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Lately, I’ve become more and more frustrated about the obsession with weight in this country. In the supermarket aisle, you see one tabloid proclaiming a certain actress is dieting herself to death while right next to it another tabloid is declaring an actress maybe ten pounds heavier is getting pudgy. Fat jokes are abundant and unchecked in popular movies. (The Wedding Singer, for instance.) Weight Loss commercials air non-stop on TV, often times showing a woman who in her before-picture didn’t have a discernable weight problem and in her after picture looks like a skeleton covered with skin.
Just as the economic classes of Upper, Middle and Working class have started to disintegrate into Rich and Poor, weight categories have disintegrated into “fat” and “unhealthily skinny.”
Women and men who have a slight weight problem spend much more time thinking about it then they need to for their health, and people such as myself who actually are significantly overweight are treated like second-class citizens.
Now, I have some brief pointers I’d like to offer for any the general public who may have been rude to overweight people in the past without realizing it:
1."At least you have such a pretty face,” is not compliment. Neither is “You would be so pretty if you just lost weight.” If you can’t figure out why these are not compliments, say these sentences to yourself in the mirror and see how they make you feel.
2.Fat People are not Deaf. When you make comments about our weight, clothing, prospects for finding a mate, or other assorted characteristics while you’re standing right next to us, we hear you. Quite often we ignore you, but we still hear you.
3.Whether we can hear you or not, fat people are no less entitled to respect than anyone else. It’s rude to (A) walk up to us and just start talking about our weight or (B) walk up to someone else and start talking about our weight.
4.Fat people are not all “jolly.”
5.If it’s 100 degrees out, I’m going to wear a skirt. I don’t care what you have to say about it. So please do me a favor and keep your mouth shut.
(That last one really just applies to me.)
In my experience and the experience of many of my friends and family, yo-yo dieters all, people are less likely to be polite to an overweight person. People are less likely to open doors for a fat woman. There is a distinct difference in the way thin people and overweight people are treated. This is unfair, plain and simple.
Some people say that being overweight is unhealthy and due to overindulgence, and is simply a problem that should be dealt with quickly like a bad haircut; these people might say that overweight people are not a minority who need to stand up for themselves but simply a group of people who eat too much and have to reap the consequences.
I have two answers to this. One, it’s very difficult to lose weight once you have gained it. It’s hard to lose weight, period, and it’s also very hard for a person who is significantly overweight to go to the gym and be stared at on the treadmill. Two-
The idea that it’s okay to treat overweight people differently simply because you think it’s their fault they’re fat is stupid. Sorry, I can’t be subtle about this.
How a person got fat is irrelevant, although many people gain weight due to illness, depression, pregnancy, or changes in their metabolism as they grow older- meaning, of course, that many people who are skinny now will not be in the future. The point is, though, that everyone deserves respect. (Including, yes, skinny people.)
People are far too wrapped up in weight these days. A naturally skinny woman is automatically suspected of anorexia, a woman who is the recommended weight for her height and body-type is considered fat, and many of us who are actually overweight feel like we have kick me signs on our backs.
So, everybody, here is my advice: stop sneaking peaks at everyone else’s scale and possibly stop looking at your own. If you are unhealthy do something about it. If you think I’m unhealthy- keep your opinion to yourself unless I either ask you or you are my physician.
I think if we all follow this advice, we’ll get along great.
Just as the economic classes of Upper, Middle and Working class have started to disintegrate into Rich and Poor, weight categories have disintegrated into “fat” and “unhealthily skinny.”
Women and men who have a slight weight problem spend much more time thinking about it then they need to for their health, and people such as myself who actually are significantly overweight are treated like second-class citizens.
Now, I have some brief pointers I’d like to offer for any the general public who may have been rude to overweight people in the past without realizing it:
1."At least you have such a pretty face,” is not compliment. Neither is “You would be so pretty if you just lost weight.” If you can’t figure out why these are not compliments, say these sentences to yourself in the mirror and see how they make you feel.
2.Fat People are not Deaf. When you make comments about our weight, clothing, prospects for finding a mate, or other assorted characteristics while you’re standing right next to us, we hear you. Quite often we ignore you, but we still hear you.
3.Whether we can hear you or not, fat people are no less entitled to respect than anyone else. It’s rude to (A) walk up to us and just start talking about our weight or (B) walk up to someone else and start talking about our weight.
4.Fat people are not all “jolly.”
5.If it’s 100 degrees out, I’m going to wear a skirt. I don’t care what you have to say about it. So please do me a favor and keep your mouth shut.
(That last one really just applies to me.)
In my experience and the experience of many of my friends and family, yo-yo dieters all, people are less likely to be polite to an overweight person. People are less likely to open doors for a fat woman. There is a distinct difference in the way thin people and overweight people are treated. This is unfair, plain and simple.
Some people say that being overweight is unhealthy and due to overindulgence, and is simply a problem that should be dealt with quickly like a bad haircut; these people might say that overweight people are not a minority who need to stand up for themselves but simply a group of people who eat too much and have to reap the consequences.
I have two answers to this. One, it’s very difficult to lose weight once you have gained it. It’s hard to lose weight, period, and it’s also very hard for a person who is significantly overweight to go to the gym and be stared at on the treadmill. Two-
The idea that it’s okay to treat overweight people differently simply because you think it’s their fault they’re fat is stupid. Sorry, I can’t be subtle about this.
How a person got fat is irrelevant, although many people gain weight due to illness, depression, pregnancy, or changes in their metabolism as they grow older- meaning, of course, that many people who are skinny now will not be in the future. The point is, though, that everyone deserves respect. (Including, yes, skinny people.)
People are far too wrapped up in weight these days. A naturally skinny woman is automatically suspected of anorexia, a woman who is the recommended weight for her height and body-type is considered fat, and many of us who are actually overweight feel like we have kick me signs on our backs.
So, everybody, here is my advice: stop sneaking peaks at everyone else’s scale and possibly stop looking at your own. If you are unhealthy do something about it. If you think I’m unhealthy- keep your opinion to yourself unless I either ask you or you are my physician.
I think if we all follow this advice, we’ll get along great.
I'd appreciate it if you guys would help me out here. This is an editorial or journalism class and this is my very first draft. Usually I'd do 3 or 4 drafts but the darn thing is due tomorrow. I'm not a great first draft writer- I would say I suck, but that's exaggerating a tiny bit. But if you happen to read this, could you tell me what you like and what you don't?
I was going to write about the sucky service I received at Albertson's the other day but the second I started I started grinding my teeth, and it hurt.
P.S. I mention the Wedding Singer in a slightly negative light- which sucks cause I really like that movie. I wanna replace it with a more current movie that had too many fat jokes but I never get to the movies any more. Any ideas?
I was going to write about the sucky service I received at Albertson's the other day but the second I started I started grinding my teeth, and it hurt.
P.S. I mention the Wedding Singer in a slightly negative light- which sucks cause I really like that movie. I wanna replace it with a more current movie that had too many fat jokes but I never get to the movies any more. Any ideas?
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I see you wrote this some time ago, but unfortunately it's still true today, although we are starting to see a bit of a backlash, with movements for size acceptance, chubby chasers, and even BBW photos sets. Even though there are still mean people out there, I hope you are finding some of the more accepting folks who actually prefer a woman with some meat on her bones, or at least is accepting that people have different weights and body types and situations. You are a beautiful woman. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.