Phoebe-Jane Boyd 

Thanks, Jamelia, for your nasty judgment of fat people. We’ve heard it all before

Here’s a translation of Jamelia’s supposedly well-meaning rant on Loose Women: ‘I think you’re unacceptable as you are, and I don’t like it’
  
  

Jamelia speaking on Loose Women about plus-size women

It’s so tiring getting angry about people in the public eye passing their judgment down on us lessers, but here we are again, having to put that work in. Seven months after the last outbreak of misjudged wittering from Loose Women that was Judy Finnigan on sexual assault, we’ve been gifted more gold-standard insensitivity from that magic outrage-creation pit on ITV. This time round it was a discussion on plus-sized clothing for teenage girls. Obesity, women’s body autonomy – who could have predicted that would be such a dangerous topic for four privileged females working in the entertainment industry to wade into?

Bringing the “days since the last wave of public anger wave” counter in the Loose Women studios back to zero was panellist Jamelia, who revealed her thoughts on obesity, including the gems: “A huge proportion of our teenagers are well over the weight they should be. I am all for celebrating people as they are … but I do not think it’s right to facilitate people living an unhealthy lifestyle. I really don’t.” [She really doesn’t, OK?] And “I do think that you should feel uncomfortable if you are unhealthy.” And so these words were passed down to us mere chubby mortals by the beautiful and acceptably sized Jamelia. Jamelia – voice of a generation. Singer of the lyrics “Beware of the dog, beware of the dog/Beware of the dog, beware of the dog”, and “Ey oh ey oh ey oh”. Quoter of Kierkegaard on her Facebook page.

Forgive the snark, but sarcasm is about all I can muster whenever the well-meaning healthy decide to pass comment on people of my size (I’m size 20 – hi!). It happens too often, on television and off. And yes, I am talking about those of us who are overweight because we over-eat and don’t exercise enough. I’m not a fat teenager now, but I was once, and I know exactly how such well-meaning conversation would have hit me back then. It wouldn’t have made me lose weight. It would have pissed me off.

I’m too old/too tired now to be emotionally hurt by comments like those from Jamelia (and the rest of the Loose Women panel, not to leave them out: Janet Street-Porter, Ruth Langsford and Coleen Nolan all voiced similar opinions) because of the sheer frequency of them. So many out there get exasperated by fat people, walking on their streets, breathing their air, eating sandwiches, and I hear from that exasperated bunch a lot, believe me. Not everyone is so smiley and “concerned” as Jamelia and co, but from all my exposure to those “helpful” opinions on how I live my life, I sense that the thought process behind each one is very similar.

Saying that high-street stores shouldn’t “facilitate” certain human beings having access to clothing, in order to make them really understand how unacceptable they are as people, is pretty nasty, right? Just as nasty as someone openly saying “you’re disgusting because you’re fat”. I’ve heard insults, I’ve heard concern for me, concern for the NHS (which – like a lot of fat people – I pay taxes towards) and Jamelia’s concern for “our teenagers” when it comes to my choice to be physically big. It all sounds like this: “I think you’re unacceptable as you are, and I don’t like it.” And hearing that opinion has never changed me, or a lot of others like me. I doubt it ever will.

I think those 60% of teenage girls who are overweight (the statistic quoted during that discussion on Loose Women) deserve to have their size stocked in stores on the high street. I think overweight teenagers shouldn’t be left to cover themselves with an old sail and a piece of rope in place of actual clothes, a la Ariel emerging from the sea, as a lesson or punishment for eating biscuits. And, call me crazy, but I don’t think any of us need another “by the way, I think you’re unacceptable” reminder, statement, or opinion, from the high street, from random passers-by, or from the singer of Superstar. We’ve heard it. It didn’t work. And we’re tired of it.

 

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