Fat-Female Phobia Hits a New Low?

[akirlu]

I don't see anybody noticing or taking this line, but to me, if a guy walks into a Lane Bryant store, takes six women hostage, possibly torturing them, and shoots them all, killing five and leaving the sixth for dead, that sure looks like a candidate for an anti-fat hate crime. Especially since all the reports so far agree that the store was not a good candidate for armed robbery per se.

ETA - If I'm right about the motives of the perp, the fact that the marketing software is putting up Lane Bryant / Caique Bras ads on that last article seems faintly creepy.

ETA 2 - The New York Times fatosphere article mentioned in comments is here, just in case you missed it like I did.

Comments

[jamesb.livejournal.com]

I missed this, you know I listen to news and stuff, but still it hasn't had as much coverage as a school killing would get.

Fat Female Fobia. OK, is it wrong for me to think that's a bit mad. Surely anyone who aims to rob a 'shop' is not right to begin with and the killing and torturing (haven't seen that bit) is extreme for a shop hold up.

Sounds like a loon.

as someone who once managed an Evans http://www.evans.co.uk/
I should point out that just like all fashion stores, they employ people of all sizes, so its not a given that 'only' fat people would be there, also customers especially women can shop in packs, and that doesn't mean they are all the same size.

I imagine this fella is a sicko - but anti-fat... specifically, I don't know. Jeez.

Sad for them families, regardless.

J

Not so sure

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

James-

I don't think you'd know this, because I don't think Lane Bryant has a UK presence at all, but the store in question is a chain of stores that sell only women's clothes, and only larger sizes. To be blunt, it's a store whose core clientelle are fat women. (Well, and fat cross-dressers, I suppose.) And while I am sure Lane Bryant would be willing to hire both men and women of all sizes, in principle, in practice many, many of the staff and management happen to be fat women. Both of these facts are pretty well known in the US. Even the police are speculating that the assailant may have picked the shop in question in order to avoid having to confront any men.

The torture thing is not official; it's based on the reports of the family of one of the victims, because of the distribution of bleeding and bruising on the corpse of the victim. But the reports are conflicting on that -- coroner and survivor report suggests not.

[jamesb.livejournal.com]

I checked out Lane Bryant - hence why I reference Evans, which seems to be the UK version, although unconnected.

As someone who worked in a Fat Women shop, as a manager, I suggest that not all employees are fat women in fat women shops. Obviously. But you are right, maybe it was a soft target.

Dunno. Still seems all rather odd. J

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sorry, I didn't follow the Evans link until after posting, but the point about the balance of Lane Bryant employees still stands, I think. That is, whatever the mix is in the UK, in the US, especially suburban, midwestern US, the overwhelming likelihood is that the employees in the fat women's clothing store will be fat women, like their clientelle. And, so they were.

You're right that it all seems rather odd, yes.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Follow ups:

You're right of course, this is sad -- terribly, terribly sad -- for the families.

More info on the event in today's Chicago Tribune here.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

We saw two pictures of the staff on the news last night and they were both fat black women.