Political commentator Steven Crowder spoke at the science conference, introducing himself under the guise of a “fat pride activist,” talking about a paper he presented to organizers titled “Taking Fat as Self-Care in the Age of Trump.” the event seemed to be recognized as a joke.
Indeed, instead of getting the gist, the participants received Crowder’s work with praise.
Crowder, who heads the political podcast and YouTube channel Louder with Crowder, posted his 2020 joke on his YouTube channel on Monday, “Crowder infiltrates ‘fat studies’.”
The 17-minute video is an excavation of the “fat acceptance movement,” a social movement that seeks to remove the stigma of obesity from social attitudes by highlighting the barriers fat people face.
To play the prank, Crowder, 34, posed as “independent scientist and fat pride activist” Sea Matheson of Austin, Texas.
Crowder said he hopes the video will expose the “farce” of studying fat as a discipline by infiltrating the topic’s annual science conference at Massey University in New Zealand, where graduate students can submit essays on the topic.
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For his prank, Crowder poses as independent scientist and fat pride activist Sea Matheson of Austin, Texas, complete with make-up and prosthetics.
Crowder, who posed as Matheson, presented himself as non-binary and obese, and whose past activities include helping organize the Women’s March.
As his alter ego, Crowder submitted a paper titled “Accepting Fat as Self-Care in the Age of Trump,” which was accepted—an honor that brought with it an invitation to speak at the conference virtually.
Crowder presented themselves as non-binary and obese, whose previous activities include helping organize the Women’s March, the March for Our Lives, and the Austin Global Climate Strikes.
“Because of our current leader’s intolerance: being fat, I argue, acts as a mechanism to distance oneself from the president as well as his supporters, creating both a physical and an ideological space that can isolate the individual from an intolerant, bigoted, or violent ideology.” – Crowder . started his virtual address.
Matheson claimed she was fat as a form of “self-care” and provided a fake backstory of being “sexually caressed” as a child, which led to weight gain.
Crowder’s prank was intended to expose the “farce” of the fat science discipline by infiltrating the annual fat science conference at Massey University.
Massey presented a paper titled “Accepting Fat as Self-Care in the Age of Trump”, which was accepted and was invited to speak at the conference virtually.
Before continuing, Crowder issued a “content warning” for the fatphobia.
“It is certainly widely accepted that the election of President Donald Trump in 2016 was clearly (some argue) underlying America’s racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia. I would say that it was always there, not in the depths. It wasn’t until 2016 that more people realized that,” he said as Matheson.
Crowder, like Matheson, went on to argue that President Trump’s then-fatphobia was not focused enough and mentions that Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “fat and short” as an example of how fatphobia affected his foreign policy and criticized the then presidential candidate Joe. Biden for calling a contestant fat at a campaign stop and urging him to do push-ups.
Continuing the beat, Crowder, as Matheson, stated that she was fat as a form of “self-care” and provided a fake backstory of being “sexually caressed” as a child, which led to her weight gain.
She says that because she was fat, she could no longer be sexually assaulted because it would be “harder” for someone to touch her genitals.
“Adopting a fat identity, ensuring that you are always perceived as a fat person, these actions become performative acts of resistance,” states Matheson.
After completing his presentation, Crowder says he was confident it wouldn’t be taken seriously because nothing he said was backed up by any scientific literature or data. On the contrary, it was met with praise.
“You did a great job talking about Trump’s fatphobia and how fatphobia is promoted by his supporters and detractors alike,” one person commented, while another wrote: “Accepting fatness is an act of resistance and can be part of our fight against rape “. culture.
“Crazy ideas like gender fluidity, endless pronouns, fat pride, they were all created the same way and rooted in our authoritative sources,” Crowder warned towards the end of his video. “This is nothing new, the frenzy of higher education has been influencing culture for decades.”
He ends his video by saying that promoting these untested ideas is harmful and could lead to the death of obese people.