Kate Harding in Richard Roeper's Column
Regarding the tragic shootings this past weekend at a Tinley Park, IL Lane Bryant: Shapely Prose (which is the hub for discussion about it) got written up in Richard Roeper's Chicago Sun-Times column.
On Chicago writer Katie [sic] Harding's informative, enlightening Shapely Prose Web site ("I blog about fat acceptance"), the discussion turned to the possibility that Lane Bryant wasn't a random target.
"I know a lot of our readers have been [or are] LB employees, and many more are customers," wrote Harding. "This hits awfully close to home."
The consensus of opinion on the discussion thread was that the killer was not targeting Lane Bryant employees and customers specifically because it's a store for plus-size women -- but that it would even come up on a message board like that tells us just how much many larger people out there feel defined by their size.
Maybe it's because WE define them by their size.
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Posted by paul on February 4, 2008
Oh boy, I think we all really need to pay attention to our comments these days. Not that we aren't all civil and objective, above all. It's just the difference between talking in a private room with family members, and then turning your head and realizing there are TV cameras behind you.
It appears the Fatosphere is getting a lot of media attention. Of course, I'm reasonably new to the Fatosphere, so perhaps this has been happening for a while.
******
Not only will I eat your baloney, I'll bust it, too.
When I sent my mom the link to the NY Times article on the fatosphere and told her I was going to be on the M & J Show, she said "Why is fat suddenly in the news these days?"
I told her that fat has always been in the news, only the media has only featured doctors and obesity researchers. What has changed is that they're finally allowing us - the other side - to also share our perspectives and experiences.
I thought Roeper's comments were spot-on and very much appreciated. I encourage everyone to send him a note of thanks.
Very sensitively written. I already liked Richard Roeper anyway.
I didn't want to think this atrocity was targeting people becasue of their size, but that thought did cross my mind.
This Richard Roeper?
Yes, that Richard Roeper.
I was quite surprised. Back in the day - years ago - I liked Roeper. But that appreciation soured quickly.
I was shocked to see it, too. I heard I was in Richard Roeper's column, and my heart leapt into my mouth. Maybe he learned something from the Dove brouhaha?
Or maybe I'm just cool as long as I don't hang out near the Sun-Times building in my underwear. (Which scuttles my Friday night plans, but oh well.)
I'm really pleased that he represented the conversation over at SP honestly, instead of just quoting the couple commenters who wondered if the shooting was fat-related. There was quite the opportunity there for a fat-hating journalist to make fun of the crazy, paranoid fatties. So I'm seriously impressed that he took the high road.
Well...it sounds to me like he's been reading and learning since the Dove thing. He said Shapely Prose was enlightening; and it's just possible that he has indeed been enlightened. The tone of the remark that "WE define them by their size" was telling. As in, he knows he does that, and he's rather disgusted about that fact. That maybe, just maybe, he's sick of defining people by their weight.
I could be completely wrong, but hopefully not
Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley
Oh, wow. I didn't realize he was that Richard Roeper. I'm not a big Sun-Times reader. Maybe he's evolving.
I had totally forgotten the Dove thing! Well, a person can change a lot in three years. Good for him, and great for Kate!
(And he quoted ME!)
I immediately thought of his Dove rant when I read Roeper's column today. I was actually expecting some snide remark, but was (pleasantly) surprised!
Didn't know about those other Roeper comments...wow...if he's really turning his shniz around, I'm glad to support that. Often when people are assholes like that, pride gets in the way of them doing any real self-evaluation. I'm intrigued.
An interesting turnaround; maybe there's hope for Dan Savage yet