Nancy Pelosi jumped on the opportunity to make a comment. She didn't mention that there might be a financial reason he's pushing this so hard. She didn't mention that his pushing of this drug can cause shortages for people who legitimately need it. No, she took a stab at donald's body size...
"He's our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and his, shall we say, weight group ... m*rbidly ob*se, they say," she said.
Plenty of people pointed out that this is fat-shaming bullshit, but in a burst of "they tried it" others immediately jumped in to try to claim some form of the following three arguments:
- It wasn't fat-shaming
- It was fat-shaming, but it's ok because it's donald and he's a garbage human
- But it's science
Let's take these one-by-one:
It wasn't fat-shamingIt for damn sure was. Look at the phrasing of it "his, shall we say, weight group...m*rbidly ob*se they say"
Nobody frames a physical description that way unless they think it's something to shame someone about. Nobody is out there going "her, shall we say, hair color...brunette they say."
Note that she was able to say "age group" without engaging in ageism.
It was fat-shaming, but it's ok because it's donald and he's a garbage humanDonald is a garbage human. Fat-shaming him is still wrong, because his size has nothing to do with his being a proud racist, misogynist, xenophobe, sexual predator, and white supremacist. When you fat-shame, your victim is every fat-person person you perpetuate the idea that fat-shaming is ok.
I covered this in detail the post Your Justification For Fat-Shaming Donald is Bullshit, Here's Why.
But it's science!These people seem to break into two camps.
The first insists that since the term "m*rbidly ob*se" is a medical term, it must be ok to say. That ignores an extensive history of "medical terminology" being used to perpetuate oppression. It ignores the fact that the term is used as a way to pathologize a body size in a way that is neither research-based nor helpful. And it ignores the s taggering amount of medical weight stigma that fat people have to deal with, which harms us in a myriad of ways.
The second camp insists that it's ok because she was telling the truth about the risks. Except she wasn't. There is no evidence that being fat creates more risk when taking (or lying about taking) Hydroxychloroquine. Even if she mispoke and was trying to make a claim about COVID-19, the evidence around body size and COVID-19 risk is dubious at best.
This was fat-shaming and there is absolutely no justification for it. Nancy Pelosi should apologize and do better in the future.
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Published by Ragen Chastain
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