Of course, she's getting trashed on X. She's "trending." That's why I saw it. I don't really know her, but I see she's highly praised for her role in "Hacks," and also that she's the daughter of Laraine Newman.Hollywood actress Hannah Einbinder blames “fascism” for women wanting to be slim.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 30, 2026
“As we see a rise in fascism, there is a direct correlation with thinness to make women take up less space.” pic.twitter.com/0VTlRFqe2e
Anyway, it's cheap and easy to go after an actress who expresses any opinion that seems to require intelligence and background knowledge. I would prefer to isolate what she said and explore the various issues there:
1. There's a broad, casual use of the word "fascism" that's like the way Seinfeld used "Nazi" in "The Soup Nazi." You can argue that the word should be used more precisely, but it doesn't mean the person who's using it broadly is a fool.
2. Correlation is not causation, and she only said "correlation." She intensified it with "direct" — "There is a direct correlation" — but Einbinder was clever enough to protect herself with the first-rate weasel word "correlation."
3. Did the actual historical fascists idealize female thinness? I don't think so. This Holocaust resources site discusses the 1937 Nazi newsreel "Healthy Woman - Healthy Nation," which began: "For women, the mothers of the future generations, the greatest asset is a healthy mind in a healthy body. Therefore a woman’s daily duties include the training of the body. Women’s sports must differ from men’s sports. Breaking records is a matter for men. Sports should give a woman more than just strength, joy, and gracefulness. The sports organization of the new Germany makes it possible for every woman to pursue the types of sports that are best and healthiest for her."
4. Einbinder's statement caused me to go looking for the great 1993 documentary "The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl." I found the entire 3-hour film on YouTube, but I'm cuing it up to begin with the discussion of her 1938 Nazi propaganda film "Olympia." You can get some insight into Nazi ideas about the physical beauty and fitness:
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৩৬টি মন্তব্য:
Fascism. Is there nothing it can't do?
At some point people will realize "Fascism" for these people is just short hand for people who oppose the feminization of society.
Elimination of shame for being fat is pure condensed feminism.
Sorry, Fattists, we Fascists need our lebensraum.
Things that are fascist:
Students in public schools being able to read.
Not being fat.
Having a job and being self sufficient.
Letting people to the right of Mao have opinions.
Not hating Jews and deporting Hamas supporters.
Borders.
Deporting criminals.
Jupiter said...
Sorry, Fattists, we Fascists need our lebensraum.
And our lederhosen.
People who use "fascism" broadly aren't always fools... but that's the way to bet.
Female actors are under enormous pressure to keep their weight as low as possible. The camera adds pounds, and weight in the wrong places can readily disqualify you for a role. So naturally the thing that you are borderline obsessed with is correlated with the vague political idea that in some cloudy blurry way is the sum of all evil.
Seems worth going over one more time. It was Mussolini, a red-diaper socialist, who invented Fascism, and it was a direct reference to a bundle of sticks called the fasces. From Wiki; "The fasces, as a bundle of rods with an axe, was a grouping of all the equipment needed to inflict corporal or capital punishment. In ancient Rome, the bundle was a material symbol of a Roman magistrate's full civil and military power, known as imperium. "
Mussolini intended this reference to make his movement attractive to Italians. I doubt that the NAZIs were equally impressed. Although they were also Zocialists.
Actually, come to think of it, "Democratic Socialists of Amerika" has a lot in common with "National Socialist German Workers' Party". Maybe we should call them the DEZIs.
the Interesting Thing Is: lefties have become SO STUPID, that they think words mean WHAT EVER they want.. Right IEE?
She seems a little..... chubby. Would it be insulting if I applied a nickname the way Trump does? Hannah Heiniebinder? Would that correlate to facism?
After, “As we see a rise in fascism”, nothing else matters. No analysis of her word choices makes her less of a Helen. “Correlation” vs. “causation”? Meh!
When you lack the ability to form a coherent argument, scream “fascism” or “racism”.
It is so tiresome.
"Correlation is not causation"
I really dislike this platitude. While technically correct, it's usually used to discount the correlation as being counterfactual. While technically correct, in fact correlation often reveals causation. It's why we do statistics.
"Cheap and easy" is a good phrase for her and her opinions.
With some exceptions, actors shouldn't try to write their own lines.
This falls under "Women hardest hit." Hardly a day goes by that the NYT doesn't have a piece that falls into this category.
let's put aside our sneers and ask some SERIOUS QUESTIONS:
IF we stipulate a "rise in fascism" at the current time..
AND we stipulate a "direct correlation" with "THINNESS"..
wouldn't THAT imply? that there is MORE "THINNESS" in the world, TODAY; than in, i don't know..
The 60's?
The 70's?
The 80's?
The 90's?
I'm ASSUMING that she's saying that people aren't as fat friendly NOW, as they were during the O'Bama admin..
BUT
for a "direct correlation" to work.. wouldn't HAVE TO correlate?
across time and decades?
You people are (mostly) Old People.. With (still some) memory..
Was there less "THINNESS" back in the good old days?
I don't know Hannah Einbinder (and her sparse imdb page explains why), I know her mother, who I remember as being exceptionally thin.
"in fact correlation often reveals causation"
At least it often *implies* causation. But we still need to point the arrow in the correct direction, which seems to be a big ol' sticking point.
Original Mike said...
"..I know her mother, who I remember as being exceptionally thin.."
exactly! so apparently, the Carter era was THE HIGHT of fascism!
That Nazi propaganda newsreel suggests an answer to the problem of transgender women in sports. It says: "Breaking records is a matter for men. Sports should give a woman more than just strength, joy, and gracefulness."
How about a separate division of school sports — apart from the existing men's and women's divisions that channel competition and keep male and female separated — that eliminates the competitive spirit and is all about beauty, grace, and joy?
There would no longer be a problem of transgender women having a competitive advantage, because there would be no way to win, no idea of anyone being better than anyone else.
Everyone would aspire to joy and grace — traditional feminine values and perhaps what transgender women mean when they assert that they feel that inside they are a woman. Plenty of biological women would like this too, and this group could get along and would be specifically engaged in the activity of getting along — full of grace and joy.
Her observation about the "return" to thinness in female (and male ) celebrities and regular people has more to do with the availability of the weight loss drugs like Ozempic. The fat icons like Lizzo and Oprah have publicly delighted in showing off their new more slender appearance. It has nothing to do with the rise of what she considers fascism.
Once in a stall in a college bathroom, someone had put up an International Workers of the World "One Big Union" sticker. It was a drawing of a very muscular young man, naked from the waist up, holding a sledge hammer from a point of view looking up. The picture was pretty much centered on his groin. One perceptive student had crossed out "union" and written in "dick".
The cult of beautiful bodies isn't so much fascist or communist as gay.
https://archive.iww.org/graphics/agitators/classic/obu.gif
"As we see a rise in fascism, there is a direct correlation with thinness to make women take up less space."
Correlation requires two or more random variables. The “ As we see a rise in fascism”. Is an introductory adverbial clause, it adds context to the next statement. “there is a direct correlation with thinness to make women take up less space."
But there is only one variable there, thinness, so what is thinness correlated with? Very muddled. She was trying to sound smart but got it wrong.
"— that eliminates the competitive spirit and is all about beauty, grace, and joy?"
Basically, a set up like the Danish/Nordic Folk School
“Folk high schools in Europe are residential adult education institutions that prioritize personal development, democratic citizenship, and informal learning over academic degrees or formal examinations."
The student competes against their prior capability, instead of being driven by competing to prove others "the loser".
She's got a good point. Corpulent zaftig rubenesque women are impossible to ignore.
C'mon. This is some sort of satire, right? (Her mom was pretty good at it). Take up less space?
Maybe she just recently flew economy (as I did). This is an airline conspiracy. Which unfortunately doesn't seem to be having much success.
Also why is she wearing a graduation gown?
Only other women and gay male designers care how skinny you are.
“ Plenty of biological women would like this too, and this group could get along and would be specifically engaged in the activity of getting along — full of grace and joy.”
But this would not answer the main question of whether the girls would have to get naked in front of the trans boys.
Well, the direct correlation is with socialism. Fascism is nationality-based socialism. Marxism is class-based socialism. Nazism was race-based socialism. For those slow, the common element is "socialism".
Socialism "purposes to introduce new forces into society and industry; to put a stop to the idleness, the waste of resources, the misdirection of force, inseparable, in some large proportion of instances, from individual initiative; and to drive the whole mass forward in the direction determined by the intelligence of its better half."
----Walker, F.A., 'Socialism', Scribner's Magazine 1887
"How about a separate division of school sports — apart from the existing men's and women's divisions that channel competition and keep male and female separated — that eliminates the competitive spirit and is all about beauty, grace, and joy?"
That already exists. It's called "Dance" and very few people are interested.
No commenter has yet ragged on her for the uptalking so please let me be the first.
Women feeling pressured to be thin is a problem that has been with us for a very long time. I also associate this pressure as originating from the entertainment industry. I think that people first really noticed this problem when Karen Carpenter died of anorexia.
“ How about a separate division of school sports… that eliminates the competitive spirit and is all about beauty, grace, and joy?”
I think Dance would qualify for this, but even that can be done in a competitive setting.
A simpler explanation is that cameras are everywhere, and TV adds ten pounds.
As a man who finds boney-assed women utterly unappetizing, I can tell you the naturally plump female form is more greatly appreciated today than at any time in the previous sixty years.
I think “Einbinder” translates roughly as “Shrew.”
"People who use 'fascism' broadly aren't always fools."
Horses, not zebras.
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