I recently read an article about how Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson and Adele all need to lose weight. The author suggested that people stop buying tickets to their shows until they are thin.
I saw an article about how Melissa McCarthy and Gabourey Sidibe are a trend that we need to stop before we end up with a red carpet full of fatties.
So I’m wondering, how many amazingly talented people are we missing out on as a society for no good reason?
Does Autotune exist because we choose our singers primarily for their ability to fit a narrow stereotype of beauty, with the ability to sing a distant second?
How many horrible actors and actresses do we suffer through because the industry chooses them for their ability to fit a narrow stereotype of beauty, and not in any way for their ability to act?
Why, as a culture, do we ignore the actual abilities we are looking for and instead make the ability to fit a narrow stereotype of beauty our main criteria? People come in all shapes and sizes and so it makes sense that talented people come in all shapes and sizes. Why are we always so shocked when someone who isn’t traditionally attractive can sing? What does one have to do with the other? We’re so conditioned to think that talent only comes in a stereotypically beautifully package that we lose our minds when Susan Boyle stands up and belts out I Dreamed a Dream. I don’t mean to shock anyone here, but how someone looks has literally nothing to do with their chances of being a good singer, or actress, or dancer, or anything else. Wouldn’t it just be fantastic if we chose people based on their talent and not on their ability to walk a red carpet in a sample size dress?
Now for the good news: We are four days away from kicking some serious ass. Thursday we are doing our Big Fat Money Bomb to support kids by putting up billboards with positive messages to counteract the shaming, stigmatizing, humiliating billboards that the Strong4Life campaign has put out. The amazing Marilyn Wann has graciously offered to send autographed copies of the Fat!So? Dayplanner to the first 10 people who donate $50-99, and autographed Fat!So? books to the first 10 people who donate $100 or more. You can find out all of the information here at www.SupportAllKids.com If you want a reminder on Thursday just send me an e-mail at ragen at danceswithfat dot org and I’ll put you on the list.
This blog is supported by its readers rather than corporate ads. If you feel that you get value out of the blog, can afford it, and want to support my work and activism, please consider a paid subscription or a one-time contribution. The regular e-mail subscription (available at the top right hand side of this page) is still completely free. Thanks for reading! ~Ragen
When criticized by any man for my appearance (yes, many have actually had the nerve to comment), I usually counter with, “Oh, I see you are under the misconception that my purpose in life is to make your dick hard. I just want to let you know that isn’t my job — it’s yours.”
It also seems there’s an assumption that the stereotype of beauty touted by Hollywood is supported by a majority as the group aesthetic. News flash — it isn’t! I’ve heard more men between the ages of 15 and 80 comment on how they prefer a woman who is comfortable to lay with, no bones poking them, just soft curves and warm flesh to cushion their heads. Children love being embraced by round grandmothers who are warm and soft and safe. And as long as I feel vital and healthy, my size doesn’t matter to me. It certainly doesn’t affect my enjoyment of life, except in those instances when I run into an ignoramus who is so insecure, he or she feels the need to criticize me in order to feel superior. It’s called “personal work” people — do it!
It seems that other women are even more abusive than most men — no wonder they’re so fearful of aging or gaining weight! They’re afraid they’ll be as harshly criticized, judged, condemned, and ostracized as they treated others. People really need to get a grip. Human beings age; weight fluctuates. It’s a fact of life, a reality. And to argue with reality is insanity. As a society, we really need to cease being so superficial and judgmental and figure out the true significance of the human condition. The measure of a person’s worth surely isn’t glamour!
Very good post. Here in the UK many of the gorgeous female actors and comediennes are going on drastic weightloss campaigns…. Pauline Quirk, Dawn French and others. Since doing the “Lighter Life” diet in 2007 I have been seriously ill; Fibromyalgia diagnosed 2010; colon cancer surgery Oct 2010 and now pancreatitis requiring my gall bladder to be removed soon. I have never had any serious health problems before.
The colon cancer had been in my system for more than 2 years plus, whilst on their liquid meal replacements (3 packs a day of shakes/soups + 1 bar) I was frequently getting pain in my solar plexus not realising I was having gall bladder problems……
I am not saying Lighter Life is responsible for these 3 major health issues but it IS, I suspect possibly a wee bit suspiciously coincidental!
Thank you Ragan!
Dear Felicity,
How awful. I’m so sorry that you’re going through these illnesses, each of which would be challenging on its own, never mind all three at the same time.
Wishing you comfort and a speedy, full recovery!
Thank you Alexie! I am determined to get back to good health AND removing the pressure off myself to be ‘thin’. Ragan’s work and that of organisations such as Health at Every Size are encouraging me to live with conviction and trust in myself. Blessings!
Sorry… you’re Mary-Ellin, not Alexie!
Felicity, I do wish you a quick recovery and hope you are feeling much better soon. I did want to pass on, though, that gall bladder problems are often precipitated by rapid weight loss in susceptible individuals. I do feel that this happened to me back in 1995, after one of my many attempts to make myself smaller on a very low fat diet. Don’t wait too long to have the gall bladder surgery. If stones are present, they could move around and cause a very painful obstruction of the common bile duct (as happened to me). Please keep us posted on your recovery process!
Andrea, thank you so much for this comment. I didn’t know about the rapid weightloss precipitating Gall Bladder problems! I learn something every day. Yep…. I would never do it again I can tell you even though there is STILL a deeply ingrained belief that I am not ok voice that comes from my inner child. Thank god my adult can now look after her instead of try to kill her!!! Thank you again Andrea and many blessings to you!
As a singer/songwriter who dabbles in acting (and has consistently gone to bat more than once against the fat shamers on Twitter for Kelly, Christina and Adele), yes it WOULD be fantastic if we would just choose people based on their talent alone. I’m pretty sure my career would have gone much differently if that had ever been the case. Unfortunately people buy the crap that talentless hacks are putting out because a) society is brainwashed and b) the powers that be have big marketing budgets to pay for radio spins and prime PR.
Please seek out independent music. And I don’t mean a little label that’s still distributed by one of the big three record labels. I mean truly independent, unsigned recording artists. There’s so much wonderful art out there being made by a bunch of square pegs who will never fit into round holes who are doing it all by ourselves…and we need you!
If you need somewhere to start, two great places to discover new music are http://www.cdbaby.com and http://www.reverbnation.com.
And P.S. I can’t wait for the day when there are AT LEAST AS MANY female fatties on red carpets as there are skinnies!
The author suggested that people stop buying tickets to their shows until they are thin.
I wonder if this person can hear how this sounds.
I think the person who said that KNOWS how it sounds and is simply to shallow to recognize what’s wrong with it.
And why do fat MALE performers not represent a “dangerous” trend?
Because they’re just big, sexy teddy bears! (Or whatever it is people say about fat male performers.) I never watch the shows, but your comment reminds me of shows like King of Queens, According to Jim, etc.
To be honest, because I think it’s a form of silent sexism we’re seeing here. And for some people, fat women are not women but asexual or masculine. People put thinness on the same line as femininity. In this line of thinking, a woman can’t be fat and still be feminine but a man does not lose his masculinity being fat. Men still dominate and they still make the rules so it’s natural that there’s still quite a bit of a double standard out there. It’s BS but it’s out there, unfortunately.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I never considered it as sexism before, but you might have just opened my eyes.
My husband did point out to me how many men in British comedy have lost weight recently. Stephen Fry famously lost a lot a while ago (although I think he’s gained most of it back – not that that gets any of the publicity that losing it did); Jimmy Carr appears a lot thinner than he was, and a news story last week said James Corden had lost five stone (70lb). So, I think there are some men in the public eye who are feeling the same sort of pressure themselves. But you’re right, they’re not depicted as role models for their public in the way many famous fat women are.
Here’s an interesting contrast: I read somewhere recently that Lenny Henry had also lost weight after his much-publicized breakup with Dawn French. But that was one throwaway line, compared to the many news articles I’ve seen that were entirely about her weight loss. That says a lot.
Oh yes. Yes. Exactly. I am a singer; I have witnessed the increasing tendency (really bad and becoming worse since the eighties) of theatre managers and art directors to promote “slim” singers.
Okay, to be fair, some singers are slim AND can really sing, but many can just sing so-la-la and “make up for it” with other qualities (like slim legs, LOL).
We owe this tendency at least partially to the massive invasion of drama stage directors into the realm of opera (drama and acting is everything, they believe, the music is a niceside dish).
Don’t get me wrong, I also appreciate any efforts to incorporate some cool acting skillz into an opera, but if I had to choose between #1 a “Monserrat Caballé” with an awesome voice and only minimal acting skills and #2 a tiny pretty awesome actress with at best mediocre singing skills, I would alwayws choose # 1. For the opera.
I have read bad recensions and heard a lot of negative feedback from an “artistic” stage director about my teacher, who was a fabulous opera singer and has an awesome, flawless voice – just because she is overweight and could not, as the art director had wanted, climb up and down a ladder while singing a really difficult coloratura aria.
Despite the fact that it was not her weight that hindered her, because she is very fit, but a remote damage from congenital hip dysplasia; and that other singers who were not overweight informed him they could not do it either, not while singing THAT aria. Duh. Meanwhile, she agreed on “early retirement”, and the opera stage lost an awesome voice. So sad, and makes me mad every time I think about it.
I was in an opera workshop once when a girl got up to do her bit. She had an extraordinary, Wagnerian voice and the coach told her that under no account must she let pressure to lose weight get to her. “You can’t run a Rolls Royce with a VW engine” was the way she put it.
I love this comment because I am a singer (and psychotherapist) and have a presitigious position with a leading youth choir as a vocal advisor. I have always believed bigger voices have a generosity of personality. Certainly my daughter has potentially a Wagnerian voice and a substantial body to match …. The body IS the instrument!
As a Wagnerian opera singer, that ain’t NO lie, Sister. Give that teacher a blue freakin’ ribbon!!
Hi Lola,
YES! I was going to comment on this: “Does Autotune exist because we choose our singers primarily for their ability to fit a narrow stereotype of beauty, with the ability to sing a distant second?” but you beat me to it. Totally agree. Makes me so angry I can’t stand it.
I’m a “semi-pro” singer, mostly in choruses, and do some solo singing (weddings, jazz, etc.). Can you imagine a young Ella Fitzgerald today, auditioning for some t.v. talent show? *Shudder*
I absolutely still love to hear the Ella Fitzgerald records (still have some disc records here) ; she had such an awesome voice! And I feel that the absence of any Ella Fitzgeralds in the music industry of today is a painful loss for us all.
And you are absolutely right, dear Mary-Ellin, she would never pass an audition nowadays…
I had no idea I was in with a cadre of my fellow opera singers here. This is a kind of bliss.
Caballé is one of my all-time favorites. Just lush, lush sounds, while Maria Callas destroyed her own voice in the end because she was in such desperate pursuit of thinness.
My own voice teacher is no small princess. She will nail you head to the wall with her Turandot and I’ve heard it live in the hall. I’d heard her sing before that, naturally, but that was the first full on professional performance I’d heard from her and even after several years of study with her, she STILL managed to awe me beyond words. Over the orchestra, over the chorus, over the tenor….CLEAR as a bell. She has a freakin’ laser beam in there and there’s no way she could carry that off with a lesser body. None.
Well, everybody knows that Maria Callas lost her voice when she lost a lot of weight. I’ve read a physiological explanation for it (can’t reference the paper, sorry): when your body lays down fat, it does it in predictable ways. There comes a point where it doesn’t want to lay around more around your waist, or your liver etc etc, so it starts to stuff some away under the vocal folds. It’s this cushion of fat that may be giving some very great singers (like Pavarotti) the rich, full sound that doesn’t decay with age as easily.
Sorry, you had already told the story about Maria Callas! I read your post too fast and now I sound like I’m scorning your anecdote. Apologies!!!
As a great admirer of talented people regardless of their size, your article immediately caught my eye. I just saw the video of Christina Aguliera singing at the Etta James fuenral, and thought she looked gorgeous. I actually believe the added heft has helped her singing, if that doesn’t sound ridiculous to you. When I was young and tiny, I had a strong, powerful singing voice, but I actually believe my voice has gotten more rich and controlled as I’ve grown bigger (sadly, I’m out of practice at present, and have lost some of my high range). But yes, I do agree that the Establishment seems to be allowing its obsession with tiny waistlines to sideline the best singers, and the person who wrote the article that inspired yours should be shamed into silence for their incredulous lack of insight and good taste. Boycotting beautiful, talented people for not maintaining the figure of a teen-aged waif: what an imbecile!
Not long ago I was reading about the women who won the Nobel Peace Prize. One of them is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia who brought an end to a bloody civil war and paved the way for peace and hope for millions of women. Furthermore, she is fat. Her mother was born into poverty, and Ms. Sirleaf, one generation later, is the president of the nation. She has several degrees including one from Harvard. And she has a Nobel Prize.
Who, honestly, would want this mighty woman to waste even a moment of her life dieting? Who would want her to be less than she is? How can anyone look at her and presume to know whether she is healthy or fit by her size? She ended a civil war. She has a Nobel Prize. She is just fine exactly as she is.
*ahem* As an opera singer myself, there is no bloody way I could hit those notes OR sustain them without this beautiful rounded body. I have a big voice (my church music director called me a Valkyrie, which tickled me no end), I have a big personality, and I have big opinions…why on earth would I try to stuff all that into a little body??
Lest we not forgot one of my favourite poems by Lucille Clifton…
“these hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don’t fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don’t like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!”
Yorkie, God bless your director.
I LOVE that poem! Saw it somewhere else a while back, and I can’t remember where. Thanks for the reminder! I wish I had the power of an opera singer. My voice is much better suited to being a chorister, but it’s fun to use arias for training/learning purposes – and for fun. I have a couple G. Schirmer series books with standard vocal repertoire, opera arias, and oratorio solos (for mezzo-soprano/alto). Really fun stuff.
My voice would probably get stronger with improved lung capacity and core strength (e.g., via Pilates or yoga). I just haven’t been active in a long time. I do believe that those things would help, independent of whether I lost weight or not.
You mention the Valkyrie, which reminds me of Deborah Voight. I don’t know enough about her voice to say one way or another, but I do wonder how, if at all, her voice has changed since she lost weight (from surgery, I believe).
Thanks & blessings!
It really is sickening and maddening. You’re SO right about how many gawdawful actors and actresses we must endure just because they are the “beautiful ones”. My brother is an actor and is always cast as the bouncer, the cop, or the bartender because he is large and more the Chris Farley, Kevin James type than George Clooney or Russell Crowe. Then they see what he can do as a performer and are amazed at how damn good he is. Yet he continues to get the bit parts and struggles to pay his bills. It’s very sad. I’m always amazed to watch British soaps and programs where the people are more everyday people. Why can’t we do that here?
It’s interesting hearing from those of you who sing opera. On the last season of The Biggest Loser (which I didn’t watch because I value my sanity) one of the contestants was an opera singer who felt like she missed out on roles because of her weight. If I remember correctly, she actually won the season.
I’ve known two very talented singers, both female, both fat who have been turned down time and time again. Both, at different times, auditioned for talent shows (I believe one was X-Factor and one was The Voice) and neither made it to even audition for the judges. I highly suspect that it was because of their looks/weight.
It can be weight related, but I know from my friend’s American Idol experience that they break everyone into separate lines to wait. It helps them weed. There are about ten different lines including people with props, people with funny costumes, fat people, and people with actual talent. When she was through with the audition process and they didn’t pick her, she was told by one of the staffers that she’d been put in the wrong line (she’d been put in with fat folks).
And yes, there is a growing trend in the opera world to choose looks over talent. It DISGUSTS me. I don’t give one tin shit if Bohème’s Mimi looks consumptive – that’s what the costumers and makeup artists are there for. If she can’t SING Mimi, my fat ass is walking out. Period. I’m SICK TO DEATH of image-conscious directors. The public has repeatedly proven that they want true talent, but the directors cannot get that through their thick heads. I don’t give a flying fig what someone looks like. If they can SING it, I’ll BELIEVE it. Jackasses.
*phew* I think I’ve had that rant inside a while because it’s probably the biggest reason I am still “only” in the chorus at the Lyric here.
I’ve auditioned for every televised singing show there is, sung circles around the contestants in the room with or in the vicinity of me (I’m no slouch as a performer, either) and almost never get a call back, let alone booked on the shows. Meanwhile, as a voice coach, I’ve had several young, thin, gorgeous students with lesser voices than mine appear on those shows (Idol and X-Factor in particular). I certainly don’t begrudge them, cuz they’re my students and I love them, but it’s become increasingly clearer to me that how I look makes 80% of the difference. The other 20% is my age.
Unfortunately the entertainment industry is mostly image. Society likes to look at attractive people on stage and on screen, which is why most singers and actors are thin and beautiful. Society also likes to watch singers on stage who dance a lot, which is primarily while Britney Spears is more popular than Christina Aguilera, even though I think most of us can agree Christina has more vocal talent. I think there is a more mature audience (mentally mature, not as in age) who can appreciate talent who don’t require them to look a certain way. It’s just too bad that is not the majority.
Maybe our pattern for “attractive” needs to change a litlle bit?
I found out many years ago that I love to look at people (men and women alike) who have a bit more “substance” – it is my personal taste, of course, I do not say that slim people are completely unattractive or the like, they just do not turn me on.
That was one of my biggest “aha”-moments when I was about 29 (and still was not tiny, even after many diets, haha) – when I looked at one of the first “plus-size” clothing magazines (at those times it was : “sew your own clothes or go naked, fattie”) and thought: “those plus-sized ladies all look so gorgeous!” and I much preferred their looks over slim models.
Then a thought hit me : “if I really think they are beautiful and even more attractive than slimmer models, why on earth am I torturing myself with diets?”. Duh. Finally an epiphany.
Society likes to look at attractive people on stage and on screen, which is why most singers and actors are thin and beautiful.
There are, of course, millions of fat attractive people in the world. It wouldn’t hurt society to get the fucking memo already and spend some time looking at them.
Hmm, My thought on reading this post is that it reminds me of what’s been happening to produce lately. Fruits and vegetables are selected and marketed based on looks (and ability to keep their looks after being shipped long distances), at the expense of flavor, texture, and nutritional content. Also, it’s hard to find a rose with more than a faint scent these days. Makes me wonder why we are currently such a visually oriented group of people.
A big shout out to my fellow opera singers! I left the field many moons ago but singing is still part of me and always will be. As a matter of fact, I’m considering going to a blues camp this summer, just to get the voice going again. Actually, if I could be reborn, it would be as a Motown singer (minus the racism and the drugs).
Leaving opera had nothing to do with weight in my case. In fact, it really didn’t seem to be such an issue going back 25 years or so. But like others, I have heard that the field is now rife with fat hatred. American soprano, Deborah Voigt, didn’t fit into her costume and was replaced by a slimmer singer in the role of Ariadne at London’s Covent Garden. She had gastric bypass surgery.
Then’s there’s Measha Brueggergosman, an amazing Canadian soprano, who also lost massive amounts of weight through gastric bypass surgery. Her singing seems to be fine, but she almost died from a split aorta a few years ago.
Brueggergosman is a wonderful singer, no doubt about it, but the article in the Toronto Star, following her brush with death (which had f**ing nothing to do with her weight) is enough to give anyone apoplexy. Here’s how it starts:
“Measha Brueggergosman spent four years trying to get healthy.
Toronto’s resident glam-diva soprano had gastric bypass surgery, practised Bikram yoga and lost 145 pounds to build stamina for a bruising international concert schedule.”
Notice how the journalist says she had to lose weight to “build stamina”. Head, meet desk.
It is sad that there does seem to be this mentality that in order to be worth anything, women must be a certain size and have a certain face, etc. It not only gives women around the world a complex that they are not good enough because they don’t look like celebrities or pop stars, but it sends a message to young men that they should settle for nothing less than stunning and skinny! People seem to forget that not so long ago women had a little more substance to them and were in paintings and magazines showing off their wonderful bodies. Just look at all the attention that Heather Locklear and Demi Moore are getting because they are having emotional and physical problems. You can’t tell me that some of that isn’t because they have trememdous pressure to stay young and skinny to continue in their craft! Hopefully with those lucky larger ladies that are making their way onto the red carpet, things can begin to change.
A recent memory from childhood: that I really really wanted to be a singer. But my mom told me fat girls can’t be famous singers. I never sang again. And I’ve had this urge to sing…it’s been niggling for a few years. But the siren call is getting louder and louder…I need to sing somewhere other than my car…
ps when I was told I was “fat” I was nowhere near fat.
DO IT, SUSIE!!!!
My brother told me when I was little, when I wanted to be an actress, that I couldn’t because I was fat and “fat girls are not actresses”.
Well I’m not fat anymore and instead I am a writer. Instead I want to send a message to the world that this kind of thinking is wrong and hurting people.
Big shout out to all the opera singers here! I don’t sing opera, but I’m a big fan and have been since my teens. I well remember the time when I was sixteen and my parents got me an orchestra seat at the San Francisco Opera to see a production of Norma starring the statuesque and stately Dame Joan Sutherland and the ever-fabulous, beer barrel shaped Marilyn Horne.
Yeah, other singers came and went on the stage. I think I speak for pretty much the whole audience (minus best buds and SOs of the other singers) when I say probably none of us remember a single one of them. We just kept waiting for those two amazing divas to delight our ears and wring every ounce of emotion through our entire circulatory systems.
I’ve seen a lot of operas, heard a lot of brilliant singers, and enjoyed the hell out of both. But that night? That was something special.
It’s horrible to note that both of these astonishingly talented women would have difficulty getting a concert date if they were starting out now. I don’t go to the opera (or any musical performance) to see a pin up model. I go to hear the music. Thin is fine. Nothing wrong with thin, certainly, and if thin can back it up with the voice, that’s great. Nothing wrong with blonde, either, or with curves in the places Playboy prizes. But if I go to hear a singer, I want to hear good singing. I don’t care if it’s death metal or grand opera, good voices are good voices. Bad voices are bad voices. And the funny thing is, each kind can come in any size or shape of body.
Two visually fat actresses are seen on the red carpet and have managed to become popular instead of shunned and so this is a dangerous health trend.
We have three talented singers who have publicly expressed content with their bigger bodies (four if you count Beth Ditto) and so this is a dangerous health trend.
That makes six women. I can see why the writers of these articles believe there is an obesity epidemic in the entertainment industry.
Whatever these idiots are smoking, it needs to be taken away from them. It’s not a trend, it’s the exception to the rule. Hollywood and the musical industry have been suffering from what I call “Generic Hollywood Syndrome” for years now—where everyone looks like they could be related to each other because they appear to weigh the same, style their hair the same, and have the same facial features.
Hell, even a lot of the female pop singers sound alike today I can’t tell who’s who.
There’s a reason why audiences are gravitating to these ladies and it’s because while they’re still attractive, they look like women you could have lunch with. They look approachable not like everyone else in Hollywood. I can’t relate to Charlize Theron or Angelina Jolie, but I sure as hell can relate to Melissa McCarthy, Gabourey Sidibe and Kathy Bates as well. Not everyone buys into the Hollywood fantasy and they want a little “reality.” The entertainment community could stand to use a little more reality these days if you ask me.
We do sit with awful acting because that person is apparently “hot”- like Paris Hilton for example (so not hot in my opinion). She also had an atrocious few songs out before they bombed whereas Adelle is a best seller- soaring far beyond even Lady Gaga in sales (and talent). I read a while ago that Lady Gaga fans were furious the Adele is doing so well because she is “fat”. In my opinion Adele does not look fat at all, nor does Christina. I am 138lbs and look similar in size to Christina so I suppose I’m “fat” too despite being within “a healthy weight range”. It seems that these days healthy people are being labelled fat whilst girls starving themselves are being applauded. Ridiculous!
I don’t live in the UK. I’m an Australian and it’s exactly the same here, especially given that our country tends to follow the trends of the UK.
P.S and how is Victoria Beckham and those other underweight actresses not being lectures at for setting unhealthy trends??!!! It makes no sense! Not only does that trend hurt physically but it destroys girls mentally too!
I am a rotund singer, myself, and yes, I have lost roles because of my size. However part of the problem is not my size, it’s that there are not enough roles being written for real sized women! Many roles in musicals written specifically for larger girls portray downtrodden characters that perpetuate the stereotype. We have finally seen black actors and actresses playing roles other than slaves, isn’t it time we see roles for large women written as the really are, and not as we are perceived by “thin masses”? OK writers, I’ve given you your assignment, now GET BUSY! =D