After last week’s revelation that James Corden was banned from a New York restaurant for being repeatedly horrible to staff, I’ve been considering the different way fat men and fat women are viewed.
Fat men are invariably seen as jolly – who can imagine a thin Father Christmas? – despite the rollcall of porky evil, from Fatty Arbuckle, abuser of women, to Cyril Smith, abuser of boys. If they are well–connected drunks, fat men may also be called ‘bon viveurs’ whereas fat women are seen as ‘eating their feelings’ at best, being lazy and thick at worst.
When they’re not helping themselves to thin girls, many fat men feel they have the right to criticise fat ones
To declare my considerable skin in the game, I am an overweight sexagenarian (I resemble one of those game old girls in a Beryl Cook painting) who in my youth was a size 10 with a handspan waist.
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