As the count goes on, a new group of fat jokes about donald are making the rounds.
One was said by Anderson Cooper when he compared donald to an "ob*se turtle on its back"
Before anybody starts in with "it's not fat-shaming!" It absolutely is fat-shaming. First, because it uses a term that was created to pathologize and stigmatize fat bodies, and second because it was utterly unnecessary for the metaphor. Saying someone is like a turtle on their back is a clear metaphor (well, simile but whatever...) Making the turtle fat doesn't make the comparison any more clear, it just adds fat-shaming to it.
The other are "jokes" I've been seeing are around the number 270 (which is the number of electoral college votes needed to win the election,) Some make fun of weight gain from stress eating (which is both fatphobic and potentially harmful for those dealing with disordered eating and eating disorders,) or including the idea that the only way donald "could get to 270 is by losing 50 pounds."
The way you know that is fat-shaming is that his weight (244 pounds) is a matter of public record. So this entire joke rests on the premise that it's funny to suggest that he is heavier than he is (which is fatphobia) and/or that it's funny to think that he weighs 320 pounds (which is fatphobia since there are people who weigh 320 pounds and it's no funnier, better, or worse, than weighing any other amount.)
If you're thinking:
It's not fat-shaming because he is a horror of a human being!
It's not fat-shaming because he (and his doctor) lied about his weight!
It's not fat-shaming because it's about his health!
It's not fat-shaming because he is a fat-shamer himself!
I covered all of those attempted justifications in this post.
Bottom line though, if you're scrambling to find a justification for why these jokes either aren't fat shaming (they are) or why fat-shaming is justified in this situation (it's not) then I urge you to just go ahead and consider the scrambling itself is proof that they are indeed unjustified fat-shaming.
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Hi, I'm Ragen Chastain. Speaker, Writer, Dancer, Choreographer, Marathoner, Soon to be Iron-distance triathlete, Activist, Fat Person. View all posts by Ragen Chastain
