I know very little about New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and from what I do know I have no interest in defending his politics. But back when he first ran for governor there was a nasty smear campaign from his opposition that essentially suggested that he was too fat to govern. Now that he is (I guess) a potential GOP presidential candidate, his size is back under scrutiny, thanks to articles like this condescending piece by Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post and this agonizingly self-righteous piece by Michael Kinsley at Bloomberg.com.
Well, maybe not quite. It may be a fantasy about witches, but Gregory Maguire's Wicked is transgressive, crushingly dark, and definitely not for kids. It also defined my adolescence.
"Every person, Aspergian or not, has something unique to offer the world," gushes the cover flap of Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian, the latest book by John Elder Robison and the follow-up to his best-selling memoir Look Me in the Eye: My Life With Asperger's. The magnanimity of this sentiment belies the actual content of the book, which is not a testament to the importance of neurodiversity but a kind of how-to manual on normativity. The sub-subtitle reads "With Practical Advice for Aspergians, Misfits, Families, and Teachers," but the book is clearly targeted primarily at people with Asperger syndrome, specifically young people. Robison supports his advice with numerous anecdotes, and frames his own experience as a kind of conversion narrative, a journey out of disability.
I'm working hard on my final papers! Well, right this instant, hardly working as I'm taking a break right at the cusp of my deadlines to do a little bit of spring cleaning.
For a while I had an account on Feministing, a community blog for young feminists. Participating on Feministing was a fun and formative way to edge my way into the feminist blogosphere, but I've drifted away from actively using the site. Because of that, and as part of an ongoing process toward generally tidying up my online presence, I am deleting my account. (For the same reasons that I deleted my Tumblr. It was fine for a while, but with the growing responsibilities of grad school and working life, it just became a bit of a time drain.)
I am very fond of a few of the posts I wrote for the Feministing community blog--a couple of which made it onto the main page--so I will be reprinting those pieces here. Starting with "How Wellesley College Turned Me Into a Liberal."
My presentation for the GCWS class the other week went quite well, I think. My classmate and I both have some background in fat studies and we were both really invested in the material, and I think that enthusiasm showed. We actually ended up with too much material pertaining to the portrayal of fat women in popular American film and we had to cut some of our discussion points.
THURSDAY - MARCH 22, 2012
MIT - 77 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, RM [4-270]
7PM
THE FAT BODY (IN)VISIBLE
Director: Margitte Kristjansson
What happens when women decide to love their bodies, no matter what size? This documentary short by fat acceptance activist Margitte Kristjansson features two of her fellow fat acceptance activists, Keena and Jessica, who share their experiences of being judged by society for their decision to not bow to how women are expected to look - including being harassed and discriminated against because of their size. Undeterred, they talk about how the fat acceptance movement has allowed them to become empowered through fashion, explore the intersection of race and fatness, and how they found community support through social media and blogs.
24 minutes. Discussion about the film and presentation on portrayals of fat women in film to follow.
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