To feel nobody should watch the new Netflix show "insatiable"

[spanishrobot]

I'm a young woman who like many other young women in my generation has struggled with weight issues and ED's.

This new Netflix show is about an unpopular "fat" girl who becomes skinny over a summer break and goes on to become popular. There was a huge petition by a young woman named Florence Given who tried to get the show cancelled due to a huge proportion of young girls and women speaking out saying the advert for the show alone was enough to trigger their eating disorder. I believe it got over a hundred thousand signatures.

The show has gone on to be shown on Netflix and I honestly dread to think of how many young girls would be influenced by the poor story line. Why in 2018 are we still telling young women the only way they will be attractive and liked is if they are skinny and attractive? I find it horrifying.

Contd....

It ends in McCartyism, the Stasi and the Taliban.

I don’t think TV shows owe their audiences anything, if you don’t think it’s suitable for kids don’t let your own watch it. It’s a source of entertainment not education. I don’t think kids are as easily influenced as we sometimes believe, mine just watched Dexter and as of yet, no serial killers! It seems every new show with a bit of edge gets written off as inappropriate.. PC police gone mad.

It almost feels like the message from the petitioners is ..... ban everything to do with diets, healthy eating, being a normal body weight , so you can carry on overeating and getting fatter with nobody batting an eyelid. It's like people want to normalise obesity

Who are you to tell other people what to watch especially as you have no idea of what the show will be like! Get over yourself.

Anyway, more people will be aware of it now you have posted this message so it might get more viewers than before

If you don't want to watch it, fine. There's plenty of films and TV shows I don't like the look of but other people enjoy them. Trying to ban things because they might offend you is tedious and irrational.

You're adding to the hysteria. Sure you don't secretly work for Netflix...?

Banning and reporting shit you don’t like. You people are fucking pathetic

Or maybe I'm just a fat person who is so fucking sick of seeing thin actresses in fat suits or actual fat actresses only be the butt of jokes, or the "funny" friend. Monica in Friends (hello, fat suit!) is a joke when fat but gains value when she loses all of the weight. Or Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect with the "I don't do cardio" jokes. Or Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty - it's so hilarious and ridiculous that she would feel pretty because she is slightly overweight HA HA HA.

It's utterly draining. Who needs more of this?

I am pleased with the (generally) sensible attitudes on this thread.

Can you imagine 'Heathers' being released today? the whole 'woke' internet would be up in flames!.

Sounds a boring concept

But ban it? For being "triggering"?!

SavannahSky

Yes, but it puts a message out there. And it's not MY petition.

The entire world shouldn't be censored just in case someone is "triggered"

YABU.

I fully intend to watch this. As far as I can tell from the trailer, it’s ABOUT the fact losing weight hasn’t magically made everything better.

And as it happens I’ve suffered from an ED.

Oh! Omitted to answer your original post! Yes, you ABU! (But you’ve succeeded in really highlighting the series, consequently reminding me to add it to my list. Thanks, OP!)

Can you imagine 'Heathers' being released today? the whole 'woke' internet would be up in flames!
OMG, this has just reminded me, I was on the tube a few weeks ago and saw a poster for a ‘Heathers’ production. I NEED to go and see that!!

BonnieF totally agree and also assumes that nothing they like is offensive to anyone else, maybe people who sign this kind of petition should submit lists of their watching habits, then we can start counter-petitions. What right have they to decide what others can watch just because they don't want to? It's a commercial show, on a fairly liberal platform, it's hardly a hard-core snuff movie! Plus at one point a number of shows/films were banned here at one point, mainly horror movies, all of which gained a cult following and all of which I ended up watching on the underground network, not because I was into them but because they were banned. So all that will happen is that the petition will be good PR as loads of people will watch it to see what the fuss is about and even if Netflix stop showing it, pirated versions will circulate online, so totally pointless.

I too am sick of the 'Nodebate'/ 'NoPlatforming' brigade restricting choices for others. A group of facists trashed a bookshop the other day because they didn't agree with the politics of the books they sell, how is this not a similar way of behaving?

I read this today about the show. Thought it made valid points (and wasn’t calling for a ban, I don’t think):

www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/insatiable-fat-shaming

The don't watch it amusedbush.

I hate horror films and they give me nightmares so I self censor and don't watch them. It would never occur to me to try and ban them.

Your body isn't anyone else's business and it's also not TV or the wider media's responsibility to never comment on the variety of human shapes and sizes because someone might get upset. Would you be happier if there were no fat characters on TV? That would unrealistic and shows would be accused of excluding certain types of actors or characters.

I think portrayals of all sorts of people have changed loads in recent times and there are plenty of overweight characters whose body size is nothing to do with what they're like. OITNB is a prime example. They're not primarily fat, some of them happen to be fat. Friends was 20 years ago, they also did a horrible job of portraying homosexuality. Loads has changed since then.

I'm early 20s and had an ED in my teens. I'm keen to watch it as I think they're trying to usurp the trope and I like to form my own opinions.

Also isn't this essentially ''The Girl Most Likely to...''

That was made in '73. This concept/story line is nothing new.

Would you be happier if there were no fat characters on TV?

But what I'm saying is that fat characters are currently Fat Characters. Capitalised. They are there because they're fat and it's funny, or something.

How about a show where there's a fat person who has a great job and a partner and they love their life and their weight is never mentioned? Like Melissa McCarthy in Gilmore Girls? More of this, please! Too often it's tired jokes at their expense and it's boring now.

FloraHiggins

That article is exactly how I feel about it.

amusedbush, who forced you into watching those?

Just watched the trailer more about revenge, who doesn’t like a bit of revenge served cold. I will check it out tonight when kids go to bed thanks.

are we still telling young women the only way they will be attractive and liked is if they are skinny and attractive? I find it horrifying.

What you're talking about are wider cultural attitudes towards women, banning one show won't change that. It's everywhere: online, Instagram, selfies, magazines, actresses. Should we ban everything? Perhaps 'skinny' women should be banned too? I have a friend who's much thinner than me, should I tie her up and force feed her so she doesn't make me feel fat?

If you want to change attitudes then look at the wider issues, one programme is nothing, it won't change a thing and banning it will just piss off people who might otherwise be sympathetic.

AnneLovesGilbert

I appreciate that OITNB is a good example of what I want for the future, on the whole. Although they have made quips about weight before ("Boo is finally a healthy BMI" or something).

WorraLiberty

There's a difference between tired fat jokes within a show and a show that is entirely centered around it.

But you weren't forced to watch those shows ambushed, you actively chose too (I'm assuming) and now you want to ban other people from doing the same?