More on appearance vs. ability...

On NPR's website, former Sleater-Kinney guitarist/singer Carrie Brownstein discusses press coverage of The Gossip and their lead singer Beth Ditto, which focuses almost entirely on Beth Ditto's weight, rather than her undeniable talent. She looks at a review by Elizabeth Day of The Guardian, which mentions Ditto's weight and body size throughout, and even uses food metaphors to describe the band (Beth is compared to cheese, while the band is compared to a club sandwich).

(For those of you not in the know, The Gossip is an American band that has achieved notoriety in certain circles in the U.S., but who are now out-and-out celebrities in the U.K. and much of the rest of Europe. You can go to the link posted above to see photos and videos of Beth and The Gossip in action.)

I can vouch for The Gossip's talent. I saw them at the Red and Black Cafe in Portland, OR, in about 2000 - probably the best live show I've ever seen. It's hard to describe their energy, but by the end of their set, literally everyone in the audience was dancing (and, for that matter, drenched in sweat from being packed into a tiny venue, but that's another story).

Brownstein's argument is here:

Maybe Day is jealous that Beth Ditto can be herself and be famous. And the reason Ditto is famous is that she's incredibly talented, not to mention unique. Perhaps Day, like many of the other people obsessing over and writing incessantly about Ditto's weight, are experiencing the sad realization that most of us have bought in to a certain idealized version of beauty, so much so that we're willing to starve ourselves, skip meals, politely decline dessert and feel intense shame and scrutiny about our bodies. Moreover, and certainly there is truth to this, we feel like in order to be successful we need to look a certain way. And then here comes Beth Ditto, proving that the combination of talent, confidence and just not giving a s--- trumps all. So what does Day do? She looks at Beth Ditto and thinks of a club sandwich. Why? Because she probably wishes she could eat 10 of them a day and still keep her job.

Unrealistic beauty standards do terrible harm to men and women, boys and girls. I thought we were getting close to having a discussion about that on the SD blogosphere, but we've kind of shied away from it again. It's a complicated issue, but worth discussing, I think.