TV personality Whitney Thore is out to change perceptions
WHITNEY WAY
THORE is an American television personality best known for her appearances on the television show My Big Fat Fabulous Life. As a fat acceptance movement activist, Thore has also achieved national recognition for her online campaign for promoting obesity and “positive body image”, No Body Shame. Here in an exclusive chat made available to City
Times, she lets us in on her world.
Has becoming famous helped or hindered you in relationships?
I would say that it is hard to deal with so much criticism every day, especially with the Internet. It is somewhat hard to get a date because men think they know everything about me. Obviously, it is just difficult knowing that people know your secrets and your life. On the positive side, I think the show has really served to normalise, fat bodies and has been an example for people to show that fat people are just like every other type of person.
Is it difficult to promote your cause, especially when the whole world seems to be striving for fitness?
Many people think that all fat people feel like there’s a skinny person inside waiting to get out. I don’t feel that way. I am at peace and one with my body. It is, of course, difficult to maintain my selfconfidence and have people not think I’m crazy because everyone in the world is very focused on losing weight, so it’s an uphill battle every day.
Do you think society treats plus size men and women differently?
Fat men are definitely more accepted by society, and we know this by turning on the TV or watching a movie. There are tonnes of fat men who are not made fun of because of their weight. We expect women to be beautiful before anything else. Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl, people are calling her fat because she has a little bit of a stomach! We would never see that happen to a man.
Do you think everyday life is harder for an plus size person?
Even just the judgements that we make in our own mind when we see an overweight person are terrible. We assume them to be lazy, ugly, worthless, dumb, but then there are more important things, like the fact that there have been studies that show fat women are more likely to not get hired and more likely to be fired than their thin counterparts. We also are routinely dismissed by doctors for actual health problems because they say, ‘oh, well, you need to lose weight’, and they don’t look at what the actual issue is.
What is your advice to the women who struggle with their body image?
I think all women struggle with their body image, no matter what size you are, but I think that the most important thing to know is that it can get better. I think that you need to actively speak out, get the advice that you want, the support that you want, and also to know that you don’t have to have all the answers right now, you don’t have to have all the confidence right now. I think often women feel bad about themselves because they think they’re just not able to be confident, but I think confidence comes after you have really put yourself outside of your comfort zone.
If there was one thing you’d like to change about yourself, what would it be?
I definitely would want more hair. Because of polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, I lost a lot of my hair, and I used to have nice, thick hair, so I’m still very insecure about, about my hair. So, I would love some hair. Everything else, I’m okay with.
Besides dancing, which you do on your show, where do you find your inspiration?”
I find my inspiration all over. I look at people who have challenges in life. I look at them accomplishing their goals and being strong and brave, and that is always very inspiring to me.