Response to critical Ideas from Nault’s “Punk will never diet”
What stood out tremendously for me was Nault quoting LeBesco and how LeBesco relates fatness as a form of “coming out”. Nault also analyzes the relationship between fatness and queerness and how these affect the psychological interpretation of being “fat”. Nault states that both state of beings share a penchant for turning political issues into spectacles[1] which I personally support because of the extent in which society is neglecting both fat and homosexuals. These queer nations and fat liberation groups are putting the spotlight on issues that garner a genuine concern for the progress of society and indirectly highlight that society can often be a hypocrite for example, there is much emphasis on a curvier ideal figure however, the development of this phenomenon is yet to be seen.
What also intrigued me was LeBesco’s division of “coming out” as fat into 3 categories: the “out and about” (i.e those who “publicly acknowledge their own fatness and typically embrace it”); the “silent types” (i.e. those who “typically fail to acknowledge their size or the politics of fatness”); and “traitors” (those who “drastic dieting efforts or experience with weight-loss surgery front a devastatingly negative view of fatness”)[2]. It is very interesting seeing LeBesco viewing fat and simply dividing them into 3 catagories, as brutal as it sounds, this is often very true and offers a reflective analysis on how “fat” people in society often lives on a day to day basis. According to Nault, the ultimate goal is to achieve “embodied corpulence”[3] in which only the “out and about” are capable of achieving. The idea of being a fat person in society is mostly a psychological experience and one will only be true to themselves through acceptance; which is what most fat people lack in society and it is completely not their fault. Nault, in a sense, does blame society and especially the idea of majority and minority to the discrimination of fat people. The psychological state of human beings is to accept what is of abundance in the social realm, i.e. thin or less wide people, in this way, it is easy for fat people to be neglected or treated with disrespect because they are an anomaly to this trend.
Therefore, it is necessary for our society (especially today) to acknowledge the need to stop stereotyping and understand that there is no mold to which how humans beings are supposed to be.
[1] Curran Nault, “Punk will never diet. Beth Ditto and the (Queer) Revaluation of Fat. (NEO, 2009), 6.
[2] Curran Nault, LeBesco, “Revolting Bodies?”, in Punk will never diet. Beth Ditto and the (Queer) Revaluation of Fat. (NEO, 2009), 6.
[3] Curran Nault, “Punk will never diet. Beth Ditto and the (Queer) Revaluation of Fat. (NEO, 2009), 1.
Bibliography
Curran Nault, LeBesco, “Revolting Bodies?”, in Punk will never diet. Beth Ditto and the (Queer) Revaluation of Fat. (NEO, 2009).
Curran Nault, “Punk will never diet. Beth Ditto and the (Queer) Revaluation of Fat. (NEO, 2009).
