As the title says – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html
I know this isn’t specifically fat-related, but…Everyone, PLEASE go read this!!! She puts in to words what we should all be thinking. If the McCain/Palin team is elected, we will ALL suffer.
Thanks 
Yup, according to an article on Yahoo today (it was actually one of the ones featured on the main page). Here’s the article:
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/beyonce-gaining-20-pounds-so-much-fun/12706?nc
And, drumroll please…she enjoyed it!!! Wow, maybe letting female actors actually eat something makes them happy! Fancy that! Oh, and here’s the picture the article links to:
http://www.usmagazine.com/photos/stars-real-people?slideshow_id=830&o=7
She doesn’t look quite as heavy as she should be to play that role, I feel, but she does look healthy. Unfortunately, she had to lose the “extra weight” for her next role. But at least she was honest about the happiness it brought her. Too bad Hollywood endorses thin so much.
Attention all readers: this post deals with events and characters in the Marvel Runaways comic series. BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!!!! Seriously, if you intend on reading the series (which I highly suggest), do NOT read this post.
*ahem* That said, my birthday was recently, and one of the gifts I got was volume 3 of the Runaways hardcover anthologies. I’ve been a fan of the series for a while, and like an idiot I forgot how much I love it. And honestly, one of the best things about it is Gertrude Yorkes, aka Arsenic. She is the 15-year-old daughter of time travelling parents from the 87th century, and she has a genetically engineered Deinonychus named Old Lace that is empathically linked to her, so it obeys her telepathic commands and they feel each others’ pain. She’s also “fat,” or what our society would call fat (that and she grew up in LA, apparently California is not a fat-happy place). This is a shot of her from one of the comic panels:
The wikipedia article on her lists her height as 5′1″, and her weight as 125 lbs, still calling her “overweight.” I don’t consider that “overweight,” but whatever. She kicks ass. She’s snarky, and realistic, and cynical, and caring, and kind, and a very real character. She also gets into a relationship with Chase, another team member, who’s introduced making comments about the hotness of girls like Karolina (who is very, very, very skinny). But Gert saves his life, and he falls in love with her. And its made obvious that they are together because they do actually care for each other, not just because its convenient or because they’re lonely. So YAY for the fat girl getting the guy!!! And for a lot of the comic, they are the only stable relationship. But then jealousy happens (which I actually think proves even more that they actually love each other, cause if they didn’t, why would they be jealous?), and Nico (another girl on the team) kisses Chase, and Gert finds out, and she dumps him. She says, in doing this, “I’m not blind. I know that I look like. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever between me and… [you].”
I thought this was possibly the saddest thing that could happen (I was proven wrong later), but it brings up something VERY important. It shows, blatantly, the fat-hatred so ingrained in our society. Even though Gert was in a good relationship, with a man who loved her (he didn’t know Nico was going to kiss him, and did shove her off him a.s.a.p., and told Gert he loved her in this break-up conversation, trying to get her to stop), she still expected it to end all because of her size. The fact that Marvel Comics points this out is phenomenal, and gives me much hope. Plus, Chase did not end the relationship – she did, which leads me to believe that her size was never an issue for him, and if she hadn’t acted on what society has taught her, the relationship would have continued and succeeded.
However, it only gets sadder. As the group moves on to battle the latest big bad, Chase gets himself into a situation where the bad guy is going to kill him, and Gert talks the bad guy down by badmouthing Chase. But instead of just letting him go, the baddie kills her instead. He throws a dagger into her stomach, and leaves her to die. Chase holds her, and she tells him she didn’t mean what she said, but she had to lie to save his life. She also transfers control of Old Lace to him in her last moments, so she won’t die too (because of the empathic connection), but passes on before she can actually tell Chase that she loves him. In response to all this, Chase snaps a bit and makes a deal to resurrect her, planning to trade his life for hers. It doesn’t work, but damn, that is devotion.
Regarding Gert’s death, though, I have been very torn.
At first I was angry. There was this awesome “fat girl” superhero-like character, and they fucking killed her off. Bastards. I thought it would have been much more positive to let her continue, living as a big girl and being an awesome example that not all heroes have to be stick figures. In a way, that is true. She would have been an excellent example. But earlier in the comic, we were shown a future version of her (who visited them right before her death, to try and get them to stop another big bad before he got too powerful). This future version, calling herself “Heroine,” was the leader of the future Avengers, and very kickass, and still snarky and smart. But she was THIN. She had lost the body shape that seems natural on Gert. And Gert herself pointed this out, too, and said that she would never become Heroine. And I feel, because of how the comic industry represents the female body, that if Gert had survived, even to a Heroine-less future, she would have “thinned out.” And I would have been VERY unhappy with that. I know that sounds harsh – “I’d rather she die than become thin.” But it is more complicated than that, and I do feel strongly about it. If she had lived and lost weight, she would have still been an awesome character, but her role as a fat-positive one would have vanished. And if she didn’t have that role, I wouldn’t be writing this right now, would I? It is obviously an important part of her character, and very important to me. Yes, I wish she had lived, but not if that would have happened to her. And I love comics, I really do, but I know the likelihood is that she would have become just as thin as every other superpowered woman in the Marvelverse. The fact that her story ended like this, in the “bigger” body she had, makes that body permanent. The fact that she was a “fat” character cannot be “redeemed,” as I’m sure someone would try to do.
Also, the tragic nature of her death did something very important – it martyred her. The team was distraught over her death, showing how much she meant to all of them. They set up candles, all shrine-like, in front of this big portrait of her that was in their lair (among lots of other portraits, but still). Some of them were drawn together by the pain, but the group was still very torn apart. And saving Chase from sacrificing himself in attempt to bring her back brought them back together again. That initially doesn’t seem that positive, but they understood that she wouldn’t have wanted him to die, she would want them all to live to the fullest. They will always remember her by doing that, and they will remember her the way she was – “fat.”
I don’t know what happens after all this in the comic, as I don’t keep up with the individual issues, I just buy the hardcover anthologies and read them then. But as it stands, even though I’m very sad about what happened, I am satisfied with it. So here’s to Gertrude Yorkes, an awesome example of a fat-positive superhero character. May there be many more like her in comics to come.
