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| Here's a fat dragon eating fried chicken for your enjoyment. |
Today’s Fat Myth is one that even fat people are sometimes
guilty of thinking about other (usually people who appear fatter) fat people,
and that is:
“Fat People Have No Sense of Personal Hygiene.”
One of our favorite introductions to this myth within the
Fat Galaxy came during a shared class in college: Monstrosity in Contemporary
Literature, more affectionately known as Monsters. Besides being the class that introduced us to
one of our favorite professors and role models, this was also the class that
launched Gribbski into the world of higher-thinking. The monstrosity in contemporary literature,
as we soon discovered, was less werewolves and bogeymen and more monstrous human
bodies. Among those human monstrosities
was the Othered fat person (Othered meaning marginalized, excluded from the
norm, etc.).
In one short story, Hollis Seamon’s “The Strange History of
Suzanne LaFleshe,” we were introduced to the kind of fat woman we could relate
to. This woman started losing weight via Weight Watchers and was
successful, but quickly realized she missed being fat. She made a distinction between herself and
other fat women, declaring that she was clean and together, unlike those other
fat women.
Like LaFleshe, BB and WW have made these distinctions in
the past. And it is hard not to when
society generally deems fat people as disgusting.
“How does she wash in between those fat rolls?”
“Can he even reach his back?”
And of course, the part of the myth that says, “The fatter
you are, the more you sweat.” And we all
know how stinky people get when they’re sweaty, right?
But back to us. When
we are taught (consciously and subconsciously) the myth that the heavier you
are, the dirtier you are, it is hard for fat people to NOT separate themselves
from the myth in any way possible, even if that means throwing other fat people
under the bus. When we read this story
and saw someone else doing it, it opened up a new dialogue for us.
I mean, when someone farts on an elevator, we always look
for the fattest person to pawn off the stench on, right? (Or sometimes an
unkempt person, etc). Even other fat people do it! By discovering that
others were also quick to make assumptions about people fatter than themselves,
both of us were reassured that we were AND weren’t monsters—that yes, other
people have done it, we are not the first, but that by having done it we WERE
part of the problem and that to continue to do it would make us monsters. Thus,
our new dialogue taught us lessons on how we view, treat, and interact with
others—with Othered Others, as it were.
One of the realities of humanity is that we make judgments
based on what we see. As much as we may
convince ourselves that we don’t care about what others think, there will
always be at least a small part that does.
Fat people are easy targets for social judgment. But we’re people who want other people to
like us, too, and so it is hard not to overcompensate by tossing awkward details
of our hygiene into conversation, just so people think we have our shit
together. That’s the reason the WW
paints her nails to match her outfit sometimes. Here’s some examples:
“Sorry I’m late, I overslept but didn’t want to skip my
shower.”
“That’s what my new deodorant smells like!”
“The soap here smells amazing.”
So maybe not all of those are realistic, but the WW
remembers using the last one as a great declaration to everyone present, “I
HAVE WASHED MY HANDS AND I CAN PROVE IT.”
The BB has used her share of these as well…
For example, if someone says “Your hair looks great today!”
It isn’t good enough to take the compliment…
“Thanks! I have to wash it everyday to keep it looking
volumized.” (A.K.A: This fat bitch showers everyFREAKINGdayanddon’tyouforgetit).
The above instance actually brings up a really good
point—because of the social stigma with uncleanliness and fatness, and all of
the backhanded compliments given to fat people daily (“You have such a pretty
face…” “You look much slimmer in that outfit!”) many fat people have become
accustomed to dissecting every compliment, questioning any time that they are
praised, and second-guessing people’s sincerity.
The real problem with the hygiene myth is that it isn’t just
a myth—it’s a cruel stereotype that is reinforced all the time. And it is such
a pervasive one that fat people even begin to think it about themselves. Both
the BB and the WW have been known to sit in a crowd of people coming up with
elaborate ways to check for underarm odor—when there is none!
Okay, if I drop my
pencil and bend over, then I can casually position my head in a downward
position near my armpit, just to check.
If I excuse myself to
go to the restroom, I can apply more deodorant…just to be sure.
Yes, this is no lie, this is the shit that runs through a
fat person’s head. If there is an inkling of a bad smell in crowded room, you
can almost guarantee that fat people are suffering from intense social
anxiety…even if they aren’t the source of the stink! The paranoia of being
blamed for the smell—based on weight—is the anxiety-inducing part.
So, our fat myth Monday goal is threefold:
1. If you aren’t fat, PLEASE stop assuming that fat people
are sweaty and nasty, responsible for elevator farts, and the perfect
recipients for backhanded compliments.
2. If you ARE fat, PLEASE think more of yourself. Please
learn to take a compliment at face value. And above all, PLEASE stop making
yourself feel better by finding other fatter people to blame for your own insecurities.
3. No matter who you are or what you look like, please take
our word for it: Fat people having bad hygiene IS a myth. Plenty of people of
all shapes and sizes have good/poor hygiene…weight is not an issue! Just
because the BB and the WW have to use a little extra soap to scrub up the
thighs or back fat, doesn’t mean we aren’t just as clean!
Want some extra resources? Want to see why fat people need a
safe cyber space and need to be advocated for? Peek at the following links!:
And this one is just one example of why we need a safe cyber
space:
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