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January I went boot camp crazy: did way too many lunges, squats. Thanks to this stupid page in Feb. you could calculate our mutual hots! In March I blathered on and on about horoscopes, Kirstie, and chick lit. April was...
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For those of you coming here after reading the article on women bloggers in January's issue of Glamour, welcome. More about me here; older entries (including the one quoted in the magazine) are here and here, and yet more of...
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©2005 Wendy McClure
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There is something I need to tell you. I mean, you’re going to find out anyway, but I thought I’d tell you first: I’m really Tyra Banks in a fat suit.
Yes, I know that all this time you thought I was just a chubby white girl. I’m sure it sheds light on a lot of things, such as my inexplicable personal happiness. Well, now you know I’m happy because, hello! I’m Tyra Banks! I have my own production company! And here you thought I was just happy because I ate all the pies!
No doubt it all makes sense now. You’ve probably wondered how I managed to ever accomplish anything, what with all the obese-person stuff I have to do every day, like shuffling sadly down the street, getting my big fat feelings hurt by store clerks, and being rejected by dull little metrosexual men. I’m glad I’m Tyra Banks and don’t have to do those things all the time. Well, except for eating KFC. I’d do THAT all the time! Ha ha!
(You know, it’s only okay to laugh because I’m Tyra Banks and I have a syndicated talk show (check your local listings!). If I was a real fat person the laughter would HURT. You know that time I made the girls on ANTM wear stiletto heels two sizes too small? Like that, but in the soul.)
I know it comes as a shock to learn that I’m Tyra Banks wearing a fat suit, but I hope it makes America aware that really, everyone afflicted by obesity has a beautiful person wearing him or her, too, and that deep down, they all feel real supermodel feelings. Who knows who you might find inside an obese person? Maybe Naomi Campbell, who’s actually quite pretty though hardly the household name I’ve become, is trapped inside an obese person’s body. Or maybe she really is obese now. I would like to state for the record, as an honorary obese person, that either way would be fine with me.
That’s all for now. Don’t miss Drag Queen Makeovers on Tuesday! Love, Tyra.
Posted by Wendy | Monday, 12:43 AM | send link
Dear Tyra,
You've really out did yourself in this post. But lets get realistic now...you can't possibly have feelings if you're a super model right? Keep on truckin' gal...just like all us other fat girls.
Love,
Me
p.s. Wendy you are amazing...thanks for publishing a book that so many of us can relate to. I hope my memoir turn out half as good as yours!
To further clarify: I'll give Tyra props for wanting to call attention to size discrimination, but I'm sick of these dumb fat suit stunts. There are plenty of real 350 pound people around who I'm sure would be happy to talk about their lives, for Christ's sake.
Posted by: Wendy at November 7, 2005 11:37 AMWell, of course there are, but who wants to listen to them? They're just fat people. Discrimination is only shocking when we all know the victim doesn't deserve it.
Posted by: byrneout at November 7, 2005 12:58 PMWow, that is an amazing coincidence! Because I'm actually Linda Evangelista in a short suit.
Posted by: Tina at November 7, 2005 12:59 PMThis post gives me such hope. Do you think there's even a remote possibility that George Bush is Jimmy Carter in a DUMB suit? And that any day now, he'll whip the suit off, Scooby-Doo-like, and right all the wrongs he's committed?
Posted by: leap-b4-ulook at November 7, 2005 02:31 PMTyra, I think it's just so great that you're planning to expose your real, 99% flawless ass on a later show in order to have a cosmetic procedure done to return it to perfection. It would be totally inappropriate to let that 1% go untreated -- think of our children, growing up in a world where imperfect asses are just accepted as a part of daily life.
Posted by: Sarcasma at November 7, 2005 03:57 PMtyra, i don't think you're ready for this jelly.
p.s. i'm really phyllis schlafly in a fag suit.
Posted by: mykull at November 7, 2005 07:09 PMAnd I'm really Klaus Kinski in an alive suit!
Posted by: Chris at November 7, 2005 07:59 PMTyra, I think you show real compassion for the fat people. Showing your ass and proving your tits are real in NO WAY detracts from the incredible public service you are doing from the confines of your fat suit. God bless you and your wonderful work!
Posted by: marianne at November 7, 2005 08:53 PMI think those fat-suits are hilarious. I mean an actress needs to gain 10-20 pounds for a role she'll chow on cake for a few weeks while watching doctor Phil and sitting on her butt. But 200 pounds? Rather that call in a fatter (and usually) better actress, they hire the 98 pound twig and spend $1000 to make her big enough to fit the part. I really wish I could've unzipped when I got tired of it and then sold, my fat-suit on e-bay (It woulda helpped the expenses of my diet and crazy exercise equipment.)
I read your book last week, and then found your site. I think it's probably the best book I've read in a while, and your site is even better. I'm glad you're out there, and letting people know that you're Tyra Banks. (Tyra Banks so wishes she could be you.)
Posted by: kara at November 8, 2005 01:30 AMWhen I was a fat kid, I used to daydream that a fairy of some sort would come into my room one night and say "Voila! You can now finally unzip yourself from that fat-kid costume and become a normal girl! Won't the kids at school be astounded?" I would imagine myself telling the other kids that they'd been wrong about me all along, and weren't they sorry now? I am envious of Tyra and all of the other fat-suit-wearing actresses who actually get to have this moment of glory. Envious and really really disturbed.
Wendy - I just finished your book, and I'm giving it to half the girls I know for Christmas this year. Hope that amounts to a measurable amount of royalties for you!
Posted by: Ellen at November 8, 2005 09:32 AMYes! I just won a hundred dollar bet! I KNEW you were Tyra!
It's amazing that just wearing a fat suit could really make you feel like all us other fat girls. I'm so touched. I'm not sure if I'm shedding tears because I finally feel understood, or what (I suspect it's some kind of rage, not saying it's directed at you, though). Thank you Tyra, thank you for being brave enough to show the world what it *really* feels like to be fat!
Tyra,
It must be your integrity that allowed Kirstie Alley come out and say she's also wearing a fat suit. She's not really a "big fat girl" after. http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20051108/113149338000.html
yeah, kirstie alley also came out and admitted she's not really an "actress" either. or a "woman." (most of us knew the former and suspected the latter.)
Posted by: mykull at November 8, 2005 07:41 PMHow funny. Because I'm actually Jennifer Love Hewitt dressing up for Halloween!
Posted by: Tanya at November 8, 2005 09:56 PMI'm Jim Bunning in a sane suit!
Posted by: Amy at November 9, 2005 01:19 PMI agree with Wendy=Plenty of real fat woman that don't get to take off the "fat suite", Good for you Tyra, that you can unzip yourself and be the beautiful you, I can be the beautiful me, with no one but me living inside of me, and and no one will care...not even Tyra Banks will know how that feels, nice try though. I still love and admire you, I'm a big fat fan of yours.
Hi Wendy,
I've been a huge fan of your site (and your book), and am finally de-lurking. I give Tyra Banks credit for bring to attention discrimination issues, and she certainly was willing to step outside of her box. After watching the show, however, I have to say that I think that it goes little beyond Beautiful Model Learns That It Stinks to Not Be Beautiful. I think of it as something akin to making a rich person "poor" for a day. ("What, I don't have a credit card? What is this green paper with pictures and numbers on it?"). Learning the real, long term issues would be impossible to imagine in that short space of time.
I don't mean to invalidate her pain (because she truly seemed to be upset), but her self-esteem is presumably a reflection of 31 years of people telling her that she was beautiful. Since she knew that "being fat" was a temporary state, I don't think that her core self-esteem was really affected. By contrast, 31 years of people laughing at you, ignoring you, men refusing to date you-- well, that shapes one world view in a way that can't even begin to be touched in a short experiment like this one. I agree that the more interesting show would be one which followed actual 350 lb. people and interviewed them about what it was like to live their life. THAT would be truly groundbreaking.
Posted by: Molly at November 10, 2005 10:49 PMThe skinny person in a fat suit in order to show others how people treat fat people- is a relatively new thing... I think the intent is to show others that they have compassion- but what happens is that I see these people and think.. their bodies are fat.. their minds aren't... I'm 210 pounds.. 5 foot 2- 52 years old.. i'm fat- a fact..
but how i'm treated- how i'm viewed- how i'm related to by other human beings has nothing to do with my weight... it has to do with the person i'm relating to... don't put a thin person in a fat person and then show others how they are treated...
put a kind person in a person with a bad attitude suit and show us what it's like to be a nasty person... I can count on 1 hand the times I've encountered rudeness towards me based on my fat... the last time, was about 8 years ago when I walked out of a donut store and someone yelled from their car.. "you don't need that fatty"...
what did I do? agreed with them! AND I ate my half dozen donuts...
it's life- it's human being stuff... I'm sure Tyra's baggage is as hard for her to deal with as my own baggage is for me to deal with...
I thought the Tyra piece was entertaining... did it do anything to raise awareness? Doubtful- entertaining though....
later!
deb.. a 52 year old nerdy chick in Kansas : )
You know, I'm not only fine with Tyra donning the fat suit, I highly encourage it! I want other slim celebrities to do the same, I want them to turn the cameras on the ugly people out there that think it's okay to humiliate me because I'm fat and, therefore, less of a human being. I want them to get involved, create the laws and get them passed so that I CAN walk into a boutique and not have some snotty, size zero salesgirl come up and tell me that they don't carry things in my size, assuming THAT is what I'm there for! Yes, we've known about this "invisible" discrimination for years; isn't it about time we applauded women like Tyra bringing it into public view in all it's bare ugliness? Instead of mocking her attempts, applaud them! Encourage her! Encourage others to get involved and fight this with us.
Posted by: Debbi at November 26, 2005 05:05 PMTyra,
I love the music on your show!!!!
Yeah, I wasn't really bothered by the Tyra thing, although I only read about it and didn't actually watch the segment myself. On paper I applaud it, but I didn't really take into account *how* it was done. It'd be interesting to see, though.
Posted by: Sarah at December 7, 2005 07:55 PMI was offended by the whole Tyra Banks (and others) in a fat suit thing, but really couldn't figure out why. Thank you for putting it into words for me!
Posted by: Bethany at December 19, 2005 11:29 AMComments must be approved before they appear on the site. Read my comments policy for more details.
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