{"id":77120,"date":"2025-03-07T09:07:54","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=77120"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:13:22","slug":"beware-the-allure-of-low-hanging-body-shaming-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/beware-the-allure-of-low-hanging-body-shaming-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware the Allure of Low-Hanging, Body-Shaming Fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re making fun of Vice President JD Vance (left) or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (right) \u2013 body shaming is always incredibly lame. [Credit: Gage Skidmore (both images), Flickr<\/a>]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Even if you\u2019re not as chronically online as I am, you\u2019ve likely seen the increasingly Photoshopped visage of Vice President JD Vance<\/a> seeping into your social media feeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s been stretched and squashed and otherwise distorted into a Cabbage Patch doll<\/a>, a member of the Lollipop Guild<\/a>, a carton of eggs<\/a> \u2013 any form that could be considered both round and infantilizing. It\u2019s caricature, generated with the intent of taking Vance down a few pegs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the process, we\u2019re breathing intentional new life<\/a> into the noxious, unfortunate social trend of body shaming. It\u2019s a familiar tactic, one far more often deployed in service of criticizing or otherwise attempting to silence women in politics, from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Their sartorial choices are heavily scrutinized<\/a>; their bodies are either sexually objectified<\/a> or torn to verbal shreds<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the direction of the attacks though, it\u2019s lazy, puerile work \u2013 and I\u2019ve seen more than a few progressive voices engaging in it as of late. Voices that justify the jokes by claiming the male, conservative subjects of their ridicule deserve mockery for playing roles in the rapid dissolution of our structures, safety nets and social norms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not saying I disagree with that notion on its face \u2013 I\u2019ve said before<\/a> that progressives should increasingly set aside respectability in service of pushing back harder against autocracy, against hatred and bigotry. But in pointing at physical traits like Vance\u2019s perceived fatness, or going after other members of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration for their own variations from our absurd societal beauty standards \u2013 are you not automatically implying that these are bad things to be weaponized in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, is it worth it to communicate to people you love \u2013 or people you\u2019ve not met, but who have not wronged you in any way \u2013 that this is how you view their<\/em> deviations from a white, slim ideal?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n On Taylor Swift\u2019s Music Video, and Society\u2019s Ongoing Problem With My Body\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Look, I\u2019ll be honest: I\u2019m not especially hurt by the jokes myself. I would be an unintended target, because I am fat \u2013 a word that I use without a hint of self-deprecation, because it is short and easy to understand (like me). But I gave myself the gift of engaging in the process of divorcing my sense of self-worth from people\u2019s assessments of my desirability. That said \u2013 one needn\u2019t be personally bothered by a thing to care about the fact that it hurts others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our society does not make the mental separation I\u2019m describing easy \u2013 it takes work, and often requires therapeutic help, and many don\u2019t have that kind of time or money. Which means they are, right now, navigating a world where not only are their rights and futures under threat, but where they are also made to feel lesser than simply for existing in a body that isn\u2019t an advertiser\u2019s version of perfection. Where even those by their side seemingly look down upon them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this madness we are living through \u2013 is your \u201cjoke\u201d really worth the prospect of adding to that pain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s An Alternative<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can, instead, focus on the fact that those currently in charge are horrible people who are making everything worse. That they are offensively, repulsively ugly on the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can continue to call out their grifts<\/a>, their woeful lack of skills or intelligence<\/a>. You can discuss the ways in which they are hypocrites who will let people die<\/a> rather than abort a nonviable fetus \u2013 while lying about that willingness<\/a> to win elections \u2013 but will then scoff at the idea<\/a> of giving kids free lunches; who will claim they\u2019re offering protection by not letting trans women<\/a> use certain bathrooms or play certain sports, but will then work to pave the way<\/a> to easier gun access for everyone, including domestic abusers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body-shaming remarks, though, should remain relics of another time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understand that some will accuse me of spoiling their fun in encouraging such a redirect. And I’m aware that we need fun right now \u2013 that laughter is medicine, and in some ways, resistance. But, how fun is it, really, if people who are just as scared and burdened as you get hurt in your process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t joy best when we can share it with others in the fight? ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"Bannon\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n Musk, \u2018Zuck,\u2019 Vance and Bannon \u2013 The Men I Fear My Son Hearing\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a rise in memes about Vice President JD Vance and his ilk that target looks. It\u2019s important to remember that how we fight back matters, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":77121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"It doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re making fun of Vice President JD Vance or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton \u2013 body shaming is always incredibly lame.","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f","date":"2025-03-07T14:08:01+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3ljs6nbq7442x","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3ljs6nbq7442x\",\"cid\":\"bafyreigosl76cl7wurxzl7g7uirwryk7rkjjojx47tcfzebgyctxfetksq\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreidac5cazmd4a6tnvhxse7dlwa5n4cfnteibspvn2oklnpfmxsloku\",\"rev\":\"3ljs6nbqhve2x\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19648],"tags":[21362,21363,19645,21340],"class_list":["post-77120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-body-shaming","tag-compassion-in-critique","tag-opinion","tag-political-discourse"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRead an Op-Ed on Not Body-Shaming Trump, Vance, Musk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s been a rise in memes about JD Vance and his ilk that target looks. 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