Losing It, Part II

I had the pleasure of catching about fifteen minutes of Losing it With Jillian this week. I wasn’t able to watch much more than that, so I promptly turned the channel to something more appropriate, like the second season of Friday Night Lights. But I digress. Losing it With Jillian is aptly titled, as watching the show makes a person want to climb the bell tower. The show is more of what you’ve seen of Jillian. Insults, screaming, and a healthy dose of death threats, compliments of Ms. Michaels. In the episode I watched, a mother was humiliated in front of her children. She cried, begged to for breaks, and eventually pushed her huffing, puffing, red-faced self to complete Jillian’s odd combination of exercises. I have seen Jillian perform the same “technique” on Biggest Loser contestants. She treats them like cattle, reminds them of how close they are to dying, and screams and them for falling off treadmills and not being able to lift inordinately heavy weights. All for their own good though, because deep-down she cares very deeply for the fatties.

I then stumbled upon this entry over at fatshionista.com. Now, I don’t necessarily agree with all of Lesley’s opinions, but I appreciate that she articulates herself well, and provides substantial back-up to her arguments. But what shocked me the most about her entry, was the video she posted of Jillian Michael’s hot mic faux-pas during an interview. I think it is a true testimony to her intentions behind the verbal abuse she serves up weekly on The Biggest Loser. Michaels, like many others, views fat people as a sort of non-people. And I believe that Lesley hit the nail on the head when she says :

It’s not simply Michaels’ fat-hatin’ that bugs me, nor is it her penchant for yelling. My problem is that her methods of engaging and motivating her clients is frighteningly close to a relationship which in any other context we would call abusive. Working off the two clips above exclusively — two clips I chose pretty much at random from a multitude of possibilities — I can make this case. For one, Michaels dehumanizes the fat people she works with (”They’re not like normal people”, “half-dead”). She seems to think the brains of fat people have been compromised such that they can only respond to repetitive screaming, not unlike wayward cattle. She makes threats, not just to their physical safety, but to their very lives (”The only way you’re coming off this damn treadmill is if you die on it”). Her abuse is calculated to break her clients down until they weep, and even then she doesn’t let up. She is unpredictable, with a vicious and quick temper, and is apathetic toward (if not gratified by) her clients’ discomfort, be it physical or emotional. There’s even elements of codependency in there, as it’s only when the fat people in question behave as instructed that her mood might change and they may receive some encouragement or support, which is only meted out in doses small enough to keep them craving more. And before any of this happens, the people she trains must first be convinced that they cannot possibly survive without her, that their lives prior to this introduction were worthless, their bodies but hollow shells — or, in this case, shells filled with soulless fat.

The real kicker for me is that a few years ago, I would have seen nothing wrong with Michaels' (or anyone else for that matter) treatment of overweight people. Fat acceptance is something I struggle with, even now. In some ways I do believe that I don't deserve to have a certain amount of success, money, healthy relationships, or love. That I deserve to be treated like a second-rate citizen. And it's not Jillian Michaels' fault that I feel this way; this issue is far more deeply rooted and systemic than some flash-in-the-pan trendster trainer. But I do think that shows like Michaels' perpetuate the emotion many overweight people already feel. The reason there is no backlash towards this type of behavior, is in my opinion, because people don't see anything wrong with it - regardless of what their size may be. There's something so devastatingly wrong about this, but I recognize that I contribute to the problem.

All of this is not to highlight what a horrible person Jillian Michaels is. She's playing a character, and obviously has filled a spot where there was demand for her type of character. There are a million Jillians in the world today, but I suppose this Jillian has made herself a mascot, in more than one way. The point of this exists in a challenge I have with myself. To talk to myself and treat myself the way I would if I were training The Biggest Loser contestants. To stop being so judgmental of other women of substance. To start questioning the mistreatment of all people, not just in cases where it's socially acceptable to do so.