Hunger

Gay describes her twenties as a difficult decade because she gravitated toward people who disrespected her; she did not think she deserved better treatment. Her family continued to worry about her body and express concerns about her health. Their insistence on weight loss caused Gay to refuse—punishment for their “failure” to accept her. In truth, she was inflicting punishment on herself.

Gay notes that “When you’re overweight, your body becomes a matter of public record in many respects” (120). People treat those with fat bodies as if they are ignorant and unaware of themselves. Some people frame this behavior as being concerned for a person who happens to be fat, forgetting that human beings are much more than their physical forms. Public alarm over America’s “obesity epidemic,” fatphobic reality shows like The Biggest Loser, and advertising for fat-free and low-calorie foods that specifically target women all exemplify this attitude: “What does it say about our culture that the desire for weight loss is considered a default feature of womanhood?” (137).

Celebrated talk show host Oprah Winfrey and her struggle to lose weight embody this “default feature” for women. In 2015, Winfrey purchased a 10 percent stake in the company Weight Watchers despite being “the woman who brought us the idea of living our best life, of becoming our most authentic selves” (138). Even though Winfrey is in her sixties and by most means successful, she still internalized “damaging cultural messages about unruly bodies” (139). For many, happiness and thinness are inherently (and perpetually) linked. There is an “economy of thinness” (142) that allows celebrities (and people in general) to be considered more “beautiful,” relevant, and worthy when they are thin.

Gay asserts that there is a vernacular “taxonomy for the unruly, overweight human body” (143). For example, we label some clothing “plus size” and refer to certain body parts in a derogatory fashion, like “thunder thighs” and “muffin tops” (143-44). This terminology is intended to punish—to remind fat people that they are “abnormal” and “problematic.” Thus, people of all sizes resort to disciplining their bodies via denial (of clothing choices, eating habits, space and spaces, etc.) in order to be accepted by others. Gay shares an example of this mentality: Before boarding a plane, a friend offered her some potato chips to take on the flight as a snack. Gay refused, as modern society does not permit people of size to eat foods deemed unhealthy in public spaces (at least, not without judgement on either party’s behalf).

Furthermore, modern society expects people like Gay to despise themselves because of their bodies. However, Gay does not. Though she would like to change her appearance and society’s reaction to those who are fat (as this is the true problem), she does not wish to change her personality.