©grizzlysbear

thisisthinprivilege:

I joined the high school drama club because they did not have enough women in the cast to perform the play they had selected. A friend in the drama club suggested I come into the group to play the role of an attractive psychiatrist. I agreed that I would check the drama club out, and decide from there. To be clear, I had been in another play (and a few since this happened), and had been praised for my performance, so I’m not a terrible actress.

I enjoyed the club, so I did join. I was so excited to final get a role so exciting and different from the characters I get cast as.

My hopes were crushed when the director of the play decided that I wasn’t pretty enough to play the role. The director stated that the other woman in the group (a thin, conventionally attractive woman) could play multiple roles (despite the need for both characters to interact with each other), and that she would be fine. She then cast me as the mother, who had only two lines shouted from backstage; I’m guessing I was given this out of pity.

Thin privilege is being seen as a desirable woman, and being allowed to let your hard work and talent speak for itself.

Pretty sure this is why all girls in my class were given nice, full-time jobs and/or PhD positions and I’m still unemployed after 2 years.

  1. givewaytofancy said: I’m reminded of the time my fat self was cast as Potiphar’s wife in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and someone promptly quit the show, sending the cast a letter about how asinine that casting decision was.