A fat person dared to get in my pro-life picture

[thoughtful]

"This is classic Africa."

Generalizing a continent. You go girl. :angry-banghead:

That wasn't a one-time thing, either -- she wrote that, or something like it, in quite a few blog entries.

[Full enough quiver]

For some reason this made me think of Renton's rant about being Scottish in Irvine Welsh's Tainspotting which ended with "Some hate the English. I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are COLONIZED by wankers. Can't even find a decent culture to be colonized BY."

Disclaimer: I loved visiting Scotland and the folks I had the pleasure of meeting were lovely. The same can be said for England and the English.

Anyone who quotes Trainspotting is totally awesome. I watched it when I was 12, loved it, and became the only Arkansan to use the words shite and arse. And I wonder why I wasn't popular.

[RandomTrivia]

I thought this article in Salon (not breaking link since it's Salon) was a good fit for this thread. Perhaps Lauralea would benefit from reading it, as well :)

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/23/picture ... o_mock_me/

From the article:

This popped up in my Facebook yesterday. The "Wait Watchers" project is being resurrected in the news - http://www.liberalamerica.org/2014/01/12/one-woman-turns-camera-fat-shamers-result-profound/; this article quotes from the Salon article, but there are more pictures from the project.

[debrand]

This popped up in my Facebook yesterday. The "Wait Watchers" project is being resurrected in the news - http://www.liberalamerica.org/2014/01/12/one-woman-turns-camera-fat-shamers-result-profound/; this article quotes from the Salon article, but there are more pictures from the project.

I looked at the photos and can't tell if the onlookers in the photo are having negative thoughts about her or not. Overweight people receive a lot of negative comments and looks so I do see her point but these particular photos don't capture that. Even the guy on the bench could just be amused that some stranger is taking his photo. The problem is that we can't tell from a quick snap shot what is going on in the subjects minds. Perhaps a video camera would be better?

[nausicaa]

I looked at the photos and can't tell if the onlookers in the photo are having negative thoughts about her or not. Overweight people receive a lot of negative comments and looks so I do see her point but these particular photos don't capture that. Even the guy on the bench could just be amused that some stranger is taking his photo. The problem is that we can't tell from a quick snap shot what is going on in the subjects minds. Perhaps a video camera would be better?

I had the same reaction. I have no doubt that overweight people receive quite a bit of fat shaming, but those pictures seemed unfairly ambigous. Haven't we all had pictures taken where it looks like we're staring daggers at someone, but really we were just thinking about something, or glancing around, and the camera captured an awkward angle of it? That's what most of these looked like. As a chronic sufferer of bitchy resting face, I feel odd about these.

And for the teenage girl tapping her belly with her open hand, it seemed like that is a pretty common teenage mannerism, especially in a crop top (I see girls do this in two piece bathing suits). It probably reflected more of the girl's self conciousness at wearing such a short shirt than it did the woman. It's been a damn long time since I wore a crop top anywhere, but I think I remember touching my stomach a lot because it felt weird to have it exposed.

[thoughtful]

I looked at the photos and can't tell if the onlookers in the photo are having negative thoughts about her or not. Overweight people receive a lot of negative comments and looks so I do see her point but these particular photos don't capture that. Even the guy on the bench could just be amused that some stranger is taking his photo. The problem is that we can't tell from a quick snap shot what is going on in the subjects minds. Perhaps a video camera would be better?

That's what I said about that site, somewhere in this thread. She may be doing more damage than good, unfortunately.

Even a few seconds of video would make it clearer than still photos.

[Lainey]

I'm not seeing it, either. Maybe in some of the pictures--maybe.

In many of the pictures, the other person seems surprised about something, or looks (to me) like they're looking at something/someone else. Or, in some she's doing something just a little out of the ordinary--like bending down, even to tie her shoe or whatever, is just different enough in a crowd of people to momentarily catch the attention of passerby.

Man, I'd hate to see what I'd look like if I were in the background of one of her shots.

[argypargy]

I'm not seeing it, either. Maybe in some of the pictures--maybe.

In many of the pictures, the other person seems surprised about something, or looks (to me) like they're looking at something/someone else. Or, in some she's doing something just a little out of the ordinary--like bending down, even to tie her shoe or whatever, is just different enough in a crowd of people to momentarily catch the attention of passerby.

Man, I'd hate to see what I'd look like if I were in the background of one of her shots.

I hate this woman's website. Most of the time the negative looks are when she's blocking, say, a busy crosswalk in NYC. I'd be giving her dirty looks, too. But, in most of her pictures, it doesn't even look like the negative looks or smiles are even directed at her and even if they do look directed at her, it doesn't mean that they are.

In other words, yeah, someons might be looking at you and laughing because you are large, but probably not. It's most likely their looks have nothing to do with you or with the fact that you set up a tripod in the middle of a busy sidewalk or are acting as a human roadblock.

[CallmeChaCha]

This reminds me of when I ran a 5k (many, many, many years ago) and there was a photographer on a section of the course where it was a narrow trail next to a steep cliff. I was 12 years old and got really scared that I might fall off, and apparently made a bitchy face, which the photographer decided to capture. I look super pissed, like I was ready to fight. Definitely not what I was feeling. Faces and body language don't always show true emotions, especially when captured instantaneously.

Anyway, so is this girl (the original subject of the thread) still "saving" Christians in Africa? Anyone know?

[ladyaudley]

NO idea, but if she is, I have a new book to add to her reading list:

How dogmatic beliefs harm creativity and higher-level thinking / edited by Don Ambrose

and Robert J. Sternberg. New York ; London : Routledge, 2012