Mickey, being kind of a dick.
First, I’d like to give a shout-out and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my girl Heather “Cat” Harris! Right now, we’re getting ready to celebrate by going to Disneyland! It’ll be my first trip to Disney, and I’m SO EXCITED! 
But before I go…yesterday, I had a huge response to my post, “The Last Acceptable Prejudice.” I’m so glad that so many people got so much out of it and shared it around the interwebz to start what is, in my opinion, a really important conversation about fat shaming. That’s why I put writing into the world – not only to communicate ideas myself, but to help others do the same.
However, a genderqueer friend of mine gave me some quality food for thought yesterday when zhe brought up the fact that the “last acceptable prejudice” isn’t against fat people, but against transgender people. I thought this was really interesting.
While I have my reasons ultimately disagreeing with that – ones I will put into a more substantive post later, I’m curious as to what you all have to say about it. So, by all means, comment below! Is the last acceptable prejudice against transgender people? I think this is an important conversation, too, and I’d love to include all of you in that discussion.
Meanwhile, I’m off to Disneyland! I’ll tell Mickey and Minnie you all say hello.
I don’t think we’ve reached a point where any prejudice can be referred to as being “the last acceptable prejudice.” Prejudice, especially against women, is alive and well and stronger than ever. People may now pretend that it’s not “acceptable” but, deep down, it’s still condoned, expected, and allowed.
@ Lisa makes a good point; there are still plenty of cultures where particular prejudices are completely acceptable… and those differ. Just last night, another writing friend of mine was telling me that, in Iran, the government would pay for sex changes to men or women to prevent them from being gay. Gay = bad, Transgendered = ok? Enough to make your head spin.
However, if we specify among the people who are actively seeking to be aware of their privilege and combat as many forms of prejudice as possible – then I do think “fat” is still a more acceptable prejudice. This is not to say that there isn’t still an awful lot of prejudice against transgendered folk – because there is. Even among my colleagues in the queer and feminist communities, I see it and hear about it. Goddess weekends open only to women born women, debates on who gets to use what bathroom.
But among them all, I still hear “Did you lose weight?” as a default, automatic compliment. That Rainbow-themed T-shirt only goes up to a size XL… and don’t even try to get it in a women’s cut “XL” because that won’t fit over my thigh. You still get uncomfortable or scathing looks when you are unintentionally forced into someone else’s personal space because the chairs are locked in place and sized for smaller folk than I… and quite honestly, more than half the people at these gatherings.
In the fights for equal rights for all, we’re no where near the end to say the general culture – even the general American culture – finds such behaviors and prejudice properly unacceptable. However, there are definite prejudices that are more “ok” to condone than others. I know transgender folk are high on that list.
But there is nothing more pervasive in our culture than “fat hating.” It’s all over popular media, advertising, and the fabric of our culture. A day might go by with the majority of the population being able to ignore transgender issues, which is problematic, but you’d be hard pressed to find a day go by that the general public isn’t told how much being fat sucks and how bad and deserving of scorn it is to be fat.
Thanks for making the space for this conversation, Teresa!