Fat and Greed Part 2 plus a poem

[susanstinson]

My friend James is amazing and nice and smart. He's also very dependable, generous, a beautiful cook, an author (he's the co-author of The Ultimate Field Guide to the US Economy, which I cited frequently in the Women's Review of Books article posted yesterday) and an economist. With his permission, here's a response he sent me to some of the discussion here about fat and economic class. When he refers to Veblen, that's the very entertaining and interesting Thorstein Veblen, author of The Theory of the Leisure Class.

Anyhow – read the live journal. Got me thinking about economic class, class analysis, and fat. And collective action – who benefits, who loses. I’m not sure the Marxist approaches to class help so much here – Veblen is more the ticket, don’t you think? That is, class idenity (as opposed to workers vs. capitalists). It’s a weird twist on conspicuous consumption – you spend a huge amount to try to attain an idealized body type that distinguishes your class position and identity. Opulence doesn’t define class, high-priced thinness does. Ironic, isn’t it: spending a lot to look like you don’t consume very much (at least vulgar consumption – like ordinary food). Only the rich could afford such constraint. And then to attach the whole thing to a myth of individual responsibility – if you’re fat it’s not structural – it’s not a function of having money. It’s because you choose to get in your car, drive yourself to McDonald’s, and gorge yourself to death. The rich are as deserving as are the poor. However, it’s really about defining one’s class position, right? I mean in the Veblen tradition, not in the owners-of-the-means-of-production sense. Of course, capitalism fits into the story – from the predatory competition of Wal-Mart and Macdonald’s to the excesses of the global diet industry. And fat discrimination is necessary to preserve the collective identities (and to help insure that lines aren’t crossed, that the privileges of the upper-class aren’t eroded by the intrusion of more capable people with different body types).

And, for context on how fabulous he is, here's a poem I wrote about James:


For James on his 35th Birthday



You once drew a line
on a blackboard, told me
a graph could be a poem
distillation beautiful, useful abstraction


You teach
with grace.
You work
willingly.

When I got a hate letter,
my sense went numb.
You sat at my kitchen table
and took its poisonous arguments apart
because I asked you,
because it helped.

You and V offer
consistent welcome –
leaves and beads on the table
Cesaria singing
tomatoes from your garden
coq au vin bread
wine a cake a mango cornish hens
turkey empanhadas sausages
tangible kindness

Before you went to South Africa,
you wrote “Wilgefortis” on the blackboard
and told me the story of her miraculous beard
that saved her from marriage
and made her a saint.
The word stayed there
resplendent in white chalk
in the economics department
all the time you were gone.

By her miraculous beard
and my ordinary one,

you are a
sure-footed friend.

Comments

[originalenid.livejournal.com]

I just read your fat and greed piece, and I think it's wonderful! It illustrated a lot of points that I've been thinking about myself since reading Paul Campos' views on over-consumption and and fat phobia.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks! I haven't read his book yet, but I've been so excited to see Paul Campos making those overconsumption connections in articles in a way that's getting serious attention.

I'm totally a fan of your sense of style, by the way. Giant Monster Femmes rock.

[originalenid.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Giant Monster Femmes do indeed rock. I'm just a fan of you. Venus of Chalk is on my "Must Buy" list!

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

[amarama.livejournal.com]

This is fantastic. I'll have to read the Fat and Greed when I can concentrate. Thanks, Susan.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Makes me happy that you liked this stuff.