A Quote by Michelle Dean

It is no secret, of course, that people have strong feelings about fat - feelings that seem only to have been inflamed by the sense, in western countries, that there is an obesity crisis afoot. Concerns about health have mutated into a kind of panic attending any mention of fat people at all.

Michelle Dean

Quote Topics

About Any Attending Been Concerns Countries Course Crisis Fat Fat People Feelings Health Kind Mention No Secret Obesity Only Panic People Secret Seem Sense Strong Strong Feeling Western

Quote Author

Michelle Dean
American - Journalist
Born: 1983

Our cultural discussion of fat bodies and how we clothe them has nothing to do with health concerns, the obesity epidemic, or the comfort of fat people. It has everything to do with what we expect from women, what we've been told by the fashion industry, and the value we place on 'perfect' bodies.

Jennifer Armintrout

I think the media in general hasn't been very kind to fat women or fat people. We see so many insensitive portrayals of plus-sized people. That kind of stuff really affected me - not even necessarily the portrayal of fat people, but the absence of fat people.

Shannon Purser

Obesity is a drain on the economy - we have to pay for the health care of fat people who are usually poor and can’t afford insurance. Obesity is, well, bad.

Emily Levine

People have lots of different feelings about what happened when Sen. Franken made the really hard decision to resign. I have come to respect people have lots of different feelings, sometimes very strong feelings, and they're not all the same.

Tina Smith

I use the word 'fat'. I use that word because that's what people are: they're fat. They're not bulky; they're not large, chunky, hefty or plump. And they're not big-boned. Dinosaurs were big-boned. These people are not overweight: this term somehow implies there is some correct weight... There is no correct weight. Heavy is also a misleading term. An aircraft carrier is heavy; it's not fat. Only people are fat, and that's what fat people are! They're fat !

George Carlin

I've been called fat my whole life. I am fat, so it's kind of silly to get mad about it.

Tess Holliday

The real issue that I have is the erasure people are trying to do with my very valid feelings in regard to how plus-size and fat people are treated in fashion. The way that people just kind of overlook us and pretend that, you know, we don't have style, that we aren't trendy or fashionable. It's dehumanizing.

Tess Holliday

I know now it's a hashtag and people have various feelings about it, but really if you look at all black art, even in hip-hop, it's all about that I exist and these are my feelings and this is what I feel about the world. It's always been an undercurrent.

Cheo Hodari Coker

When I was listening in on the phone call where Andre Leon Talley was saying that he was going to get my fat, black ass on the cover of a magazine. I think that - you know, Andre Leon Talley is fat and black. And it hurt my feelings. It hurt my feelings. But it also was a lesson in this is what they think, and this is what they will always think. And there's no way of being too talented or too pretty or too confident around it. People will still have their opinions.

Gabourey Sidibe

The weight loss came about because a buddy of mine who was diagnosed with diabetes because of his obesity told me that I was fat. And I started laughing, and he was like, 'No seriously, you're fat.' And I said, 'Oh wow, really.'

Carlos Mencia

In my family, my fat family, none of us ever say the word 'fat.' 'Fat' is the word you hear shouted on the playground or in the street - it's never allowed over the threshold of the house. My mum won't have that filth in her house. At home together, we are safe. ... There will be no harm to our feelings here because we never acknowledge fat exists. We never refer to our size. We are the elephants in the room.

Caitlin Moran

I would love to see more acknowledgement of how challenging it is to feel positive about fatness when you can't find clothing. When there literally is not something made for your body. Nobody ever talks about that; all those fat girl clothes swaps and stuff are for a very specific kind of fat girl. If I was Lane Bryant fat, I would be joyful about fatness.

Roxane Gay

The only thing that anyone can diagnose, with any certainty, by looking at a fat person, is their own level of stereotype and prejudice toward fat people.

Marilyn Wann

I've always been a big guy, whether it's been a fat kid, a fat young adult, or a fat adult. I was always sort of... I guess the term would be 'popular.' I never dealt with a lot of name-calling or any of the bullying you'd think a fat kid might have to deal with.