# Attention whore or social commentator (Obese photographer)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251 "2013-05-13T18:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/161 "2013-05-17T00:48:20Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > Not in the mood to trade snark with you, but I’ll wager that ordinary and unattractive people are far more likely to\* crave\* being noticed than to worry about being stared at too much or too often. That’s a weird thing to think. Why would you assume that? > [@](#): > > Ordinary people in plain dress just don’t attract attention unless or until they stop in the middle of a busy sidewalk and pose for a camera. You keep saying this, but what in the world makes you so sure? You are essentially begging the question. > [@](#): > > So Haley’s biggest problem is looking ordinary and creating an artificial environment to get attention. She’s not especially fat, she’s not particularly ugly, she’s just… plain. For heaven’s sake, she’s only gotten called fat and ugly about a dozen times in this thread alone. I’m not really sure what to say to that. > [@](#): > > If she weren’t posing and obstructing traffic, she wouldn’t really attract much notice at all, so she hires fake paparazzi, publishes a blog, goes after media coverage, and then complains that people are staring at her. The name of her study/art piece/editorial should be “Please look at me!!” I see no reason to think any of these photographs are faked or staged. From whence comes this firm conviction of yours? > [@](#): > > Yo! Thick black girls, **colander** is calling you out. Any takers? It’s a relevant piece of information about a sociological phenomenon that is robust and fairly well studied, although I get the feeling that it was news to you. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/162 "2013-05-17T00:53:24Z")
> [@colander](#): > > I see no reason to think any of these photographs are faked or staged. From whence comes this firm conviction of yours? C’mon. She’s stopping traffic and asked someone to train a camera on her. If she had used a hidden camera, a microphone, and oh, I don’t know, maybe walked with the traffic and didn’t freeze in the middle of a busy sidewalk, didn’t root through her pics searching for “evidence” to back up her complaint… she might have a valid study in human behavior. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/163 "2013-05-17T00:58:23Z")
I am certain that if someone says “Move your fat ass” she only hears 'fat." As she only started to notice this after she put on weight, I am sure she was a fatty-shamer when she was thin. She is projecting like a mother. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/164 "2013-05-17T01:12:52Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > C’mon. She’s stopping traffic and asked someone to train a camera on her. If she had used a hidden camera, a microphone, and oh, I don’t know, maybe walked with the traffic and didn’t freeze in the middle of a busy sidewalk, didn’t root through her pics searching for “evidence” to back up her complaint… she might have a valid study in human behavior. Here’s the thing, though. It’s not supposed to be a study any more than Starry Night is supposed to be an astronomical survey. It’s _art photography_. Part of the idea behind not just this particular piece but also every piece of art photography created prior to the invention of hidable cameras is that, yes, knowledge that people are being recorded changes how people act. Maybe you think that means that photography is inherently incapable of invoking any socially relevant artistic statements, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m qualified to enter an opinion on that because it’s not an area of study I am very familiar with. As far as studies and human behavior, though, her thesis of stigma is not exactly a controversial one in the sociological literature, so I’m frankly struggling to understand your staunch insistence that all everyday indications of said stigma reported by the stigmatized are in fact imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/165 "2013-05-17T01:22:19Z")
> [@colander](#): > > Here’s the thing, though. It’s not supposed to be a study any more than Starry Night is supposed to be an astronomical survey. It’s _art photography_. Part of the idea behind not just this particular piece but also every piece of art photography created prior to the invention of hidable cameras is that, yes, knowledge that people are being recorded changes how people act. Maybe you think that means that photography is inherently incapable of invoking any socially relevant artistic statements, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m qualified to enter an opinion on that because it’s not an area of study I am very familiar with. Say I impede traffic while yelling “Look at me!!” and having a second party record the annoyed expressions of strangers. Of course they’re puzzled and annoyed; that doesn’t say shit about how I’m perceived; it speaks to how people who behave in a manner contrary to the normal workaday crowd are perceived. Art it ain’t; at best it’s a social experiment with results admittedly skewed to fit her agenda. In other words: it’s totally contrived and in my opinion, self-serving. She seems to want attention that she wouldn’t otherwise get if she’d just keep on keeping on while looking ordinary. > [@colander](#): > > As far as studies and human behavior, though, her thesis of stigma is not exactly a controversial one in the sociological literature, so I’m frankly struggling to understand your staunch insistence that all everyday indications of said stigma reported by the stigmatized are in fact imaginary. Nah, I acknowledged that overweight women catch shade in post #150. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/166 "2013-05-17T01:24:36Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I am certain that if someone says “Move your fat ass” she only hears 'fat." > > As she only started to notice this after she put on weight, I am sure she was a fatty-shamer when she was thin. She is projecting like a mother. Yes. I also heard she fisted and ate the Lindberg baby after using her thunderous, reeking buttcheeks to travel through time. Also, she poisoned Karen Silkwood and the Hindenburg only exploded because she farted onto it. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/167 "2013-05-17T01:38:10Z")
> [@Troppus](#): > > She seems to want attention that she wouldn’t otherwise get if she’d just keep on keeping on while looking ordinary. Yes, you have vehemently asserted that many times, but you haven’t given me any reason to believe that’s so. How about a study from you backing up your assertion that ugly fat people don’t get any more grimaces and shit-stares from strangers than non-ugly, non-fats do after “confidence and poise” are equalized? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/168 "2013-05-17T01:48:52Z")
> [@colander](#): > > I see no reason to think any of these photographs are faked or staged. From whence comes this firm conviction of yours? In the article and the blog she admits to setting up the shots by having a prop or “something to do” and positioning her photographer in a certain spot. Then, she acts out of character for the locale to elicit reaction. These shots are absolutely “staged”. Fake, no. Staged, yes, and then sorted, selected, and labeled by the artist according to her exact criteria. She doesn’t leave it up to the viewer to determine what is going on in the photos. Instead, she tells us what we are supposed to see. That the majority of us don’t see it says she failed in her attempt at social commentary via art. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/169 "2013-05-17T01:49:34Z")
Sure, if you can show me where I made that claim. (In response to 167) ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/170 "2013-05-17T01:53:04Z")
> [@colander](#): > > Incidentally: did you know that in America, black women are socially penalized [considerably less](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11482-011-9160-8) for being overweight than are their white counterparts? This effect is seen for both black and non-black observers, although it is of considerably greater magnitude when the observer is black. :eek:wow, did you just go there? ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/171 "2013-05-17T01:57:35Z")
interesting article: Top 10 Countries Celebrating Female Obesity > **[Top 10 Countries Celebrating Female Obesity](https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-countries-celebrating-female-obesity.php)** > > Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide:  According to a 2011 World Health Organization study, 1 in 9 people are obese and the trend is ever-expanding.  Despite a myriad of concomitant health concerns, excessive fatness continues... ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/172 "2013-05-17T02:13:19Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Being fat gets a lot taken away from it if you stand up straight, dress flatteringly, smile, look in people’s eyes, and have confidence. I have been wondering for quite some time. What makes people love confidence so much? I notice this a lot - people always preaching about, “Oh how important it is to be confident,” mostly on the Internet. > [@April\_R](#): > > When she gets back home to Memphis she probably doesn’t get the same reaction. We have plenty of overweight people here. It ain’t no big thang. [In 2007 we were the fattest city in > America.](http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/14/health-obesity-cities-forbeslife-cx_rr_1114obese_slide_2.html?thisspeed=20000) > [@April\_R](#): > > If anyone is interested, it is worth a visit if in Memphis. Half price donuts after 11:00 pm. > [Gibson's Donuts | Memphis TN](https://www.facebook.com/gibsonsdonuts) And here we have a possible piece of an explanation for this interesting statistic. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/173 "2013-05-17T02:18:57Z")
Hey now, don’t blame the donuts. Blame me for shoving their delicious goodness in my mouth hole. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/174 "2013-05-17T02:30:32Z")
> [@colander](#): > > …the Hindenburg only exploded because she farted onto it. That rumor is patently false for several reasons. First and foremost, with our current level of technology time travel is practically, if not theoretically, impossible. There is no way that Morris would have been able to make the trip back to 1937 to destroy the Hindenburg. This fact also raises the question of motive. Even if time travel were possible, why would Morris expend such an enormous effort to return to the 1930s to commit an act of terrorism? I fail to see how a random act of wanton destruction decades in the past could bolster her support for the socially marginalized in today’s society. Secondly, merely farting on a dirigible would not be enough to cause the hydrogen inside to combust. True, there could be some danger if she used a cigarette lighter in order to produce a “blue angel”. However the logistics of climbing the mooring mast and getting close enough to the Hindenburg’s outside shell, and then having her “blue angel” somehow penetrate the airship’s thick and specially-treated skin, seem highly improbable. Furthermore, as Morris is by her own admission somewhat less that spry, and as she seems to attract undo attention to herself, I doubt very much that she would have been able to get past the guards at the base of the mooring mast in the first place. Thirdly, although the exact cause of the fire is still not known to this day, the conclusion drawn by both the German and American investigations was that sabotage was not a factor. Had such an ostentatious, gassy, time-travelling saboteur arrived from the future (no doubt with photographer and camera in tow) I’m sure that her presence would have been noted. Not being an expert on these subjects, I have no idea about your other two accusations regarding Silkwood and the Lindbergh baby, but I also suspect they are fallacious (mostly vis-à-vis the impossibility of time travel). You should think twice before posting such nonsense on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/175 "2013-05-17T02:31:33Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > I have been wondering for quite some time. What makes people love confidence so much? I notice this a lot - people always preaching about, “Oh how important it is to be confident,” mostly on the Internet. The world is such a hard, scary, nerve-wracking, soul-sucking place. Being scared is boringly normal. It’s almost to be expected. Being scared but doing it anyway, with your head held up high? That’s extraordinary. It’s not easy to pull off. So when you encounter someone who exudes confidence, it’s tough not to admire them. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/176 "2013-05-17T02:52:17Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > In the article and the blog she admits to setting up the shots by having a prop or “something to do” and positioning her photographer in a certain spot. Then, she acts out of character for the locale to elicit reaction. These shots are absolutely “staged”. > Fake, no. Staged, yes, and then sorted, selected, and labeled by the artist according to her exact criteria. She doesn’t leave it up to the viewer to determine what is going on in the photos. Instead, she tells us what we are supposed to see. That the majority of us don’t see it says she failed in her attempt at social commentary via art. By that definition, all art is staged. _All of it._ I’m… I’m so sorry. Would you like a tissue? (SPOILER: The tissue is actually a slice of Virginia Honey Ham) ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/177 "2013-05-17T03:13:55Z")
> [@colander](#): > > By that definition, all art is staged. _All of it._ > > I’m… > > I’m so sorry. Actually, no. I begin to think your “acrid, contentious discussion” over this woman and her project has caused you to lose track of what exactly you’re arguing, and your posts have trended toward hyperbole. At this point you may as well eat the ham. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/178 "2013-05-17T03:14:06Z")
> [@colander](#): > > “Trolling,” huh? A funny accusation. I have seen many of the posters in this very thread accused of it at some time or another. It’s an insult, not an argument. But, in this case, the trolling is very relevant. Look at this shot. She is clearly trolling for a specific response. I am a big mama. Seriously. But I like to swing. I can do it without looking like an awkward alien from another planet, and so can she. But if she does, she won’t get the reaction she wants from the crowd, because Americans are used to seeing fat asses, and she just isn’t fat enough to register much of a response. There are women out there who are either so fat, or so awkwardly built (people really do snooze on how much body shape matters. I would bet you dollars to donuts that part of the reason your black women have higher self esteems with higher weights has something to do with the way many black women are shaped, but I could be pulling that out of my ass, so let’s get back on track), there are women who are so fat or weirdly built that they get constant stares and mockery. But this woman is undermining their valid gripes by hamming up the glazed eyes, deadpan, thousand yard stare, frozen poses… It would have been better if she had just chosen a larger model, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/179 "2013-05-17T03:33:27Z")
> [@colander](#): > > By that definition, all art is staged. _All of it._ > > I’m… > > I’m so sorry. > > Would you like a tissue? (SPOILER: The tissue is actually a slice of Virginia Honey Ham) why are you so condescending? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251/180 "2013-05-17T03:42:09Z")
I’m sorry guys, I didn’t link the [shot](http://haleymorriscafiero.com/images/photos/wait-watchers/swing-set.jpg). Look at it. Just look at it and tell me that woman isn’t hamming it UP for a response. There is no way possible she is trying to portray a slice of life in the day of a fat girl just minding her business. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-whore-or-social-commentator-obese-photographer/658251.md?page=10)