Amy Schumer is angry with Glamour magazine in the US. Those glossy-mag fascists have gone too damn far, having had the audacity to insult the comedian right on the very cover of their first special edition, a “Chic at Any Size” issue. Or have they? Cover star Ashley Graham didn’t seem too bothered, and Instagrammed the debut with positivity and pride.
“Outfits, Ideas & Updates That Flatter Sizes 12 & Up” screams the cover – nothing too outrageous or mean so far. “NO Nonsense ALL Gorgeous” – still fine. But then ... “Women Who Inspire Us: Melissa McCarthy, Adele, Amy Schumer & Ashley Graham”. How dare the Glamour editorial team do that to Schumer? Put her in the same bracket as the likes of Adele? That reprehensible meat-sack-masquerading-as-a-human-being, Adele? And to top it off, they even had the nerve to call Amy “inspiring”. They may as well have just labelled her the “ultimate arsehole” and roundhouse kicked her in the teeth.
The special edition is stirring up the usual debate that arises whenever the fashion press tries to cater to those above sample size – the separation of the bigger sizes into their own issue being the rub with most. There have been snarks that the magazine is simply afraid that plus-sized models would take up too much page space in a regular issue, crowding the smaller ones that usually feature right out. Or that they’d be infected with the propensity to pack on the pounds, too.
Schumer’s concerns were different, though: “I think there’s nothing wrong with being plus-size ... [but] plus-size is considered size 16 in America [US “size 12 and up” is what is mentioned on the Glamour cover; specifics are important to Amy – as illustrated in the next sentence]. I go between a size 6 and an 8 [very specific]. @glamourmag put me in their plus-size only issue without asking or letting me know [does every magazine ask?] and it doesn’t feel right to me. Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool ... not glamourous”.
Other’s thoughts range from balking at the size segregation; rejection of labels; appreciation that size-12-and-ups are getting any mainstream magazine exposure at all ... and a smattering of thoughts along the lines of, “don’t worry Amy, you’re not plus-sized!!”. An example of each has had a retweet from Amy, but the share of the last sentiment, that’s the important one; it jars. Does that jive with the positive body-image message (“there’s nothing wrong with being plus-size”) that one of her latest tweets about it settles on? Not really.
Amy wants you to know that she’s not plus-size; Amy wants you to know that she’s size 6 or 8. For you to think she is plus-size is wrong, because Amy doesn’t want to be plus-size – because, being plus-size is wrong. Or, at the very least, it’s an icky thing to be labelled with.
This is about more than correcting a wrong perception, or ensuring measurements are accurate. And this isn’t disgust about being grouped with Adele (who isn’t a reprehensible-meat-sack-masquerading-as-a-human-being, to make that clear). It’s a loud cry of: “I’m not fat, and I don’t want to be fat, being fat is shameful”, disguised as concern for young body-conscious fans.
Not anything new from female celebrities who position themselves as being equality-focused, but who actually aren’t. In 2014, for example, the actress Allison Tolman reacted strongly to being called “plump” on Twitter. Like Schumer, she started out thoughtfully – “the explicit use of a weight-related adjective to describe a female ... is really troubling. It furthers the notion that a woman’s most important contribution to the world is her appearance” – but finished on a sentiment that was much more, “For fuck’s sake, internet – I’m not fat”.
Rejecting a system of evaluation as harmful, only to then immediately use that very system to value yourself – placing yourself on the higher, more prized level of the scale, to boot – is just that ugly body-shaming of old in a new wrapper. Claiming to be fighting unnecessary judgements, while still subscribing to them and reinforcing them? Now that is “not cool”.
