Bet that got your attention!
All you fabulous at whatever size you are girls are probably roling your eyes in disdain at that headline though. Of course fat women get their fair share of bedroom action. I'm far too coy to talk about my own body count but let's face it, you'd think that nobody over a size 12 was allowed to get naked if you read some of the comments about the latest, frankly stupid, storyline about Eastenders' Heather Trott discovering she's pregnant.
Now, this isn't to say that a storyline about a character who hasn't been with a man (that we know of) since George Michael was still playing straight, falling miraculously pregnant at the first sniff of bedroom action isn't a tad unrealistic. Let's face it, she's a big girl on the wrong side of forty and she's pretty statistically amazing if she fell pregnant from a lone one night stand. But that's not the issue. It's the horrified "Who would sleep with Heather?" sharp intakes of breath you read across the Internet if you are a sad case like me who actually reads that stuff.
Some of the choice comments:
"Whoever was insane and sick enough to bed her shoud hang there head in shame then run a mile"
(maybe that contributor should run back to school for some spelling & grammar practice?)
The general consensus seems to be that anyone who could be responsible for the latest potential new resident of Albert Square must have been drunk at the time of his or her conception, or desperate. Because nobody in their right mind would ever want to sleep with A.Fat.Bird!
If it wasn't so damn ridiculous, it would be insulting. Have any of these witty social commentators actually looked around and noticed that there are mums of every different size out there? Most of us know that it's actually much harder to conceive when you're medically underweight than overweight simply because your body decides you can't possibly be trusted to support a baby if you have no fat reserves, and shuts off your periods to make sure.
And what's more, it's annoyed me for some time that the token fat bird on a soap has to be stupid and greedy as well. Obsessed with George Michael, with no dress sense and a personality that just screams "Slap me!" Of course, you could just tell me I take things too seriously, and I'd reply that I only really care when I watch the programme and wear away my precious tooth enamel by gritting my teeth at the script writers' portrayal of 'Hev' as a total moron with limited social skills and very dubious taste in headbands.
It still annoys me though. As does the fact that we're allowed to ridicule fat people because they clearly have no feelings. I hope this daft storyline gets used to a good effect, and shows that Heather isn't automatically going to be a useless mother who feed the baby chips and cheese 'because that's what a fat mum would do.' It would be bloody great if one day there was a really foxy, classy, intelligent and witty woman on 'The Square' who all the men lusted after, but who just happened to be a size 16 plus.
Fat people as the butts of biscuit jokes is SO boring.
What do you think?
