Apparently there are people who believe that Dr. Regina Benjamin, President's Obama's pick for surgeon general is overweight and is therefore not qualified for the position. (I tried to cut and paste an ABC news link but it wouldn't let me). I am interested in how the Feministing community feels about this.
I am personally disgusted by such claims. First of all, these people who say she is overweight are basing their claims entirely on how she looks in pictures!!! None of these people know any facts about her health. Despite what many people think, you cannont always tell whether someone is clinically overweight by how they look. There are many many people who eat healthy and exercise but are still on the thick/bigger side because that is simply how their bodies are made. Instead of juding her qualifications and experience people are judging her because she doesn't fit society's beauty standards
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Just some linkage...
The inane ABC story: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=8129947
Some crack reporting from, who else, Fox: http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3006771
It's pretty impressive for someone to lose all credibility just by appearing on camera. 'No Chubbies'? Geez...How much you want to bet a fat man wouldn't get the same treatment?
I'm kind of impressed with the Fox news anchor guy? Did hell just freeze over? Mind you, he probably picked the inflamatory nutbag just so he'd look good talking to him... but still. He wasn't putting up with the BS skinny=healthy meme, and that was kind of cool.
I don't think this criticism is because they think she must be attractive - it's because the surgeon general is supposed to epitomize being healthy and leading a healthy lifestyle. That's why you'd never see a surgeon general who smoked cigarettes.
Thus some complain she is overweight because in their minds that shows she isn't setting a good example of a healthy lifestyle.
My gut is this is pure BS though I don't know enough about her or her weight and lifestyle to fully comment myself. If the candidate really was someone who had an issue with overeating and not exercising, I think that would be a legitimate complaint. I just don't think that's the case here.
Difficult one.
I don't know anything about Dr. Regina Benjamin, and haven't followed all the debate. On the one hand, does it matter? On the other...
This site made much about Sonia Sotomayor being a role model for kids from 'underprivileged' backgrounds. I never bought that argument; however, if it is true in SS's case, then I cannot see why it should not be true also in RB's case.
Honeybee does make the point, valid I believe, about the Surgeon General not being a smoker. Since being obese (fat? overweight?) is unhealthier than being of 'average' weight then I guess the Surgeon General should be seen to be leading by example. If the government does intend to fight obesity (or whatever the term), then having a fat Surgeon General will probably undermine the message.
A little like having a serial adulterer appointed 'Tsar for Family Values'.
I guess.
She's not obese. Overweight does not equal obesity.
And obese does not equal unhealthy. Case in point, me.
What I think is most amazing is that people think that her not fitting into their view of "fit" means they can also choose to not consider that she:
1 - has been awarded a Macarthur Genius Grant. GENIUS GRANT, PEOPLE!
2 - rebuilt her clinic from scratch after hurricanes
3 - accepts shellfish and fish instead of money from her poorer patients
4 - after hurricanes she went door to door to check on certain patients
If I was dealing with all of this, I doubt I would have the time for a daily aerobics class, bio-engineered diet food, surgically removing the "publicly offending body part," or any other tactic to fit her critics' idea of thin=healthy.
I think that Regina Benjamin is exactly what we need. She has been a part of a health care system that has underserved portions of our population. Now she has a chance to be the country's foremost spokesperson on public health.
I wouldn't be surprised if this weight issue is a tactic of the part of the population who is scared of *another* woman of color in *another* public office. But this way, they don't "sound racist."