Ragen wrote about something that is very very pertinent to a lot of fat women (well, she often does that :) I am talking here about being invisible.
It is rather ironic. I mean, there are 69 inches of me, and a fair amount of body on them. How could I possibly be invisible?
And yet that is what seems to happen. Especially lately. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that I am growing older. In that case, it is sort of a relief. I really don't need people commenting on my body as if they have the right to do so.
But I have a theory about this. I think that because so many people use the net a lot, they tend to click on and register mentally either people who look like them or people they would like to look like. Confirmation of identity. And at least for now, older fat women just don't cut it.
In any case, in FatLand, no citizen goes unnoticed or turns invisible. DAMN IT, I wish FatLand really existed. Besides being fat in peace and harmony, people of all ages co-exist in harmony.
What a blessed idea and what a blessed realm...
I find this discussion fascinating. When I interviewed fat, older women for my dissertation, I noticed a common recurring theme for many of them: the sheer relief of not having to strive to meet beauty dictates. The older they got, the freer they got. It's both disgusting, of course, and also quite brilliant. Who knew there could be a bit of relief in being erased, in being invisible?
ReplyDeleteSo true. This is when they feel they will no longer be judged (and judged by simpletons, especially)>
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how in certain places, I am never invisible (places where I eat, places where many tourists are who snap the picture of the huge American), but when it comes to walking...I'm the one that has to move. I have been hit because I'm such a non-entity. I weigh somewhere in the 400-500 lb range. I really hard to not notice.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it feel strange,Linda? That is how I feel sometimes when I am walking. I mean, for goodness' sake, I am 5'9 and fat..come on! How can I be invisible? And how could you?
DeleteI'd like to think that one day this will change..then again, that is why I wrote FatLand and FatLand: The Early Days in the first place. They are in a way my written prayers that one day we won't have to worry about being invisible or non-entities.