Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

The hypocrisy of fat shaming Nazis

Since I am a prominent Jewish woman on the internet, I have obviously received my fair share of ant-Semitic and sexist harassment. And much of that harassment has been focused on my looks. I apparently have a Jewish nose, frizzy Jew hair, and “Khazer milkers” (my breasts). These white supremacists claim they can tell I’m Jewish, that I’m not part of their “master race,” by my looks. So what exactly are we saying when we post a picture of a white supremacist who maybe is overweight or unattractive and mockingly ask, “Is this the master race?”

This is what happened last week after someone posted a picture of an overweight man holding a Nazi flag.

The image quickly went viral, with most of the comments mocking the man’s looks. A number of Twitter uses asked if this was what the “master race” was really supposed to look like. Others went so far as to comment that even Hitler would weep at the sight of him, as if Hitler’s opinions on looks have any value. Since the man was from Idaho, there were also a lot of jokes at the expense of a whole state, as well as some gendered insults about the man’s need for a bra.

It’s tempting to mock white supremacists with their own logic and beauty standards. The hypocrisy and delusion about their relative looks and status can seem like an opportunity to point out the ridiculous and heinous nature of their views.

But we should resist the urge. For in using their standards to mock them, we are validating those white supremacist beauty standards. If we mock an overweight Nazi for his weight, we are in fact saying that one’s weight is relevant to any conversation about their value in the world.


Do we need to reclaim Jewish social justice? Should Jewish social justice focus on helping Jewish communities or on leading the way for others? Forward editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren moderates a talk in partnership with BINA on August 25 at 1 p.m Eastern. Sign up here.


This isn’t about the individual Nazi’s feelings. This isn’t about defending individuals from fat shaming who certainly deserve no defense from any decent humans. Rather, it’s about saying we refuse to hold up white supremacist beauty standards. We would rather tear them down.

It’s not just Nazis. The conversation around body shaming and slut shaming our political enemies has become more prominent with the election of President Trump. As a vain man who has extra weight on him and isn’t particularly attractive, yet who is known for insulting women and judging them based on their looks, it might seem like an obvious tactic to mock Trump’s appearance, and many did so and continue to do so. Similarly, with Melania Trump’s history of nude modeling and the GOP’s emphasis on sexual morality, many have engaged in slut shaming, supposedly to point out the hypocrisy there.

But the truth is, this kind of behavior doesn’t hurt the Trumps. It doesn’t cause the GOP to all of a sudden care about their own hypocrisy.

All it does is send the message that weight, sexual history, and looks in general are things that should be mocked.

Look no further than the #MarALardass hashtag that trended last year to see how gleefully people jumped on insulting Trump’s weight.

Many in Resistance Twitter have nude pictures of Melania at the ready to tweet anytime they think conservative women need to be taken down a peg. Even Ted Lieu made an ableist ad that advertised his ability to drink water correctly.

This kind of mocking political commentary always ultimately makes a link between weight, sexual promiscuity, and the fitness to be the first family in the White House. And it’s just wrong.

There is no inherent moral virtue in one’s weight or lack of sexual history. And this line of political engagement sends a message to the people around you that their weight, ability to drink a glass of water easily, or promiscuity lessens them in your eyes.

When we joke about an overweight white supremacist and the “master race,” we do more than just engage in hurtful fat shaming; we validate their white supremacist views. We engage in the exact dehumanizing behavior that Nazis used to explain why Aryan women were better stock than Jewish women. Ableism, fat shaming, and slut shaming only amplify the Nazi project.

If white supremacists could be convinced with logic, they wouldn’t be white supremacists. So really, what are we doing by supposedly mocking their hypocrisy? The exercise serves no point other than to get out aggression and perhaps make ourselves feel a bit better if we’re more attractive than the fascist yelling about the “master race.”

Instead of succumbing to these urges, we must prioritize tearing down systems of white supremacy and the harmful beauty standards that persist to this day. After all, the disgusting thing about a Nazi isn’t his looks or weight; it’s his ideas.

Mia Brett is a PhD candidate in American Legal History and a cofounder of the All Women’s Progress Think Tank. She lives in Brooklyn with her dog Tchotchke. Follow her on Twitter @QueenMab87.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.