Carrie Fisher and Jenny Craig

[K8-EEE]

http://www.salon.com/life/body_wars/?story=/mwt/feature/2011/01/13/carrie_fisher_jenny_craig_fat_shame

Interesting Salon article regarding Carrie Fisher's decision to be a Jenny Craig celeb spokesperson.

This makes a point that I am always thinking to myself, yet rarely hear other people say about the weight loss "before and after" type success stories, that often conclude that people treat them with more respect once they lose weight.

There are a lot of good reasons to lose weight, but seeing yourself referred to as "Jabba the Hut" by an internet troll, that seems like being BULLIED into it.

Trying to get in better shape is a worthy goal for anybody, but I hate the suggestion that for a woman, all your accomplishments boil down to nothing if you're "a fat chick."

[texanwitch]

1. I saw her on tv for Jenny, she didn't look that big.

She said she was hiding because she was so big, that is sad.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. People who think that the world is hostile to people who are fat piss me off....

Sure at first people look at me funny, then they realize I have a personality and see past it. I like what Laura Linney said on the C Word. You cannot be fat AND mean. You can be fat and jolly or a skinny bitch (her phrase). You already have the weight thing going against you. If you are mean too, you just get what you deserve.
It makes me sad that Carrie Fisher thinks this. I didn't recognize her when I saw her on the first commercial. She does look different, but I just thought she was a normal wife and mother they got to be in the commercial who had gained weight from having kids. Then I found out who it was and I felt bad for her. I think growing up in Hollywood and being around all the vapid, self absorbed, shallow people has warped her reality.
Duckie

[MorningGlow]

3. I know where she's coming from

I was fat and bullied as a child, thin and "acceptable" after puberty, fat and invisible in my 30s and early 40s when my thyroid went wackadoodle, and I recently (at 45) lost 21 lbs. For me, losing weight was worth it (and I'm about to go back to work losing 15 more pounds) because people are nicer to me when I'm thinner, and consequently I feel better about myself.

It's a terrible thing to admit, but it's true--people DO treat you better when you're thin. I'm talking strangers, of course, not the people who love you, but there it is. And we have to deal with strangers every day, from the grocery store clerk to professional clients to the person who may or may not hold the door for you at the mall. (In fact, I became motivated to lose weight when my quite pleasant local grocery store clerk asked me when the baby was due.)

It's not RIGHT, but it's true.