Everybody Loves Mammy!

Growing up in a black neighborhood and being tiny was almost like being an outcast at times. I had/have skinny legs, was quite flat chested, still don't have an "African" booty or thick hips. In fact, Brick House was the jam when I was in high school and while dancing to it at a party, the guy I was dancing with decided to change the words to "she's a midget house." I laughed myself silly because I definitely was far from being stacked like a brick house.

Being "thick" or "healthy" was a good thing. Being a skinny mini wasn't. So, the obsession with thin that many white women have and the body image issues that go along with that just was not the thing that black girls worried about. Being smart and/or talented had far more value than looks or weight and, truly, unless one had very fair skin and long, straight(er) hair, you knew that you weren't considered pretty or attractive outside of the black community anyway.

So, this accusation that American Idol has a double-standard for fat black women has some validity but not for the reasons these white DJs think. Black Americans, though this is changing, have always had a different standard for what is attractive and acceptable. White people, too, because blacks don't fit the typical "American" standard of beauty, tend to look beyond weight because a) there is no f'ability factor involved so appearance is less of an issue b) there is still a level of comfort with fat black women as a stereotype and what I call a "mammy fixation" - and that is unconscious racism. I think these guys are off base because it is white America's need for their women to look like boobs on a stick while the beauty of black women isn't noticed unless they are stick thin and look like Halle Berry or some other bi-racial woman.

They really need to check themselves - and perhaps history. The fact that heavy white women have to be Roseanne Barr in order to get ahead is a cultural norm that white America created, not any double standard that benefits black people!

It’s no secret that black folks, in general, do not equate beauty with being rail thin. But is the country more likely to embrace obese African Americans than overweight whites?

According to TMZ.com, two disc jockeys at Los Angeles radio station KROQ raised the question using "American Idol" contestant Mandisa as an example. On Friday morning’s Kevin and Bean Show, the jocks, both white, wondered if the powerhouse singer would’ve made it to the Top 10 if she were a hefty white girl.

'It's fascinating that she can be a front runner and look like she does, yet there's no way 'Whitey' shows up at 280 [lbs.] and gets in the Top 10. It's not even possible,' said Bean.

The hosts, along with co-hosts Ralph Garman and Lisa May, felt that fat white "Idol" hopefuls were quick to get a "no" from the judges, while blacks packing extra pounds were more likely to be considered.

'What is the double standard?,' they asked. 'Why is it acceptable for the African-American contestants -- and we're not just talking about 'American Idol'-- in all the world, you can be big and black and be considered sexy and no one's trying to get you to lose any weight... yet the big white guy all of a sudden is a pariah?'

Portly "Idol" winner Ruben Studdard was cited as an example of the double standard.

Callers, for the most part, agreed with the hosts. One female listener said that America is 'used to seeing white skinny women,' adding, 'Black women are celebrated for their curves.'

Another caller, however, wasn’t comfortable with the notion of a double standard, stating that a singer’s excess weight may be given a pass because the fat, somehow, "supports that voice." The caller cited Aretha Franklin and Fats Domino as examples of obese singers whose vocal chords were supported by the extra layers.

I don't think that a fat white woman could have become Oprah. She wouldn't have had the encouragement or the confidence to pursue it. But whose fault is that?