“She’s Fat/Digs Food”: Fat People Only Like Other Fat People But it’s much easier for people to understand two skinny or traditionally attractive people being together because they’re attracted to each other than when a skinny or traditionally attractive person chooses to be with a fat man for other less superficial reasons. This myth is much less often applied to skinny or “fit” men, unless of course that person is known to have money or power. The truth: While there are, of course, some people who only seek relationships for money or power, the truth is that quite often, people will choose to be with a fat man because they actually want to be with him. More Radical Reads: Moving from Healthism to Radical Self-Love: The Man in the Photo This kind of thought is extremely damaging for a lot of fat men, placing all their value as people into the money or power they may or may not have. Why else would someone who could presumably get with anyone they wanted choose to be with a disgusting fat man, right? If a classically attractive person of any gender is with a fat man, the general assumption is that this fat man has to have money or some sort of power. This myth is something we see throughout American culture, whether it’s in movies, politics, or popular culture. The myth: The fact that this myth is the most popular of the six given answers - 34 of the 100 people originally surveyed gave this or a similarly-worded answer - is troubling in itself. “Fatty Got Money!”: Fat Men Are Only Valuable For Their Money or Power Let’s go through each of the top six most popular answers in order to better understand how they’re inaccurate and harmful to men of size. Instead it perpetuated body terrorism against fat bodies to score cheap laughs. However, calling out fatphobic myths was obviously not the game’s aim. The one thing this particular round of Family Feud does correctly is summarize many of the unfortunate myths our society perpetuates about fat people - specifically, fat men - and relationships. My sister tagged me in this post knowing my background in fat studies and sexuality studies (and as a fat masculine person), knowing I would agree with her frustrations. “This really bothers me! This is why people think you have to be skinny/fit to be beautiful, to be wanted, to be loved, and to deserve anything…this is NOT OKAY!” It was quite the opposite: my sister was angry at the round’s subject and the answers given. The contestants’ answers end up providing a humorous round in the minds of the contestants, Steve Harvey, and presumably the audience.īut my sister didn’t share this video on her Facebook page to garner laughs from her friends and family. On the episode she recorded, host and comedian Steve Harvey asks the contestants to answer a rather loaded statement: “Name a reason a woman might decide to be with a chubby man.” About a month ago, one of my sisters tagged me in a video she recorded of Family Feud, a game show where two families compete for a cash prize by trying to find the most popular answers to a variety of questions.