Gaslighting American women
by digby
Are there a lot of delusional psychiatrists out there? I honestly don't know, maybe there are. I do know that this one is:
Dr. Keith Ablow, a member of something called the Fox News Medical A-Team, doesn't think First Lady Michelle Obama has any business promoting childhood nutrition.
"And how well can she be eating? She needs to drop a few," Ablow said during Tuesday's episode of "Outnumbered."
The comment drew a collective cringe from the same four female panelists who had called the first lady "annoying" for her health initiatives only seconds earlier.
Despite the ridicule from his fellow panelists, the show's "one lucky guy" dug in.
"Well, no, let's be honest. There's no french fries happening? That's all kale and carrots? I don't buy it," Ablow said, adding that he would welcome nutrition advice from President Obama.
Yes, he's primarily just a right wing asshole, so that accounts for most of that puerile obnoxiousness. But he's also delusional:
She is simply not fat. In fact, she's an incredibly fit 50 year old woman.
This is gaslighting of the worst kind. This cretin is typical of certain men who go out of their way to make women feel insecure about themselves by claiming they look different than they do. I recall some of the stuff I heard about Clinton during the 2008 campaign that similarly made me see red. I was shocked that people thought they could get away with it in these supposedly more enlightened times. Live and learn.
More importantly, there's nothing wrong with being fat and there's also nothing wrong with pushing healthy eating for children, whether you are fat or thin. Mothers of all body types have been telling kids to eat their vegetables and go outside and play since time began. This has only become controversial since a fit, African American first lady said it.
The right wing maternal role model seems to be Sarah Palin, a svelte woman who tells American children to eat as many cookies as they want and says drinking gallons of sugar water is just fine because "it's just paahp!"
And to think these conservatives have spent years condemning liberals for saying "if it feels good do it."
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