I imagine a lot more "looks" would be given to a thin girl in a mini, or fireman in a speedo, or a Rottweiler in a party hat. Or a muslim woman in a burka, or a hispanic man riding a donkey, or a monkey sitting on the ground sorting through images for the PP. I think anybody standing in the middle of the sidewalk taking a photo would get looks, no matter who they were! :)
Wow....makes me think of the saying..'only those who have never sinned may cast a stone'! I hope I am not guilty of looking at people like that! She is a brave lady.
@grizzlysghost hmmm, that make me wonder...would we get the same reaction? Some of the shots might be troubling, but we do seem to ham it up for the camera!
just my opinion.. some of those looks probably have to do with her mode of attire or her pose and not her weight.. I am overweight.. and hope I dress to not accentuate my weight. and I have to agree with @grizzlysghost on his assessment of the situation!!
This is brilliant. People make fun of each other so much, and it's pretty insightful of her to do something like this. I rather enjoyed seeing people look like judgmental pricks when they didn't realize they were being watched.
@grizzlysghost I have to disagree with you on this one. I don't think that any random person standing in the middle of a street in NYC, for example, would get the kinds of looks this woman has gotten.
Having been obese for most of my life, you know the looks when you see them. I guess one could say that we see what we are looking for, but I've also experienced the follow-up comments, jabs, jokes, taunts and embarrassing situations that follow some of those looks. I don't think that all of what we see in the photo is something that would happen to just anyone.
While @cheribug has a point about the way she dresses, it's not like she's wearing a bikini either. She's covered up, she just isn't covering everything up in shame the way a lot of overweight people do. There is nothing -wrong- with how she is dressed, it's just not hiding the fat... so really, at the end of the day, it all adds up to the same thing. The bulk of the looks she is getting is due to her weight, whether it's the weight alone or the fact that she's not hiding it.
I think her photo project is fantastic... I also wish I'd thought of it while I was still big, although I never, in a million years, would have had the courage to do so.
Obviously this is a topic that is very close to my heart but yeah, I absolutely disagree that just anyone would get the same reactions she is getting. I guess it's six of one and half a dozen of the other... some may say that only someone with weight issues would see those looks as something bad that is specifically about her weight... but others would say that only people who haven't had serious weight issues would not see it.
I'm not saying that all of the looks are due to her weight, obviously to some degree anyone with a tripod set up taking photos of themselves will get a look... but I think some of them definitely are people sneering etc. The cops, for example, I think was just a bit of fun.... but anyway, yeah... regardless it's gotten us talking which means it's a great project.
Darnit I haven't been able to stop thinking about this since I posted. I keep going back and looking at her photos.
The more I look at it, the more I love that project of hers! I think the reason is that when I go back and look at it after having time to think about it more, I can see the point where it's possible that those situations were created. Meaning, it's so easy to take a passer by who is just looking at someone standing with a camera, and make it look as though they are looking at her because of her weight. To bring out that feeling in someone, like me, who has had weight issues and is quick to jump to the conclusion that the stares and looks ARE because of the weight.
The more I think about it the more I realize that the project doesn't show us much about what the other people around her are thinking, but how our perception of it is colored by our own life experiences.
I dont think I will stop looking at everything just in case someone has a camera. The only way the unusual becomes familiar is by looking at it often and learning to accept things as they are
I think this is less about weight and more about how she is posing / taking photos / being photographed. Seems that some of the poses are intentional, like dropping something in order to pick it up, ect. She is not large in a manner that would attract a lot of attention in my opition. But, good project! I do feel people of all shapes and sizes should be photographed and shared so we can all see how real people look!!! ;) Thanks for sharing this project!!!
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Having been obese for most of my life, you know the looks when you see them. I guess one could say that we see what we are looking for, but I've also experienced the follow-up comments, jabs, jokes, taunts and embarrassing situations that follow some of those looks. I don't think that all of what we see in the photo is something that would happen to just anyone.
While @cheribug has a point about the way she dresses, it's not like she's wearing a bikini either. She's covered up, she just isn't covering everything up in shame the way a lot of overweight people do. There is nothing -wrong- with how she is dressed, it's just not hiding the fat... so really, at the end of the day, it all adds up to the same thing. The bulk of the looks she is getting is due to her weight, whether it's the weight alone or the fact that she's not hiding it.
I think her photo project is fantastic... I also wish I'd thought of it while I was still big, although I never, in a million years, would have had the courage to do so.
Obviously this is a topic that is very close to my heart but yeah, I absolutely disagree that just anyone would get the same reactions she is getting. I guess it's six of one and half a dozen of the other... some may say that only someone with weight issues would see those looks as something bad that is specifically about her weight... but others would say that only people who haven't had serious weight issues would not see it.
I'm not saying that all of the looks are due to her weight, obviously to some degree anyone with a tripod set up taking photos of themselves will get a look... but I think some of them definitely are people sneering etc. The cops, for example, I think was just a bit of fun.... but anyway, yeah... regardless it's gotten us talking which means it's a great project.
The more I look at it, the more I love that project of hers! I think the reason is that when I go back and look at it after having time to think about it more, I can see the point where it's possible that those situations were created. Meaning, it's so easy to take a passer by who is just looking at someone standing with a camera, and make it look as though they are looking at her because of her weight. To bring out that feeling in someone, like me, who has had weight issues and is quick to jump to the conclusion that the stares and looks ARE because of the weight.
The more I think about it the more I realize that the project doesn't show us much about what the other people around her are thinking, but how our perception of it is colored by our own life experiences.