Skorch Responds
There are basically three ways that an organization can respond to controversy: the most common being that they ignore it an hope it goes away. Then there is the option to get defensive and deny, deny, deny. But the third and, quite frankly, the least chosen, option is to acknowledge that somewhere along the way you fucked up and you’re going to try and fix it.
I’m pleased that Jessica Kane seems to have taken the third route by responding directly to our concerns and expressing a will to address the issues raise. Marcy Guevara has also responded to Sarah’s post on her potentially body shaming videos, as well promised to make an effort to avoid such problems in the future.
To be honest, when I received the following letter last week from Rock Solid PR & Fanbase Relations, I smelled bullshit and assumed Kane Kreative was simply trying to gloss over the issues or to let them fade away before returning to business as usual. However, Jessica’s personal response to our concerns seems genuine to me and I appreciate her efforts to understand where we are coming from.
But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And I love me some pudding.
As Skorch continues to blaze a trail for mainstream fat fashion, we hope we will see evidence that this shot across the bough has been a productive exercise in open dialogue.
As a digital publisher whose mission is to present fashion for the majority (see our Mission Statement for more information), the nature of our work comes with an obvious responsibility to make our readership feel empowered as beautiful, fabulous women regardless of labels or numbers. Due to the feedback we received from Marcy’s recent ‘confession’ video and the allowance of weight loss advertising in our magazine, we feel we need to reiterate that we have never encouraged readers to ignore health issues. On the contrary - we have always endeavoured to present a balanced viewpoint. The decision to do something to help you feel fabulous is a very personal one and shouldn’t be seen as a conflict of interest by those who are active in the Fat Acceptance community. We would never encourage our readers to ignore issues that may have a negative impact on their health - putting themselves first, and doing whatever they need to do to feel vibrant and strong, is something we will always get behind.
Rather than reduce our demographic to mere numbers and statistics (which some outlets, who shall remain nameless, use as scare tactics), our goal is to let our readers know that being ‘sexy’ is loving the skin that they’re in and feeling beautiful. To us, a ‘healthy’ body is one that is given the love and respect that it deserves - a healthy body is not belittled, abused or denied what it wants and needs. Everybody has the right, not the privilege, to get dressed up and let the world see them shine.
xoxo skorch will continue to represent positive body image as we have always done.
What do you all think?
fiercefatties
dufmanno
vesta44
JeninCanada
atchka
erylin
lexiedi
joannadeadwinter
dr deah
shaunta
roundgirlrocks
hlkolaya
lifeonfats
bronwenofhindscroft
osufem
onefabulousmamaistheshiznet
The Smokin' Deist
showmediabetes
drpattiethomas
The conflation of weight with health is something that is going to take a long time to correct in the public conversation on both topics.
The fact that they are willing to engage on this speaks volumes.
nothing but love.
thank you Shannon.
Jessica Kane
Publisher of Skorch
The other side of the coin is the “health as moral imperative/mandate”, but I don’t see where/how a fashion/fatshion publication can make a big dent in this. However, as Melissa at Shakesville says, teaspoons…………………….every little bit helps, and every little bit chips away at the rock of “health as moral imperative/mandate” and allows us all to have the level of health we want/are able to have for our individual selves without fear of repercussions from society.
“we feel we need to reiterate that we have never encouraged readers to ignore health issues. On the contrary – we have always endeavoured to present a balanced viewpoint. The decision to do something to help you feel fabulous is a very personal one and shouldn’t be seen as a conflict of interest by those who are active in the Fat Acceptance community. We would never encourage our readers to ignore issues that may have a negative impact on their health – putting themselves first, and doing whatever they need to do to feel vibrant and strong, is something we will always get behind.”
Being fat is not a health issue. A balanced viewpoint is not needed; dieting and Weight Watchers does not work to improve anyone’s health. Advertising for this in your e-magazine is lazy money. Dieting is, IMO, a direct conflict of interest with fat acceptance. Being fat is not ignoring an issue that may have a negative impact on my health. My fat doesn’t impact my life in any negative way. A combination of getting old and having my particular genes is probably going to cause me health issues, not my fat. Putting myself first means accepting the body I have and loving it for what it is, not looking or dressing a certain way. Having ads with Weight Watchers and Marcy’s ‘confession’ is poor marketing.
I was pretty much going to say the same thing as you Jen, but you did it so well, I’ll just say “I totally agree with JeninCanada!”
lol I’m going to mark it on my calender because that rarely happens!
While it is encouraging that Skorch are willing to enter into dialogue about the issues at hand, I think it is a mistake for them to trot out the ‘it’s all about personal choices and health’ rheotoric in regards to weight loss. But then the advertising $$ is what it comes down to isn’t it? I hope this issue can be worked through in a way and that Jessica et al at Skorch are willing to be presented with and to seriously consider the fact that the majority of Fat Acceptance advocates and activists (not all, but most) consider promoting dieting to be in direct opposition to what FA is all about and what we, as a movement, are trying to achieve.
I agree, Bri. The advertising money bothers me and I hope that when they return in the fall they have a sustainable business model that excludes weight loss advertisers. At the same time, I respect their decision to not promote a Fat Acceptance message. Of course, they’re going to lose a large chunk of readers who are looking for a size positive fashion resource if they continue promoting mixed messages.
I’m taking a wait-and-see approach. Cross your fingers.
Peace,
Shannon
You are all being stupid.
Someone needs to tell you to wake up. Being fat has absolutely no positives but many negatives. Period.
So eat less and exercise more. Try to lose weight. “Accepting the way you are” is not always a good thing.
Wish you all, all the best.
John,
Thanks for the advice. This is all news to us. We had no idea that being fat has no positives. And here we have been deluding ourselves that our humanity should be judged by something other than our surface area. How foolish of us.
And what is this “eat less and exercise” you speak of? As a fatty, I only know how to eat until my food source is depleted and to lay prone unless forced by fire or some other emergency to move. I will fire up the Google machine and see if there is more information on your suggestions.
Incidentally, accepting the fact that you’re an anonymous jackass seems to be working out well for you. By the way, does writing a blog about the German soccer league make you a complete loser or just a Eurotrash loser? And have you accepted that fact yet?
Peace,
Shannon
Oh Shannon, you have made my day! The snark in your reply to John had me ROFLOLing.
Thanks Mariellen, I do my best.
Peace,
Shannon
God I love WordPress! Shannon - have you used IP lookup before? WordPress gives you the IP’s of troll commenters, and by using IP lookup you can usually get their full details - real name (other than John Smith), phone number, address the IP is registered to, employer details… it’s AWESOME! I love forwarding troll comments to their employer. Or the employers IT section, which can be even more fun.
Freedom of information is an awesome, awesome thing.
hello everyone. thanks for engaging in this convo. it is important to talk about no matter what side you are on…. want to make clear that SKORCH gets 0$ at this point from WW. I pay weekly like any other person. At a healthy size 18, i go to stay a size 18, as my grandmother was declared “morbidly obese” by her doctors and died of a heart attack at 57.
Marcy,
We’re not at all concerned about your own personal choices with regards to your weight or dieting. We completely respect your choices and your right to do what you want to your body. That’s what we’re all about here at Fierce, Freethinking Fatties.
Where we take umbrage is when you’re promoting weight loss or fat-hiding techniques for other women. That’s the kind of thing they can find in any mainstream fashion magazine on any given Sunday. You want to promote health? Cool, we’re right behind you. You want to suggest ways to hide “problem areas” for your readers? You’ve completely lost us.
I am glad to hear that WW is not supporting Skorch in any way. That is reassuring, so thank you.
Peace,
Shannon