{"id":18864,"date":"2014-05-20T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=18864"},"modified":"2014-05-21T09:29:04","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T13:29:04","slug":"classical-music-critics-inspire-outrage-over-comments-pertaining-to-opera-singers-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2014\/05\/20\/classical-music-critics-inspire-outrage-over-comments-pertaining-to-opera-singers-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"Classical music critics inspire outrage over comments pertaining to Opera singer\u2019s weight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"mezzo-soprano,<\/a>
mezzo-soprano, Tara Erraught. Credit: Christian Kaufmann<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every once in a while, critics get called-out for various things. It\u2019s part of the job, and it happens to every journalist from time to time. But over the weekend, five British classical music critics have been finding themselves in serious hot water after reviewing opera singer Tara Erraught\u2019 performance of\u00a0Octavian in\u00a0Strauss’\u00a0Der Rosenkavalier <\/i>in\u00a0<\/i>Glyndebourne England.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph\u2019s<\/a> Rupert Christiansen writes, \u201cshe is dumpy of stature\u2026\u201d The Financial Times<\/a>\u00a0depicts her as \u201ca chubby bundle of puppy-fat\u2026\u201d Richard Morrison in the\u00a0Times<\/a> quips \u201cUnbelievable, unsightly and unappealing.\u201d Michael Church at the\u00a0Independent<\/a>\u00a0snorts \u201ca dumpy girl.\u201d The Guardian<\/a>\u2019s Andrew Clements designates Erraught as \u201cstocky.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to decide what\u2019s worse, the idea of the mention of her weight, or the fact that there was a near universal focus on her physical appearance by these five experienced critics who should know better.<\/p>\n

What each of these critics said amounts to \u2013 she sang well, but too bad she\u2019s fat.<\/p>\n

The character known as Jack Donaghy, from the American television sitcom 30 Rock, said it best: \u201cShe needs to lose 30 pounds or gain 60. Anything in between has no place in television.\u201d\u00a0There is an incredible truth in that statement. For people who are obese, it would never be socially acceptable to publicly deride their appearance. But for performers who are anything less than \u2018ideally thin,\u2019 it is somehow fine to say what amounts to \u201cyou could be so pretty if only you lost a bit of weight.\u201d \u00a0These comments have nothing to do with a concern for someone\u2019s weight, and everything do with a standard of socially acceptable beauty, which always lands disproportionately upon women.<\/p>\n

After all this hullabaloo, I’ve been trying to understand how these five critics all echoed such similarly outrageous comments. Is this unvarying\u00a0gaffe the result of lazy journalism, where commentary has been replicated across news agencies?<\/p>\n

You can see this practice at play here:<\/p>\n