A new show called Mike & Molly premiered during this TV season It’s about two overweight people who fall in love. It happens every day, yet some people have a problem with it. The editors of the magazine Marie Claire apparently didn’t bat an eyelash when one of their writers (Maura Kelly) submitted an article trashing fat characters on television. Here’s an excerpt:
So anyway, yes, I think I’d be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other…because I’d be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room— just like I’d find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine addict slumping in a chair. Now, don’t go getting the wrong impression: I have a few friends who could be called plump. I’m not some size-ist jerk.
You’re right about one thing, Ms. Kelly. You are a jerk. The sad part is, you clearly don’t know what it means to truly love and be loved. Let me point to Hollywood liaisons, where the most physically attractive people get married and divorced, often in a span of a few months, much less years. That’s what happens when couples say “I do” to a specific body size and a narrow definition of beauty—relying on their eyes and egos instead of their hearts.
It takes all kinds to fill the freeways, Ms. Kelly, and millions of people (including me) have no obligation to live up to your body-size preferences. If Mike and Molly eventually get married on the show, it will be because two people have fallen in love with one another based on what really matters in a relationship. And most of us want and deserve nothing less.
There’s a healthy market for plus-size wedding gowns and plus-size bridesmaid dresses (so your “plump” friends can look beautiful, too.) From what you said in your article, I assume you walk around most of the time with your eyes closed to shield your intolerant senses from the painful sight of an overweight person walking across a room. While you’ve apologized for your insensitive, hurtful tirade, I’m fairly confident you meant every word you said. I understand you’re a one-time anorexic, so you must realize your words probably recruited thousands of young girls and women into that death-baiting club. Nice. Can’t wait to see what you do for an encore.
