Yes, I know – I have blogged (ranted) about Katie Hopkins before and the chances are I will again.
You might have heard that last weekend was the Miss British Beauty Curve pageant which took place in London. There were a few bloggers and familiar faces that took place, so I was looking forward to writing a nice piece this week about peoples experiences and what people thought of their day. Sadly I couldn’t make it but I intended to talk lots of people about it…
And then I saw this…
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| Photo from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/28/miss-british-beauty-curve-competition-norfolk-crown-pictures_n_5627131.html |
Yes, that is Katie Hopkins at the Miss British Beauty Curve competition. A lady who swears she wouldn’t hire a fat person, who has talked about fat bodies making her feel ill and making detrimental comments about larger ladies in swimming costumes at a previous beauty pageant she attended (See the article about all of that here) at ANOTHER plus size pageant!
And then I heard that not only did she attend but she was INVITED! Not only was she invited but she was there as a JUDGE!! Her… the lady who is judgemental about plus size bodies nearly every single of the week (or so it seems) being employed (in whatever capacity, obviously I don’t know the ins and outs of her contract/agreement) to judge ladies who were entering a competition as a part of a SAFE SPACE like a plus size event!
This isn’t the first time Katie Hopkins has attended an event. I heard a few weeks ago that she was at Big Girls Paradise in London – a BBW night club! The organisers insist that they did not know she was coming – yet she was invited in (I assume she did not pay the same entry fee as everyone else) and had her TV cameras with her – how lovely!
Can we really justify inviting a lady who sends tweets like this, to plus size events?
I understand that Katie Hopkins is controversial, I get that her bread and butter is speaking out loud about issues the main stream media want us to talk about an I know that she has a reputation of being a ‘bitch’ to uphold! What I do not understand is why we’re inviting her into OUR safe spaces? We have to put up with lots of her unavoidable detrimental main stream media articles but why are we going out of our way to give her space in the places that we’re supposed to feel most comfortable?
These plus size events are a little bit of room away from the rest of the world where we don’t always feel the most comfortable we could be – or at least for some people anyway – Surely inviting the bullies to tea is defeating the object of creating these safe havens in the first place?
What do you think – Is it good that we’re inviting her in to try and educate her or should we shut the door and keep our safe spaces safe?
Debz
Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.
I could understand inviting her if the point behind it was to educate and get her to see things from a different perspective but it clearly isn't. To me the reason for her being there is purely for the promoters of these events to gain publicity and make more money. From what I have heard they seem to swear blind that she wasn't invited but if that was the case how could she then be a judge? It makes me very wary of getting involved in any of these events as I think they are turning into a farce and becoming more about profit and less about creating a safe space for people. x
Yes I agree. BGP said that they did not know she was coming – which is fair enough if they didn't but they could have turned her away! That said, even if we take them at their word that they did not know she was coming – Miss British Beauty Curve MUST HAVE how else could she have been there as a judge!?
I hate Katie Hopkins and personally my opinion of miss British beauty curve has gone down for having her as a judge.
Anyone who invites Trolldemort into supposedly fat-safe spaces gives no fucks for anyone there whatsoever. They just can't. It's all about the buzz, no matter how the people there might feel about it. First Linda Koch, now this.
For shame.
She's a bigot. Her one purpose in life is to annoy, judge and belittle those she deems out of the norm. Shame on anyone who welcomes her into their world after the hate the spills out of her vile mouth.