but I prefer to not indulge.  Instead, I love running or doing gym bro shit.  Scaring the shit out of my 62 year old mom as I tell her about traveling to another trail in an affluent community that will try to search my locs as if I'm holding onto a special strain of marijuana is more of my thing.  I know how harshly the world views me and others who share some sort of attribute that comes with living in this body -- and the media knows it too.  Since they're so knowledgeable about it, these so called 'professional' publications and corporate companies found gimmicky ways of generating buzz.  This weeks' anal chafing came from an opinion piece written by Tanya Gold posted in The Telegraph -- and I'd be dipped in hushpuppy battered shit if I'm posting a link on here.  

The Koolaid Ain't Sweet Unless You Add in Sugar

Just in case you don't feel like searching Google or maybe you share the same sentiments as I do, I'll give you an understanding of what happened in this week's publicity stunt:

Tanya Gold, a writer for The Telegraph and Daily Mail, wrote a prehistoric BMI minstrel narrative about a Nike mannequin who is possibly pre-diabetic and have hip issues.  According to Ms. Gold, plus size mannequins promote obesity and communities like the fat acceptance and body positive movement are going to send us all to hell with HoHos, Twinkies and honey buns -- because that's what dressing up plus size mannequins with sexy ass fupas do to society.  Oh the horror it would've caused if this hollow figure had a double chin.  And when this disturbing article was proudly published by The Telegraph, Twitter, Instagram and all in between said 'let's burn that motherfucker to the ground.'  

​My response:  YAWN.  This is such a 'Simpsons did it' moment.

Just in case any of us caught amnesia over the course of a few years, should I remind you about the hell raising piece that was posted on Outside Magazine back in March 2019 that exclaimed that 'Trail Runners are Lazy Parasites' -- and yep, I'm not posting that damn link either.  Clearly runners are ruining the goddamn planet with our footsteps and we're a bunch of 'deadbeats' too.  But don't worry:  The writer explains his reasons why AFTER he caught your attention with his obtuse headline.

Listen kids:  The media ran out of creative ways of getting us to buy newspapers because people are very conscious about the environment.  But without us actually BUYING a book or a newspaper, how else can they make money?  Advertisement.  Clicks per page.  Allegedly 'free' social media platforms.  Influencers like me.  Or maybe -- controversy.  

In the world of journalism, if your first few lines or even the title doesn't catch people's attention, you probably already lost your readers.  That's why I love bright, vibrant pictures because I get to ramble on about shit that I'm super passionate about.

SEE! Did I make ya look?

If it pulled out an emotion, even a shitty one, then you just hoodwinked.  Don't allow your rage to cloud what's really happening here.  We're all getting GOT right now.

Do you need more examples?  Let us not forget the adorable, racially insensitive H&M monkey hoodie or that one time in band camp when Abercrombie & Fitch thought shackle bracelets were the best thing ever.  And I'm almost sure that both of their stocks went up a week later.  Why?  Because controversy sells.  Don't you love reality TV or WorldStar?  We cannot show positive things if nobody's willing to pay for it. 

Each time people try to challenge the norm, it's met with some sort of adversity.  That's how articles like Tanya Gold's tragedy is posted onto the internet for us to mourn and weep.  Now I'll admit that I shared my two cents on social media like everyone else but can I leave y'all with some stuff that exists beyond 160 characters on Twitter or a picture of me laughing with a long ass blurb full of sarcasm on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Dear Tanya Gold, In the last 24 hours, I learned that 'obese' mannequins cannot run in fitness gear. In fact, she's probably pre-diabetic, looking for a hip replacement and you know what -- you might be right. I was admiring the way she doesn't have a double chin, how hard it is to find a single soft area on her plastic skin to check her glucose levels or how that hollow body doesn't have bones. Actually, I hate her too. She will never know what it's like to be publicly shamed by people's eyes, a doctor diagnose her every ailment by her rolls or be told demeaning comments that will infiltrate her brain the way previous generations have done to us. Fellow plus size warrior, what did this plastic do to you? Tell me stories about how she's a representation of your own woes in 2008. Mannequins cannot "eat cake" but I chuckle at your hypocrisy as you asked people to let you be fat and proud years ago but suddenly developed amnesia only a decade later. Ms. Gold, did you clutch my hand this morning as I ate lunch this afternoon? Did you shed happy tears as I ate kale, peas and mushrooms with my pasta? If I drop 50 pounds tomorrow, will you give me permission to be a runner? The audacity of me to pretend to be a 'gargantuan' athlete for 6 years until you called all of us fatties out yesterday. My robust imagination must've zapped myself skinny at every race. I must've heaved my fat into a dumpster while nobody was looking. There's no way I ran in this 247 lb fat suit. Let's be honest Tanya: The mannequin doesn't give a damn about your reckless article because she can't hear you. But humans like me with a pulse heard your comments way before the Telegraph gave you a green light to publish this abomination. You blamed the BoPo and fat acceptance movement as being negative. Let's "run" - chuckle here cuz fat people running is funny, right - with this analogy that this mannequin shouldn't 'ready herself for a run'. How should she armor herself in life if nothing is made for us? If we cannot see ourselves in something, then the world don't think we exist. It's easy to bash but I'd love to hear your solutions for us. Excuse me as I do what mannequins can't do -- run.

A post shared by Latoya Shauntay Snell (@iamlshauntay) on Jun 10, 2019 at 4:31pm PDT

Airplane Instructions of the Week While On Dry Land

I like lists because it's better for my obsessive nature so here it goes:

1. Words have impact but actions - in any manner - have the ability to propel things into any direction.  As the owner of words, create and write your own.  
2. You are not the mannequin from Tanya Gold's article.  Your body isn't hollow and your existence has a voice.  We are much more powerful than our imaginations give us credit and if you choose to dream with motion, we can be the impossible that others said we couldn't be.
3. Our self reflection is probably the most humbling and honest thing about us in our quiet moments.  When our thoughts get dark, don't run from them; question their existence.
4. It's easy to point fingers at the culprit (i.e. Tanya Gold and the Telegraph) but ask yourself how do you or don't contribute to these people's askew views?  Be more than just the change that you want to see in this world  -- think just a bit smaller than this.  Ask yourself how you want to present yourself to YOU.
5. Some of us read toxic articles and see vicious advertisements like the examples listed above and use these actions as a reason why we hold ourselves captive to our failures.  Your best act of defiance is rising above the descriptor.  People ask me everyday if I'll change my blog name if I stop being fat and my answer is always NO.  I'm don't see myself as a fat individual; just an individual with fat on my body; descriptors are not a definition of who we are.  
6. Be your own bad ass superhero.  I'm thankful for companies that I work with and beyond BUT they're as powerful as we make them out to be.  It's a mutually benefitting situation.  If you want this change to happen, be proactive and allow your voice to be heard.  It doesn't have to come in the form of a battle cry with an army.  

To quote my own inner dialogue that I shared with my Facebook and Twitter fam:

Just because you're a part of something doesn't mean that you have to serve as an activist to every movement.  Sometimes you are the riot and the marching band simply by existing.  Not every protest requires our noise.  Maybe it asks for us to simply be ourselves.

Be well my friends.