It's Only Fifteen Pounds Christina Hendricks

Hendricks made a great splash in Josh Whedon's "Firefly" as Saffron, but I only became aware of her as the street smart, hard working Joan Holloway on AMC's "Mad Men".  Across the feminist blogoverse she has been declared a breathe of fresh air, as much for her acting, as breaking the model of the size two woman on television that is smart and has a sex life.   The last fat woman I saw having regular sex on television was Roseanne, and Hendricks is no Roseanne.  Anyway, Christina Hendricks has once again set the blogworld off on a stream of  happy happy joy joy, after the comment that she made in the July/August Issue of Health magazine regarding body image became public:

I guess my mom raised me right. She was very celebratory of her body.  I never once heard her say, 'I feel fat.'  Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos everyday, and I gained 15 pounds.  And I felt gorgeous!  I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it." 

First, let me start off by saying that it is really nice to hear a woman say good things about her body and expressing self love.  In the media, too often we hear women complain that they are too fat -- or that their boobs are to flat-- or even that the one barely visible wrinkle on their face is causing them anxiety.  If no visible fault is obvious, the patriarchal run media has no problem creating one to ensure that women are eternally fixated on their physical appearance.

Her comment about indulging in cappuccinos is certainly a lot more positive than Jennifer Aniston, who believes in picking out the center of a bagel before eating it.

Aniston got an agent and some advice: Lose weight. "I wasn't fat,I was just Greek,"Aniston protest,"and Greeks are round, with big asses and big boobs." As she says this, she scoops out the soft inside of a burn bagel and eats the remaining shell.  Thanks to such tricks, she shed 30 pounds (at 5 feet 5 1/2  inches, she now weighs 11) -- and got parts on short-lived series like Ferris Bueller, The Edge and Muddling Through (Source)

I suppose this puts the whole thing into context doesn't it?   We should love Hendricks because she can drink cappuccino and not be frazzled about pounds, whereas: following the road map of someone like Aniston, would mean forever justifying our curves, while picking at our food and pretending to eat. By now you are probably wondering what the hell I could possibly have to snark about.  We've got good image versus bad image, thus proving that it is not all about fitting into a size two skinny jean.  BTW, even if I slathered myself in the world's supply of butter, I could never fit into a size two without ripping them from asshole to crotch and looking like the incredible hulk.  The problem with the elevation of Hendricks, is that it has created one more body type that women are meant to aspire to.  Her form may be different than Jennifer Aniston's, but she is still conventionally beautiful, White, heterosexual and far from fat.  Let's say that again so it really sinks in, Christina Hendricks is not fat.

I cannot believe we are having a conversation about 15 freaking pounds -- and suggesting that this is liberating, when really fat women are erased from media unless they are being used as comic relief (think MiMi on Drew Carey) or emotional basket cases, who lament their very existence, while trying to find a date (Yeah, that's a "More to Love" reference).  I know that weight is a very personal thing, but is it really a leap of imagination to figure out that the reason she didn't feel fat is because she wasn't fat.  Hendricks would have to put on at least 60 pounds before anyone could even reasonably call her fat, so of course she can look in the mirror and be all, look how hot I am. It is further ridiculous that this is considered subversive, but when people like Gabourey Sidibe talk about how much they love themselves, they are considered to be in denial-- and have a host of people lining up to tell them how much they need to lose weight.  

You know, I think I am going to celebrate my fat body by trying to eat a meal in public without someone getting snarky about how much food is on my plate.  Or maybe, I can attempt to go grocery shopping and see if I can make it all the way through without having to give someone the evil eye because they have decided to roll their eyes at the package of cookies in my cart. Maybe, I might even get real subversive, and just glue the key lime pie directly to my fat ass because that is where it is going to end up anyway. I can tell you one thing for certain, no one will line up to celebrate or applaud my bravery for eating and drinking what I want, because real fatness is something we shame not celebrate.