More To Love

It seems imprudent to make my first post be about something not directly related to sex, but such is the fickle mind of a sex-crazed male. What I'd like to talk about instead is that new reality show, More To Love. I'm sure you've seen the ads. For those uninitiated, this show is basically a re-hash of The Bachelor, but with fat women.* This, in and of itself, does not create a problem, other than the original problems with The Bachelor (which are legion, but will not be enumerated here). The problem exists in the light in which these women are constantly portrayed. From little more than the trailer, we learn that we aren't intended to view these women as individuals that may be interesting humans, but instead as Fat People, with little to distinguish themselves from one another. Women are interviewed not on their politics, their life ambitions; they are asked about their struggles with weight. We see countless shots of them crying, despairing over the worry that no one will ever find them attractive. They are are treated ostensibly with sympathy, but the end result is making these women look desperate and hopeless.

And while the women on the show are put in such an unflattering light, we hear them exalting the male who actually finds them attractive. Admittedly, it's rare to find someone who, on national television, will declare outright his love for overweight women. But these women are so impressed that he's willing to deign to be with the women on the show, who are, on average, one hundred pounds lighter than him. Commended? Maybe. Deified? I think not.

Having fat women on TV at all, and having at least one male saying he finds these women attractive, is a step. The next step will be to treat these women like people, not like fat people.

* "fat" is, in fact, not seen as a negative term in fat-positive circles. It is merely a descriptor. Taking the word back and all that. Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike porchmonkey in Clerks 2.