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She knows what she weighs, and she knows what that means for her career prospects and her future health. She hasn’t been living under a rock, for goodness’ sake; she’s an intelligent young woman.

To answer the hypothetical posed by dubdub2000, though, NO I wouldn’t say anything. My best friend is quite overweight. She is very aware of it, she sees her doctor regularly, and they have talked about the various medical implications of her size. She knows what she has to do to change it and as an adult woman it is up to her to make those choices. Am I supposed to stop being her friend because she hasn’t started taking an aerobics class? If she wants my help or support, she’ll have it, but it’s her body, her business.

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Why are you operating under the assumption that I’m an artist? I never said that; but assumption is your strength, I suppose. To disagree is one thing, but to trivialize someone’s experience when you’re never walked in her shoes or those of the underepresented is disdainful and not to mention pitiable. You accuse me of being stuck in the past but your dismissal and narrow consideration of the situation is what’s old. Please.

Neither did I make a statement that there is some clandestine manipulator who is strategically holding anyone back. That’s useless rhetoric that I’ve never allowed to influence me. I was elaborating on the complex sociological issues that STILL affect minorities in the industry, and blacks aren’t the only ones. This post just happens to be about a black actress, so I decided to keep it about that. If you would rather hear a variation on the same disenfranchisment from a non-black minority who’s NOT “making it up and playing the victim card”, ask an Asian.

Furthermore, if you’d read closely rather than littering the thread with your reactionary bullshit you would note that I concede that Americans have the privilege to say what they want to say. That’s indisputable. The problem that I have is when it’s taken for granted AND used in the place of cogent thinking…something you reiterated in your address to me. So, unless you want to add some critical thought to the discussion rather than negating what I say with your blanketed assumptions, fall back.

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@VictoryGin: Woman of very dark color have made it big in the modeling world (I am thinking particularly of Iman) albeit they are few and far between. What a shame that think of all the fabulous talent we have no doubt been missing out on all these years simply because a young woman’s skin was too dark. So strange to me.

I think this young woman is beautiful and talented and has the chops necessary to make it big, although the dogs of Hollywood are already nipping at her heels. I’m rooting for her.

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I didn’t think that you were trying to wish Sidibe ill will, and if you were I honestly wouldn’t care provided that you could rationally defend yourself. You managed to do that. Not everyone is going to like her or like looking at her. Period. I just encourage people to think about the wider social context.

Regarding, the financing of black project….very good point. I completely agree. Some time last year Spike Lee was doing an interview and gave his blunt opinion about his disdain of Tyler Perry and his work when asked. The interviewer then asked would black people actually go see higher quality projects if presented to them. Tyler Perry shrugged his shoulders and said that you choose with your wallet. So, yes, I agree with that. In Perry’s defense, he said that he’s trying to put relatable characters on screen and kudos to him from attempting to up representation, but it’s still low-brow buffoonery. Plug Jesus, and you’ve got a winner with the AA community. Eye roll.

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Hey, you’re a bullshit artist and I’m just calling you on it. If you can’t make it in society in 2010, it’s you. No one is holding you back, or holding you down. And there are ten million avenues of media nowadays, if you don’t like the “white media” find another stream. Where do you live that women of color are preconditioned to hate themselves since birth? Better check with the parents, because they apparently aren’t doing their jobs.

Please save the lecturing on the Bill of Rights too. Most Americans take it for granted, absolutely. But that’s because they are free to do so. It’s a RIGHT to speak freely and it’s a RIGHT to sit at home bashing celebrities if we so choose.

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Presumptuous. lol. Like cultural traumas have an expiration date. I give Jews about another decade.

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American, born and raised.

I didn’t give the Bill of Rights its name, but ironically if I could have I probably would have chosen to use the same word: RIGHTS. Not because it is, but because it’s philosophical supposition and wishful thinking. Most people in the world don’t have the PRIVILEGE of speaking their minds whether due to legislative or cultural injunction. The 1st Ammendment was put into place to protect political dissidents and to preempt the control of information by a totalitarian state, so when you dumb it down by crying “free speech” in order to protect the fact that you want to spout asininity then its a profound misestimation of what free speech should be able to accomplish. There are political critics in Iran who are being arrested, jailed, and killed for speaking out against the current regime in Iran. If you live in N. Korea, you don’t even have access to the internet, in Turkey you can’t speak ill of the state, and Turkey is a democracy. So yes, it’s offensive when my fellow Americans go on and on ad nauseum about their “right” to take the piss of a celebrity online when many around the world can’t even vote or critique how they’re being governed. It’s repeatedly and arrogantly taken for granted.

Furthermore, you wouldn’t have had to play the free speech card in the first place if you had come up with a convincing argument as to why you aren’t required to like this girl.

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All of the actresses that you mentioned, though immensely talented, are character actresses. How many people can actually name them by name except you, me, and a few others who care enough to notice their work? (My personal fav in Viola Davis.) They have rarely had the exposure beyond the small screen partly because there is much less material for them adn partly because I think that it will be hard for people to accept them on the big screen chiefly because of their appearance. It’s a two-fold issue. They are not “cute” by many standards apart from race, except for perhaps Audra MacDonald. Then they are dark-skinned black women. Ever notice the majority of famous black women working in music or film are medium-toned to light skinned? It’s an entirely separate issue on top of just being fat or not looking the part. It ties into it a very sensitive issue for many women of color. Few are denying that Sidibe will be able to get work. She will, and it will be along the lines of these aformentioned actresses because of her looks. She’s limited. We agree on that. This is why there are so many who want her to succeed…because perhaps they want to see her do more than just occasional episodes of Law and Order…because so many of her kind are working in relative obscurity. People are supporting Sidibe because she’s a figurehead for many.

If she does conform (as much as she can), that will increase her chances, but will she have the success of even Jennifer Hudson whose look aside from her size is more conventional and therefore more acceptable?

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