- This morning, one of my favourite comic creators (lady, feminist, queer or otherwise) made yet another problematic tweet. This time it was about fat people and poutine:
- Thinking that this was less that cool, I tweeted a photo of and link to the tweet:
As much as I love @kate_leth 's comics I can't deny this fat-shaming/body-snarking SUCKS: https://twitter.com/kate_leth/status/301377554902835200 …apic.twitter.com/Fpeqa2LX7554902835200 http://pic.twitter.com/Fpeqa2LX- My friend Juliet chimed in with her support of my criticism:
@kaimcn @kate_leth UGH not cool.- Kate didn't like the criticism she received for this tweet and doubled down on her fat-shaming, food-snarking and body policing. (Criticizing what people eat because they're fat is all of these things.)
- Somewhere around this point Kate blocked me.
.@JulietBurgess apparently it's ME that's not cool. @kate_leth blocked me & doubled down on fat shaming. pic.twitter.com/arnsJFGQom/arnsJFGQ- @kaimcn @kate_leth That is super sad! It's like SO hard for people to not shit on fat bodies. I don't get it.
- My girl Peggy has a solution but it isn't my favourite:
@pegspirate I thought it was ok to like problematic things but I find problematic people a lot harder to deal with. I have a sad now.- @pegspirate I've been saying (in my mind) "she's young, she'll grow out of it" about a lot of her tweets and I guess it's time to quit that.
- Frankly, at this point I was more sad than angry. It's a selfish reaction but it's the one I had.
- eta: I wanted to clarify that when I say "I'm ok with liking problematic media" it is implied but not stated that I like these things while being critical of their problematic aspects. Critically approaching art and people is very important to me and my on-going process of being a better person. I can like things & be critical of them and I can be critical of something & like it. It's important that I say that for those who don't know me or know that that's how I approach media.
- I really truly am a fan of Kate Leth's comics and they way she deals with the issues of being a woman, being queer, being kinky, being tattooed, basically with being a lot of things we share. I like her original art and her work on Adventure Time. I think it's rad that she works at a comic shop and is involved in events like Ladies' Night (I wish my LCS did that!). I think Kate is a talented artist and a rising star and I thought of her as something of an activist and feminist (she's certainly written comics that present her that way).
But this isn't the first time Kate has made problematic tweets/comments. Her unwavering support of Laci Green is troubling to me as I'm troubled by anyone offering blanket support in the face of thoughtful criticism (and Laci has been criticized thoughtfully & respectfully as well as being attacked unfairly). I've found her comments about Catholic school girls to be more creepy than admiring (and would be downright disgusting if they came from a privileged cis/het man). Last month Kate made racist tweets and while she ignored my criticism, she did apologize when another friend called her on the problematic use of language. - My friend Jill was on point with this tweet:
- Kate has told all her fat fans that they don't matter by making offensive/oppressive tweets and refusing to hear, acknowledge and learn from the criticism.
As seen on
badpicturesofmymediocreart.tumblr.com
