It was about a month before the 2012 election that I heard someone in the media say that they’d be concerned about Chris Christie’s weight and health if he were a candidate for president. I remember when Dick Cheney’s heart condition was sometimes brought up as an issue. But until now, I’ve never heard anyone say they’d be worried a very overweight person could have a sudden heart attack.
I honestly do not think a woman of Chris Christie’s weight could rise to the level of governor but that’s another post! Our culture definitely gives men a pass with the “big guy” perception. Christie can look powerful, even fearsome. But there are times when he can be caught on camera in a way that I’m sure sets off a lot of alarms of prejudice and disgust. And face it, if Christie ran for the presidency and he were ever caught by the media, red-faced, sweating profusely, and gasping for breath from something mundane like a flight of stairs, that could be it for the guy. Game over. You and I both know at his size, a lot of scenarios could induce that response from his body.
This is quite a comparison:
Do a little googling and you’ll find that fat jokes and outright insults directed at Christie already abound across the Internet. When Christie declined to run for the presidential nomination, the New York Post made it clear why they thought he turned it down.
In the wake of this brutal cover story, Christie insisted that he simply needed to have a thick skin. He rationalizes that even if he lost weight, the media would find something else to pick on him about. At least one pundit had the audacity to say what many of us do think: That Christie’s weight would be seen as a character flaw and for that reason, many people would not be willing to vote for a morbidly obese president.
I would propose this, however. Let’s say Christie were to throw his hat in the ring in 2016 and then started a serious weight loss program. He could certainly arrange for the best of everything–trainers, prepared meals, workout facilities and equipment. Imagine the media buzz as the press chases after him on a morning jog. Then the red face becomes an asset instead of a liability. If he began to show significant weight loss, his currency would seriously rise in value. People would cheer him on. He’d be seen as heroic, strong, and determined.
I do not propose this lightly. I honestly believe that if Chris Christie ran for president, a carefully-timed, SUCCESSFUL weight loss would have people gushing with admiration for him and ignoring his politics. Oh now wait a minute, Governor…surgery would be OUT. No, he’d have to earn the respect of millions with a million drops of sweat.
Such is the value our society puts on weight and weight loss. It isn’t fair, it isn’t even rational, but it is true.
When I lost weight, I was truly shocked at how differently people treated me. It was like waking up into a new world. How do you think your life could change if you lost weight? Be realistic and think in terms of how you’ve been treated.
Postscript one year later: In early 2013, Chris Christie had lap band surgery. Rumors swirled that he did it with an eye on a future presidential run. As of 9/2013, photos and updates on the Governor’s weight change have been few.
3 comments
It was very confusing to me how my world changed when I lost 150+ pounds. Suddenly I wasn’t invisible anymore. Men opened doors for me, women smiled at me, people said excuse me. I was very angry about his, yet relished it at the same time. Why wasn’t I good enough for eye contact before…or was I the one not making eye contact? Was I invisible when I was fat or just wish I was because of the shame I carried? Obviously, people saw me because kids had no problem asking e why I was so fat,men had no problem whispering fat cow or slob as I walked by and women had no problem averting their eyes in embarrassment for me as I tried to squeeze into booths. Their is a fat bias, but we fat people buy into it too. And honestly, as a former fat person, I have to really work hard not to buy into it either. It feels some days like it is more effort to wipe out my fat thinking and bias than it is to change and reprogram my lifestyle…and that is damn hard.
I now live comfortably in a regular size world, but my perspective is still sometimes skewed. I do not measure up booths any more, but I do eye clothing thinking that it will never fit. I sometimes judge people by their size and then need to remind myself how screwed up that is. But I do think I am more sensitive to size issues than others. And I feel that backhanded slight when a large person acts as if I couldn’t possibly understand their plight because of my size today.
Author
I would like to think that my book is the first that discusses these realities. I know that feeling of realizing that things were happening to me that would never have happened “before.” I’ve always been a cynic about the whole “just smile and be yourself” thing because it’s false hope, an empty platitude. We’d like to believe that we’re not judged by how we look but the unfortunate reality is that we are. I also think many people do it unintentionally; we may be wired to instinctively prefer attractive people and, in our culture, “fat” is not considered attractive.
As much as we might try to be politically correct, when you lose a lot of weight, you become a witness to our society’s prejudices.
I do think your book is one of the first that honestly looks at this issue. It’s not fun, it’s not easy. But it has to be done. It does everyone in the world a disservice if we live dishonestly and perpetuate such bias and fat myths.