#lindy west
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Chasing likability has been one of women's biggest setbacks, by design. I don't know that rejecting likability will get us anywhere, but I know that embracing it has gotten us nowhere.
"Witch" is something we call a woman who demands the benefit of the doubt, who speaks the truth, who punctures the con, who kills your joy if your joy is killing. A witch has power and power in women isn't likable, it's ugly, cartoonish. But to not assert our power—even if we fail—is to let them do it. This new truth telling, this witchcraft of ours, by definition cannot be likable. We cannot pander or wait for consensus; the world is too big and complicated and rigged. We are saying the things that people don't like, the only truly "edgy" things; that is the point.
Someone will always pop up to say, "You would be more effective if you were nicer." "You would have a more receptive audience if you adjusted your tone." "You catch more flies with honey." Well, I don't want flies. The most likable woman in the world is crawling with fucking flies.
-Lindy West, The Witches are Coming
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You can choose to be permeable, to be curious, to be the one that didn't die.
Lindy West, from "Obsolescence Is a Preventable Disease"
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From The Witches are Coming by Lindy West.
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(via (1) Pinterest)
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Charlie goes to his crusty bedroom and reads his precious Moby-Dick essay one more time while glugging from a two-liter bottle of bed-Pepsi. We get to hear his favorite part of the essay: “The whale doesn’t have any emotions, he’s just a poor big animal.” As a fat person who has actually read Moby-Dick, even the “boring chapters,” THAT IS NOT WHAT MOBY-DICK IS ABOUT OR WHAT MOBY DICK THE WHALE IS LIKE AT ALL. Obviously we’re supposed to draw some parallel between Moby Dick the actual whale and Charlie the human whale, but, like, why? What shallow fucking bullshit! Can you even map one on top of the other at all? Has anyone ever read Moby-Dick and thought, “wow, what a pathetic loser” about the whale? The ungraspable phantom of life himself???? Thin people don’t think of fat people as powerful and inscrutable phantoms—they’re absolutely positive they can scrute everything about us, our “everything” being CHEESY BUGLES! Hence this movie!!!!! Don’t talk about my favorite book, DARREN. I don’t come to your house and explain The Mystery Method wrong! Anyway, then Charlie uses his cursed rusty mobility aids to turn out the light and go to sleep. Spooky!
[...] How do fat suits work? Does Brendan Fraser have to wear individual little sausage tubes on each finger? I can’t stop thinking about how many awards the visual effects people (or whatever department makes fat suits) are going to win for this. It’s like if I got a Nobel Prize for drawing a mean picture of your grandma. Also, for the record, I know the fat suit was really expensive, but it looks weird! It doesn’t hang right! He looks like the mascot for an NBA team called the Wichita Big Pile of Raw Chicken. Hmm, if only there was a way to depict a fat person in a movie without an expensive flappy silicon slug bag!
While Charlie is in the bathroom crying (really), Thomas shows up again and Ellie introduces herself: “What’s more surprising—that a gay guy has a daughter, or that someone actually found his penis?” Wow, once again, thank you so much to Darren Aronofsky and playwright Samuel D. Hunter for spending TEN YEARS on this extremely humanizing screenplay! I feel seen, unlike my own genitals!!!
Charlie is so moved that he goes, “You wrote these amazing, honest things… You’ve all been so honest with me. I just want to be honest with you too.” And then he TURNS ON HIS WEBCAM and SHOWS THEM HIS HUGE FACE AND BODY! All the students lose it and they’re grimacing and cowering before him and taking pictures of the screen, LOL, even though literally it just looks like a regular guy???????? It’s a Zoom square! It looks like a close-up of a guy’s face! No one would have any reaction to this! If there’s one thing this movie does perfectly, it’s trick thin people into telling on themselves about how uncomfortable they are around fat people!
Then Liz comes back and reveals that, LMAO, what happened to Alan is that he starved himself to death (kind of), and that’s why now Charlie has to EAT himself to death. Wooooooow, who wrote that brilliant juxtaposition? Grover??? Is this supposed to be profound? It's less nuanced than when people say “the terrorists hate our freedom”! Actually, you know what? This detail with Alan is the central problem with this entire movie: Being thin is not the opposite of being fat!!!!!!!! STARVING IS NOT THE OPPOSITE OF EATING. Having a body is a complex state! [...] Then they clarify that actually Alan starved himself ALMOST to death and then jumped off a bridge. Jumping! The most thin-privilege way to die!
sorrynotsorry bout all the whale poasting but this review by lindy west was very cathartic for me! its a shitty movie and extremely triggering not just for fat people but anyone with any sort of complicated feelings around food and your own body tbh. so im sharing it here. butt news has a free subscription and lindy west is hilarious so. go read it and maybe read some other reviews too
#i watched it yesterday and was very dismissive of it but it really hit close to home and made me feel and think some not so nice things#so thank you lindy west as always#fatphobia tw#the whale#lindy west#&
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For the fanfic writers ask- would you mind answering R: Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?
R. Which writers (fanfic or otherwise) do you consider the biggest influence on you and your writing?
This is a really interesting question! For writing outside fandom, I would say bell hooks (whose mind just continually amazed and challenged me, and whose writing was both lyrical and accessible, I wish she were still with us), Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar is wickedly funny even as it is heartbreaking), Sandra Cisneros (her poetry is funny and powerful and beautiful and truthful all at once), and various other poets or essay writers (Naomi Shihab Nye, Elizabeth Bishop, Adrienne Maree Brown, Lindy West). Anne Lamott has great advice about how to get out of your own damn way for writing, though ironically I am not a fan of her novels. My beloved Carrie Fisher sort of straddles the fandom and non-fandom worlds, and I’ve enjoyed her novels but her memoirs and essays are the things that have most influenced me.
For fandom writers, I’m going to start with some commercial Star Wars writers, because I think writing in the GFFA is sort of a different beast. Of the commercial writers, I especially love Claudia Gray (big fan of Leia, Princess of Alderaan, less so of Bloodline though it’s still well-written), Martha Wells (who really has a great sense of Leia’s character), and Rebecca Roanhorse (Resistance Reborn is SO GOOD, somehow managing to make the events of The Last Jedi make any kind of narrative sense as well as bringing some characters I LOVED back in believable and in-character ways). Aaron Allston’s X-Wing novels helped me get to know the Rogues and the Wraiths, and really do this great mix of action and character arcs that I strive for when I’m writing fic — he creates worlds that are so full and the characters feel fully realized too.
I feel like just about everyone who writes and shares HanLeia fanfic has influenced me and my writing in some way. I joined Tumblr so I could read more of @madame-alexandra ‘s snippets and fics on a regular basis. Bouncing ideas around with folks like @otterandterrier, @organanation, @graciecatfamilyband, @yoyomarules, @soloorganaas, and others has been incredibly influential. I blame @drinkupthesunrise (in the most grateful possible way) for my affection for Wedge Antilles and the Rogues, and for my Luke/Wedge shipping. Reading @chancecraz’s fics has caused me to think about Leia and the galaxy in brand new ways (and also to cry about droids damnit), and introduced me to @this-acuteneurosis’s Don’t Look Back series which shows what one can do with a mix of politics and relationships and the Force and so much more in the GFFA. And I’m not kidding about other folks influencing me — every time I read a different person’s perspective on the Rebellion, or on Leia’s state of mind, or on how Han’s past has influenced his approach to life, or Han and Leia’s interactions, or how Luke fits into everything, or different takes on our heroes’ sexuality or gender identity, or mental health, or what would happen IF, I feel like I have a better sense of who these characters are to me, and what’s possible.
Wow, that was long-winded. Thank you for your patience, and for the ask!
Fanfic writer ask meme
#ask lajulie#fanfic writer ask meme#writing influences#writing#bell hooks#sylvia plath#sandra cisneros#naomi shihab nye#elizabeth bishop#adrienne maree brown#lindy west#claudia gray#martha wells#rebecca roanhorse#aaron allston#madame-alexandra#otterandterrier#organanation#graciecatfamilyband#yoyomarules#soloorganaas#drinkupthesunrise#chancecraz#this acuteneurosis#anne lamott#carrie fisher#whew that was a lot#thank you for the ask!#diplomaticprincess
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I’ve started reading Lindy West’s book ‘Shrill’, and I am loving it. She’s hilarious and sharp and fierce.
In the book she talks about working as a journalist for The Stranger, Dan Savage’s paper. She talks about how Dan was a good boss, but abrupt and not big on praise, and how she loved working for the paper.
Unfortunately, Dan, at that time in the early to mid aughts, was extremely fatphobic. He regularly wrote columns condemning fat people for being lazy, unhealthy and a drain on public resources. Lindy began striking back at him (mostly respectfully) in answering columns, and the one that I’ve transcribed below was incredible. He eventually changed his tune, and she says nowadays he’s far more positive about fat people. I like to think Lindy’s words helped open his eyes.
In the passage below, she responds to a column he published about being at a water park in the mid west, and how “unsightly” people’s fat rolls were in their swimsuits. It’s not a nice column, so I won’t quote more of it than that, but this is Lindy’s response. I did my very best to transpose her words directly from the audio book I have, but the italicizing and bolding are mine.
“Hello, I am fat.”
This is my body. Over there. See it. I lived in my body my whole life. I have wanted to change this body my whole life. I have never wanted anything as much as I have wanted a new body. I am aware every day that other people find my body disgusting. I always thought that some day, when I finally stopped failing, I will become smaller, and when I become smaller, literally everything will get better. I’ve heard it gets better… My life can begin. I’ll get the clothes that I want. The job that I want. The love that I want. It’ll be great! Think how great it’ll be to buy some pants or whatever. At J. Crew. Aw man. Pants! Instead, my body stays the same.
There is not a fat person on earth who hasn’t lived this way. Clearly, this is a terrible way to exist. Also, strangely enough, it did not cause me to become thin. So I do not believe any of it anymore, because fuck it, very much.
This is my body, it is MINE. I’m not ashamed of it in any way. In fact, I love everything about it. Men find it attractive. Clothes look awesome on it. My brain rides around in it all day and comes up with funny jokes. Also, I don’t have to justify its awesomeness, attractiveness, healthiness or usefulness to anyone, because it is MINE. NOT YOURS.
*Footnote: I’ve noticed that a lot of people have trouble with the basic definition of fat acceptance. They wanna argue and nitpick about calories and cardio and insurance and health and on and on and on, and if you are one of those people, wallowing in confusion, fret no more. I can sum it up for you in one easy to remember phrase. GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU FUCKING WEIRDO! Print it. Laminate it. Be it.
I’m not going to spend a bunch of time blogging about fat acceptance here, because other writers have already done it much more eloquently, thoroughly and radically than I ever could. But I do feel obligated to try to explain what this all means.
I get that you think you’re actually helping people and society by contributing to the fucking Alp of shame that crushes every fat person, every day of their lives. The same shame that makes it a radical act to post a picture of my body, and tell you how much it weighs. But you are not helping. Shame doesn’t work. Diets don’t work.
Footnote: Fatphobes love to hold this assertion up, of how delusional and intractable fat activists are. ‘Calories in, calories out’ they say. ‘Ever heard of thermodynamics?’. ‘Uuuh I’ve never seen a fat person in a concentration camp. High five, Trevor.’
Leaving aside the barbarism of suggesting, however obliquely, that well, at least concentration camp victims weren’t fat. No fat activist who says ‘Diets don’t work’ is suggesting that you cannot starve a fat person to a thin death. Rather, we’re referencing the rigorously vetted academic conclusion that traditional diets, the kind that are foisted upon fat people as penance and cure-alls, and our entrance exam for humanity, fail 95% of the time. Whether fat people fail to lose weight due to simple laziness and moral torpor, or because of a more complex web of personal, cultural and medical factors, those numbers are still real. Those fat people still exist. Pushing diet culture, as a cure for fatness does nothing but perpetuate the emotional and economic exploitation of fat people. Shame is a tool of oppression. Not change. Fat people are already ashamed. It’s taken care of. No further manpower needed on the shame front. Thanks.
I’m not concerned with whether or not fat people can change their bodies through self discipline and ‘choices’. Pretty much all of them have tried already. A couple of them have succeeded. Whatever. My question is. What if they try and try and try, and still fail? What if they are still fat? What if they are fat forever? What do you do with them then? Do you really want millions of teenage girls to feel like they’re trapped in unsightly lard prisons that are ruining their lives? And on top of that it’s because of their own moral failure? And on top of that, they are ruining America with the terribly expensive diabetes they don’t even have yet?
You know what’s shameful? A complete lack of empathy. And if you really claim to still be confused. ‘Nuh uh, I never said anything guys. Seriously!’ There can be no misunderstanding shit like this: ‘I am thoroughly annoyed at having my tame statements of fact, being heavy is a health risk, rolls of exposed flesh are unsightly’ characterized as hate speech’. (she is quoting Dan Savage’s response to her last letter here).
Ha! 1. “Rolls of exposed flesh are unsightly” is in no way a tame statement of fact. It’s not a fact at all. It’s an incredibly cruel, subjective opinion that reinforces destructive, paternalistic, oppressive beauty ideals.
Footnote: In his response to this post, Dan took me to task for cherry picking that quote, explaining that he wasn’t mocking the flesh rolls of fat people specifically. He was mocking the flesh rolls of all women who wear low rise jeans without having the correct bodies for it.
Oh, OK, FYI, feminism isn’t super jazzed about men policing women’s clothing choices either. Also, it was totally about fat people you liar.
I am not unsightly. No one deserves to be told that they’re unsightly. But this is what’s behind this entire thing. It’s not about health, it’s about eww you think fat people are icky. Ew. A fat person might touch you on a plane, with their fat. EW. Coincidentally, that’s the same feeling that drives anti-gay bigots, no matter what excuses they drum up about family values, and yes, health. It’s all ‘ew’. And sorry, I reject your ‘ew’.
2. You are not concerned about my health. Because if you were concerned about my health, you would also be concerned about my mental health. Which has spent the past 28 years, being slowly eroded by statements like the above. Also, you don’t know anything about my health. You do happen to be the boss of me, but you are not the doctor of me. You have no idea what I eat. How much I exercise, what my blood pressure is or whether or not I’m going to get diabetes. Not that any of that matters, because it is entirely none of your business.
3. But but but my insurance premiums!
Bullshit! You live in a society with other people. I don’t have kids, but I pay taxes that fund schools. The idea that we can somehow escape affecting each other is deeply conservative. Barbarous even. Is that really what you’re going for? Good old fashioned American individualism? Please.
4. But most importantly, I reject this entire framework. I don’t give a shit what causes anyone’s fatness. It’s irrelevant, and it’s none of my business. I’m not making excuses, because I have nothing to excuse. I reject the notion that thinness is the goal. That thin equals better. That I am an unfinished thing, and that my life can really start when I lose wait. That then I’ll be a real person, and have finally succeeded as a woman. I am not going to waste another second of my life thinking about this. I don’t want to have another fucking conversation with another fucking woman, about what she’s eating, or not eating or regrets eating, or pretends to not regret eating to mask the regret. Oops. I just yawned to death.
If you really want change to happen, if you really wanna help fat people, you need to understand that shaming an already shamed population is…well… shameful. Do you know what happened as soon as I rejected all this shit and fell in unconditional lurve with my entire body? I started losing weight, immediately. Well la dee fucking da.
Footnote: If I had to do it over again I’d write this last part more clearly, because I think the way it stands undermines my point a bit. What I was trying to say was that if anti-fat crusaders really want what they claim to want, for fat people to be ‘healthy’, they should be on the front lines of size acceptance and fat empowerment. There’s hard science to back this up. Shame contributes measurably to weight gain, not weight loss. Loving yourself is not antithetical to health, it is intrinsic to health. You can’t take good care of a thing you hate.
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Lindy West on the Daily Show, November 29, 2018
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Blog post touching on Ozempic, Lindy West, and the Make Me Smart podcast.
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Reading Lindy West’s six-year-old essay collection “Shrill,” I was encouraged how some things have gotten better and saddened how some things have stayed the same. There’s always going to be work to do to defend everyone’s humanity and dignity.
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It was interesting to observe the renewed national conversation about Bundy in light of another national obsession incubating at the time: the early stirrings of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Watching otherwise rational human beings rhapsodize about Bundy's "charm" and "brilliance" while furrowing their brows over Elizabeth Warren's dubious "likability" creates a particularly American kind of whiplash. The prevailing Bundy narrative has always hammered away at how "handsome" and "charismatic" the man was, but one would think that in 2019—if #MeToo brownshirts truly have the death grip on pop culture and justice that the whingeing class claims we do—someone might have red-flagged the canonization of a shitty rapist failure who murdered at least thirty women?
-Lindy West, The Witches are Coming
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I love this world, and I aim to keep it.
Lindy West, from "The World Is Good and Worth Fighting For"
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We're all building our world, right now, in real time. Let's build it better.
Shrill by Lindy West
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I wish women didn't have to rip our pasts open and show you everything and let you ogle our pain for you to believe us.
Lindy West
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The Whale is not a masterpiece – it’s a joyless, harmful fantasy of fat squalor
Maybe it’s unfair to use one independent film as the barometer for an entire society’s attitude toward fat people; maybe it’s a straw man argument to accuse one fat character of being a stand-in for all fat people. But as a professional fat person I can tell you that people in general are incapable of seeing any fat person as an individual, and as a professional film critic I can tell you that if The Whale didn’t reflect and validate society’s real opinion of fat people, there’s no way society would like The Whale this much. There’s very little entertainment in it. It is not fun or funny or sweet or deep or beautifully written or illuminating. It sucks to watch and it is very, very silly.
No, people respond positively to The Whale because it confirms their biases about what fat people are like (gross, sad) and why fat people are fat (trauma, munchies) and allows them to feel benevolent yet superior. It’s a basic dopamine hit, reifying thin people’s place at the top of the social hierarchy. Look at me, Mom! I’m doing empathy on the big greasy monsters! Thin people hate us so much that this is what it looks like when they’re trying to like us.
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hermann abt newt
#newmann#hermann gottlieb#newton geiszler#pacific rim#bonebabble#author is lindy west from The Witches are Coming#replace trumpet with like kaiju science
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