In an attempt to be inclusive and celebrate diversity, sports brand Nike recently introduced plus-sized mannequins at their flagship store in London. Ever since images of the new addition that shows the dummy sporting a black sports bra and tights at the Oxford Street store were released, they’ve been spreading like wildfire across the internet, receiving much adulation.
Lately, however, this initiative has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, owing to a British journalist who vividly spelt out her fat-phobic take on the same, in an article titled: Obese Mannequins Are Selling Women A Dangerous Lie. Assumingly putting all her emotional intelligence aside, and merely focusing on making this piece as clickbaity as possible, Tanya Gold described the new mannequins as “immense, gargantuan, and vast.” She further said: “It heaves with fat, and is, in every measure, obese.” If those adjectives weren’t enough, she went on to state how they most definitely didn’t look like they were even close to ready for a run in the shiny Nike gear, because… wait for it… “She cannot run. She is, more likely, prediabetic and on her way to a hip replacement.” Ouch!
As is clear, Gold’s statements stemmed from assumption and pre-conceived notions about plus-sized women – making her sound nothing but mightily distasteful and misinformed. She further dared to question the “terrible cynicism” displayed by the brand, a rather foot-in-mouth thing to say, given that she, herself, was so blatantly passing judgement on people’s health and motivation levels, based on their appearance. Rightfully so, her callous and negative approach received major backlash from netizens, and within a few hours of this going viral, there was an uproar on Twitter. Women from different walks of life, including sport, entertainment, and nutrition shot back.
Ultrarunner Latoya Shauntay Snell, who has worked tirelessly towards promoting marathon running and body positivity, wrote on Instagram: “Dear Tanya Gold, In the last 24 hours, I learned that ‘obese’ mannequins cannot run in fitness gear. In fact, she’s probably pre-diabetic, looking for a hip replacement and you know what — you might be right. I was admiring the way she doesn’t have a double chin, how hard it is to find a single soft area on her plastic skin to check her glucose levels or how that hollow body doesn’t have bones. Actually, I hate her too. She will never know what it’s like to be publicly shamed by people’s eyes, a doctor diagnose her every ailment by her rolls or be told demeaning comments that will infiltrate her brain the way previous generations have done to us.
Let’s be honest Tanya: The mannequin doesn’t give a damn about your reckless article because she can’t hear you. But humans like me with a pulse heard your comments way before the Telegraph gave you a green light to publish this abomination.”
Actress Jameela Jamil too shared her view on social media: “If you care about women, you best care about fat women too, and show up and get loud and speak out about this sort of outrageous bigotry. It’s bad enough they have been subjected to constant policing, harassment, and concern trolling over their health, when nobody knows their health situation. I GURANTEE I am less fit and less healthy than all of my friends who are bigger than me. You don’t know *shit* about their health. You are not an MRI. But THIS is crazed bullying. It’s hate speech. We can’t allow people to discuss size like this. We wouldn’t allow it about race or religion in these huge publications (sic).”
She added, “So backward, so grotesque and so disappointing.” Singer Paloma Faith commented on Jamil’s licit Instagram rant, supporting her: “I can’t even begin to contemplate what a shallow unintelligent view this woman has exerted. I’m in shock!”
Well, moral of the story? All that glitters is definitely not Gold.
