Jamie Oliver: Champion of the People or Fatphobic Mansplainer?

I confess, I haven't seen an episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

I've heard two very contradictory opinions from sources I trust.

One point of view says that he's addressing a very real problem about the quality of food in schools, the growing dependence on pre-made meals, and worse, the growing ignorance of basic cooking skills.

The other point of view says that he's a privileged wankadoodle who thinks money and time grow on trees, and what is it any of his business what people eat or weigh?

Not having seen the show, but having opinions about this sort of topic, I imagine the truth is somewhere in the middle.

On his website, there is now a petition.

In one box, it has this message from Jamie: "If you care about the health of your children and the food they eat please sign this petition now."

In a box next to it is has this message "from you" for the petition: "Sign Jamie's petition to save cooking skills and improve school food.

I support the Food Revolution. America's kids need better food at school and better health prospects. We need to keep cooking skills alive."

I feel like those messages are contradictory.

Jamie's message conflates weight and health, which is a HUGE issue.

"Our" message demands better and more healthy food at schools, and to improve education on how to cook. That's kind of important.

Not to quote a truly bizarre source, but uh...did any of you ever see the movie Heavyweights?

It's about a kid who goes to a fat camp that got sold to a fitness madman (played hilariously by Ben Stiller in an obvious precursor to his role in Dodgeball), the kids stage a coup, and run the camp their way.

In their renewed vision of the camp, they have a fucking blast being kids in a warm, positive environment, and one of the clips in the montage includes a cooking class. Not a "how to cook low fat meals" class, but an honest to goodness class on how to cook food that tastes good.

I've seen with my own eyes people eat more healthfully once they start to learn to cook because they're caring about the quality of the components they're using, not which frozen meal is on special that week.

I realize this veers back into the "money and time don't grow on trees" category. However, I get the sense that part of "The Food Revolution" is a movement to bring better food options to underserved neighborhoods.

Anyway, I hope that the good intentions of this show and movement aren't paving a certain road. I hope that there's an understanding that weight and health aren't one and the same. I hope that there's an understanding that sometimes living off of canned and frozen items is all a person can do.

But I really hope that this show isn't all the bad that I've heard, and none of the good.

Awwww!

Kevin Smith talks to Natalie, the woman who got fat-shamed on his second flight. Smodcast here.

It's so cute. I want them to be bffs.

FLY, FATASS, FLY!!

While waiting for my connecting flight out of Atlanta last Tuesday (a rant of its own), I briefly spoke to a lovely young woman as we all tried to scout out the ever-elusive working outlet for our phones, laptops, etc. I say lovely because I thought she was pretty, and I really liked the shade of green she was wearing. Anyway, that's not important. What's important is she was heavy set. Once we boarded the plane I witnessed the following exchange:

Douchehat: Excuse me, flight attendant?

Flight Attendant: Yes?

Douchehat: Can I switch seats? The girl next to me is big. Really big.

Flight Attendant: Sorry, sir, you'll have to wait until the flight has boarded completely, and then you can switch seats if there is one available.

I must also note the flight attendant said this with her voice dripping with irritation. She sounded just as shocked and offended and I probably looked. Oh, and he was referring to that same woman I'd spoken to at the gate. Also, he said all of this loud enough that the back half of the plane heard him.

Nice, Douchehat.

The flight boarded, and there were a lot of empty seats (it was a late flight), and he ended up having the entire row right behind me to himself.

I almost wish I'd farted in his face.

So by now, you've probably all heard about Kevin Smith getting thrown off a Southwest Air flight on Saturday. (Link goes to the round up and discussion on Shapely Prose.)



I managed to catch the beginnings of this in almost-real time that night, thanks to Twitter. I was absolutely AGOG at what was happening. It was kind of a thing of beauty.

Here's a few other links you may want to check out, if you're interested in the unfolding of this beautiful PR nightmare:

• The Smodcast, in which Kevin Smith tells his tale. Warning: It's an hour and a half long. Worth it, though.


• Southwest's really awful and douchetastically titled "apology" post. Seriously, they TITLED it "Not So Silent Bob." IN AN APOLOGY POST. What?


• More bloggery by Kevin Smith himself.


• Linda, a Southwest Airlines rep wrote another apology blog post. It's better, but still not 100%.


• Even more bloggery from Kevin Smith

So yeah.

There's a lot of discussion to be had over a lot of the stuff being said by both parties. Kevin Smith doesn't apologize for being fat, but he'll often use misogynist or fat-shaming language in his ranting. But then he'll also go on to tell the story of the heavy woman on the flight he was allowed to stay on, who was sitting in his row. The flight attendant came by and tried to take the woman off the flight. Hearing Kevin Smith's ire over that situation was amazing. He also acknowledged his privilege as a man, and a rich one at that. He acknowledged that the average fat woman experiences harassment and discrimination that a fat man never would.

I can't wait to see how Southwest weathers this. It sounds like a LOT of people are taking their business elsewhere.

Yeah, I Don't Know About This

Queen Latifah is the new Jenny Craig spokesperson.

I...what?

1) When I think of the words "gorgeous" and "glamorous," Queen Latifah is one of the first women who comes to mind.

2) Jenny Craig is one of the programs that require you to buy their food. That has never made sense to me.

In both the linked article, and her TV spot, "...a healthier lifestyle, not on getting onto a specific dress size" are the focus.

Call me cynical, but that's no better than Weight Watchers' "Diets are Mean" ad campaign. You can spin it all you want, but it's still a diet! (And one that worked very well for myself, my mother, and many of my closest friends. I want to emphasize that, because I realize I've come across as very anti-WW lately, and I need to fix that.)

Seriously, though. If Queen Latifah wanted to raise awareness for diabetes or "a healthier lifestyle," I feel like there are better channels through which to work. Even Weight Watchers, if associating herself with a weight loss program was her aim. That being said, I can understand feeling that this would be a more accessible conduit for her message. If that was her reasoning, then excellent. If not? I'd be very, very surprised.

Boo Urns.

The movie Idiocracy is on cable right now. I'm excited about this, because I never got a chance to see it.

The wonderful Sara Rue has a small role. As usually happens when I watch movies with my laptop in front of me, I looked her up on IMDB.

I saw some photos of her there, and I was so appalled by what I saw.


Sara Rue, before and after

Why did she lose weight? She didn't need to lose weight! She was so gorgeous!

This makes me so sad.

I definitely believe in people making weight management choices for themselves, but I can't help but be disappointed by this turn of events.

Here is someone else upset about this.

Placeholder.

I have an essay for you all that's about half-done.

It's about the politics of weight, especially from a feminist view point.

I am very conflicted about this topic. I am a feminist. I am a woman. I am also what most people would term "skinny," though this time last year, I was not.

I decided I was unhappy with myself, joined Weight Watchers, and lost 20lbs.

I have been successful at keeping at least 15 of that 20 off.

I try to work out at least three times a week.

Why? Because I want an athlete's body.

I don't know if it's society or my own preferences that makes me want that, but, I know that it's something I want.

When I read feminism blogs and feminism/weight politics blogs, I feel like a traitor.

I feel like I drank the Kool-Aid offered by the cults I speak against in all other situations.

But then I remember how I felt the first Pilates class I successfully did 60 pushups.

But then I remember how I felt the first time I put on the jeans I had to stop wearing at the age of 19 because I'd gained weight.

But then I remember how I felt when I saw pictures of myself from the summer of 2003, 25lbs and a really bad haircut ago.

And I feel even more conflicted because my choices were for me, but there's an army of voices who tell me I never needed to change.

I know how I like myself. I just wish acheiveing that didn't include the guilt of betraying a cause I actually do agree with.