Written September 2019 after James Corden responded to Bill Maher’s Fatphobic Remarks
I appreciate that people are sharing James Corden’s rebuttal of Bill Maher’s anti-fat tirade but I’m gonna go against the grain and say that it’s not helpful and not accurate.
During the late night segment, James tries to balance outrage over a lifetime of being fat shamed with humor, though most of the time the butt of the joke is him, and his weight.
He does right by calling fat shaming what it is — bullying — but I’m gonna go a step further and say that it’s really just another form of ignorant bigotry.
Based in culturally held “beliefs” that aren’t actually factually supported, James Corden perpetuates many myths about why people are fat. These beliefs lay the onus of obesity at the feet of the fat, thereby permitting future generations of shame.
He jokes about eating pints of ice cream alone. He jokes about the state of his heart. He casually talks about his literal lifetime legacy of dieting.
Here are some actual facts.
The brain maintains a control weight set point. The body attempts to return to it after weight gain or loss. It’s different for every person. Dieting doesn’t lower it. Extreme diets have actually been shown to make it go up.
There are demonstrable psychological effects to dieting, including depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal.
The correlation of health and BMI is 9%.
Nine. Percent.
That means that 91% of health problems have nothing at all to do with how fat or thin you are.
———
There is clear research showing that our continued acceptance of fat bigotry has yielded economic discrimination as well, perpetuating poverty and, don’t you know it, higher proclivity for obesity in all people, but particularly women.
Making jokes about our weight is just another thing fat people have had to do to deflect and hide and be safe in a society that tells us that fat acceptance is disgusting and medically irresponsible.
Even some of the nicest people I know strongly believe that being fat is medically dangerous and ergo justifies whatever degree of “tough love” they feel is necessary to promote weight loss in themselves and others.
It simply isn’t true. And if no one is spreading that messaging then assholes like Bill Maher will continue to promote fat bigotry and people like James Corden will be making a mockery of it.
Maybe James Corden is funny because he was fat and had to joke about it for his entire life, but making jokes about it now is doing a disservice to his cause.
For your edification, two scholarly articles that are just among many many dispelling the cultural beliefs that being fat is unhealthy and the by-products of fat bigotry.
Please. Spread the word.