Recently, I saw the following post on Facebook from Stephanie Gagos that reminded me of another way that fat people face discrimination for just trying to do the same things that thin people do:
“My beautiful, kind, big-hearted daughter was denied entry to a popular club in NYC called One Oak last night because, as they put it ,’they don’t like girls with love handles.’ They only allow a particular type of girl into this place.
They even went so far as to say her roommate could go in but she couldn’t.
What in the world are we doing to girls, to women?? How disgusting and low can you get? Women have enough body image issues as it is. We are so totally wrapped up in our weight, our looks, that we forget what truly matters in life. We are made to feel less for a few extra pounds, and it is appalling.
My first response was, you don’t want to be in a place like that. I mean, what reason would this even be a criteria except to objectify women and make men feel better about themselves?
It broke my heart when she said “everyone deserves to have a good time.” I echo that, and everyone deserves to be loved, to feel beautiful, to have a good time, to be accepted for who they are instead of how they look.
So shameful.”
This isn’t the first story like this that I’ve heard. I’ve heard too many of my fat friends talk about being kept out of the club by “policies” that didn’t seem to apply to thin people. It’s bullshit and it needs to stop.
Read the full story here!
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Dances With Fat 
You’d think this sort of thing would be illegal.
I think if it’s a private club, with someone manning the door to vet everyone who comes in, it is either legal with laws on the books, or else “legal” by common usage. So, good luck with that argument. Except maybe in Michigan.
Private clubs have different standards than public venues, and although “the public” can get into a private club, they have always maintained the right to refuse service to anyone.
The problem here isn’t the law, or lack of a law, about this. The problem is the attitude that only those who uphold a particular standard of beauty are allowed into the club.
I read recently about a club that only allows “Hot” people (judged by their particular standard of beauty, of course), and it was advertised that 1) if you can get it at all, then 2) you will have your prick of “hot” lovers to choose from, and 3) not stated, but heavily implied, that everyone gets lucky. Talk about your problematic branding! I mean, they can’t even come close to guaranteeing 3, anyway. And what about those poor “hot” people who actually prefer “not” people, because standards of beauty and attractiveness are purely subjective, anyway, and there are plenty of fat-fanciers out there, even among the gym-rat “fit” crowd. So they could pay their money to get in, and be all disappointed at the limited choice, because everyone looks alike! Seriously, these days, with the limited “standard of beauty” in Hollywood, I have trouble telling one actress from another, anymore.
What we need are more clubs run by people who say, “You wait in line, you get your turn,” and bribing the bouncer isn’t even a thing, because everyone gets in, eventually, anyway, and the bouncer’s only job is the original job of bouncing OUT the troublemakers. Let everyone in, and the “standards of beauty” will take care of themselves.
Seriously not surprised by this one. At the meat market they cut the fat. A see and be seen and prelude to sexual relations place unless it specifies fat people are the main draw usually do exclude fat people (women mostly) you also won’t see a lot of old, shabbily dressed (unless Rock Star) handicapped or physically disfigured people. They should just put a tag on it that says if you don’t look like you could be in a beer commercial, you are not welcome here. It is lie the chair situation with out the physical barrier. When hatred is a law, sexism, homophobia, racism it is a visible target you can point to, when people “just don’t like your kind” (same descriptors) it is a more complex proposition. It is hard to fight a phantom. First you have to prove you are being discriminated against.
they know what they are doing. But how do you catch them at it and prove it. The whole concept of the in crowd is that there is a larger OUT crowd. Why even subscribe to it?
“The whole concept of the in crowd is that there is a larger OUT crowd.” This is why I never liked those kind of places to begin with.
Although with dance clubs, this sort of attitude seems to be prevalent, so folks who like to dance are often barred if they don’t fit in.
I love the song, “I’m In With the Out Crowd.” It was a major self-esteem booster in my young years.
OK, new dream. If I’m ever rich enough to own a business, I will own a dance club that has no admission policy. It will be strictly first-come, first served, with “line attendants,” to monitor crowd levels, and bouncers only to get rid of trouble-makers. And I get to choose the play list.
I’ve been to one, once. At Disney World’s Pleasure Island. All the clubs were open to all (except a few that were 21 and up, which I did not attend), and you could just walk right in, until it got too crowded, and then the line was first-come, first served, waiting until some space cleared up before you went in. Just like going on a ride, or going to a show at the parks. It was great.
In my young naivety, I thought that was how all nightclubs were.
Too bad that place was replaced by something else, because I thought it was awesome.
And now I want to watch “Night at the Roxbury.”
Which is actually sad, because the whole thing was about how hard it was for these guys to actually get into the “good” clubs.
Speaking of size and exclusion: I saw an article recently about Western fashionistas discovering the wonders of women’s shalwar kameez, or as they called it, “dress and pants.”
And on top of the weird tone of the article, like a huge chunk of the world hadn’t been wearing this for like thousands of years, I had this thought: All y’all fat ladies out there, how many of you have never worn something long enough to call a dress…over something that you could have worn with a blouse, and called “pants” or “leggings” or “stirrups?” Every clothing catalog that caters to fat women on a budget that I can recall sells this combo. Wal-Mart sells this combo.
But I guess it didn’t exist in the West until that one actress from Friends started wearing it…>.>