I haven’t been following American Idol but in looking at news items with pics of the contestants I was surprised by the huge size of the booted contestant. She was so obese her picture was striking.
Over the years there have been several hugely fat and quite successful black singing artists, but short of ensembles or groups with one fat member (like Carnie Wilson who had bariatric surgery) I can’t think of one hugely fat white singing artist.
Why is it OK for black artists to be fat and successful, but not white artists?
Which races are happier with their bodies?
Research often indicates that body image disturbance, particularly with regard to thinness ideals, is more of a problem for white women. Some research concludes that black women and adolescents are, overall, more satisfied with their bodies than are their white counterparts. Although many black women do express an interest and concern with how they look, particularly in terms of hair style and skin color, the majority of black respondents in studies do not judge themselves in terms of their weight.They do not believe that as females they are valued solely on the basis of their bodies and not the merits of their minds. According to the girls in the studies, being thick, curvaceous with large hips, a rounded backside, and ample thighs, was seen as the most desirable body shape. Being so fat that you have no shape anymore was considered unattractive.
Hmm, obviously Mandisa isn’t an example of a successful entertainer since she was booted, right?
Besides Queen Latifah (who isn’t obese and has gone up and down in size over the years) and Monique, I can’t think of any current black entertainers that are fat. Missy Elliot WAS fat. As was Luther back in the day. There aren’t a whole bunch of fat black celebrities, but I guess it’s true that there are a disproportionate number of fat black celebrities than whites.
Hypotheses (I’m not saying which one(s) I subscribe to):
Fat black people have more confidence than fat white people, and thus can convince people that they are “all that”. This might be due to a number of things. One, black people may have insecurities about physical image, but none tied to weight issues (hair and skin complexion concerns may dominate instead). Two, black people are used to struggling against the odds. Compared to worries about racism, fear of “weightism” may rank low in the list of What to Be Concerned About.
Fat black people look better than fat white people. Maybe the clothes fat black people choose are more becoming or favoring to their figures. Or maybe their complexions do something to hide the flabbiness.
Mainstream society has lower expectations for black beauty. In fact, mainstream society may not view black people as sex symbols, which means black people can get away with more physical flaws than white people. Oprah can be as big as she wants to be because she’s more like your best friend or older sister than someone you’d like to have sex with. Al Roker makes you laugh or go “aw, he’s so sweet”. He wasn’t hired to make women soak their panties before going off to work (like Matt Lauer…ugh!).
Mainstream society views black beauty differently than white beauty. Europeans/Asians tend to have smaller body frames whereas African people generally have sturdier, more substantial bone structure. Perhaps we all accept these generalizations to be true, at least subsconsciously, and therefore don’t feel like an overweight black person is necessarily unhealthy or ugly (just big-boned), while not giving the same pass to a white person. I was just thinking about this the other day. I have pronounced cheekbones characteristic of my non-white ancestry. When packaged with the other features of my face and my skin coloring, one can say the effect is quite comely. But if someone were to take my cheekbones and put them on a white person, that person would probably look weird, maybe even ugly.
Even if we accept that fat blacks are more represented in the media than fat whites, it is still rough for them. Oprah has capitalized on her weight loss fight; she may not be where she is now if she had been content with her obesity or never made a big deal about her weight loss. Star Jones and Al Roker were fat, but they obviously felt some pressure–either internal or external–to change. Queen Latifah is awesome in so many ways, but let’s face it. She could be blessed with the acting chops of Meryl Street, but she’ll never be the leading lady in a serious movie. Those kinds of roles are limited for black women anyway, but the weight thing is an even higher obstacle.
I think your other points are legit, but I don’t know about this one. It might be true in a larger sense, but I’ve never heard that sentiment. Personally, I think what you said about different expectations makes more sense than lower expectations. I mean, Beyonce is considered a sex symbol to just about everyone, and she’s not skin and bones. She wears her curves proudly and definitely gets the acclaim she deserves for her talent and her, ahem, other assets. I’m also thinking of Taye Diggs, Mekhi Pfeiffer, and several other yummy black men that I know most women think are sexy.
Maybe that’s not what you meant, but I’d say if you compared black and white actors you’d find the same ratio of gorgeous to average. There are a lot of boring looking white actors out there, so maybe mainstream America just likes bland. It’s really hard to say.
As far as Oprah goes, you’re right, she’s not a sex symbol, but I don’t think she was ever going for that. I can’t think of any daytime talk show hosts that are widely considered sexy, and especially not Matt Lauer, eeeeew. Sally Jesse Raphael, Ricki Lake, and Jenni Jones were probably not the women of most men’s sexual fantasy. All daytime talk show hosts want us to feel like they are our best friend and not a threat. If a gorgeous woman hosted, fewer daytime tv watchers would tune in. I’d put money on that.
Black people generally don’t freak out over extra weight. When a black woman is big, she still considers herself beautiful. And most importantly, so do black men.
There’s also the thing about the darker skin making the flab, stretchmarks, cellulite and stuff not as noticable. An obese white person wearing shorts and a tank top and sportin’ a tan, looks better than the same, with fishbelly white skin.
Note: That’s the only time I admit that tanning improves apearance.*
I think the first step towards real beauty is no longer letting someone else define if you are beautiful or not. I think that black women don’t have the same body image probems that white women have is that if you don’t like their bodies, that is YOUR problem and not theirs. That is a lesson that us white women can learn from our black sisters.
I think one of the few arenas were feminists get it right is in relation to body image. Women, especially white and Asian women, have this unrealistic ideal pushed on them particuarly by the media. White women need to be bone thin and Asian women need to surgically alter themselves to look “White”. It is ridiculous.
I have a black girlfriend who is 250 pounds at 5’5" tall. She has said “I’m not fat” over and over again. We’ve discussed it, and what it seems to come down to in the black community (around here, anyway) is that overweight is just is more accepted. We speculated that fat means prosperity, and how her culture (Southern) is all about food. She still doesn’t think she’s fat, just that she’s ‘big’.
