Still human, last I checked.

Imagine a mother who has eating issues and disorders. If she were anorexic she might get sympathy and compassion but if she were fat and gaining weight, she would be told she was an unfit parent or wish she would die and stop using up everyone's health care.  This is exactly the reaction given to Donna Simpson when she revealed she wanted to break the world's record of being the fattest woman. 

I don't agree with anyone forcing themselves to gain or lose weight to please a partner or social pressure. (Although Donna herself says her being the fattest woman ever was twisted by the news, it was actually a fantasy she gives to her clients), I actually know her from an online group. She is a real human being with feelings.

But I am not just here to talk about Donna. I am here to talk about prejudice against fat people. Where a woman starving herself either gets compassion or kudos and a 600 lbs woman is scum of the earth and not worthy enough to even be considered human. We are constantly told via poor health care, job prospects, and cruelty that we are worth nothing unless we lose weight, even though no weight loss method has been proved to work in the long run.

Harriet Brown recently wrote an article in the NY Times, which deals with the prejudice against fat people. How we are blamed for everything. Global warming, fattie, health care crisis, fatties. Fat people are told we are ill, sick, need help, but then we get rebuked by doctors and the insurance companies. 

Or we get treated with contempt.  Good manners are based on kindness, respect, and consideration for every human being. They often depend on our ability to put ourselves in the other person's shoes and always, on our belief in the dignity of individuals.

It's time to realize that people of all sizes need to be treated with dignity and respect. 

Comments

[Tanz]

It saddens me. You should have seen the comments I received on a parenting board once when I let slip I was plus size; one poster even told me she hoped the babies I was carrying died rather than be born to a mother like myself. And she meant it.

[wriggles]

"She is a real human being with feelings."

That would come across better, if she was not objectifying herself for what she weighs as opposed to who she is. Even talking about gaining doesn't have to be reduced to a question of numbers.

"Where a woman starving herself either gets compassion or kudos"

Sorry, no http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/14/kira-cochrane-thin-models (what's worse is this article is written by someone who has described herself as fat). They are getting increasing amounts of abuse and contempt, a lot of it seems based on envy.

Take for another instance those celebrities in the media, mostly women, who lose weight.

They're accused of promoting anorexia and blamed for being bad role models to children etc.

The same techniques that have been perfected on us are being used on others, like you say, we need to find common cause with others.

If we want them to notice what's going on with us, we need to notice what's going on with others and listen to what they're saying too.

[Nancy Lebovitz]

Very thin women (they're often assumed to be anorexic) get flack of the "just eat a sandwich" variety, too.

[fatchicksrule]

That is true, Nancy, If I see Victoria Breckham or Nicole Kidman, I think about force feeding them pasta. But I doubt the majority will wish that either of them die or lose their kids.

[Sarah]

I'm sorry wriggles, but I have little to no sympathy for thin women who get picked on in the media. And to claim it's based on "envy" is beyond the pale. These models and actresses are STILL held up as what women should aspire to, while fat women (according to the Rudd Center) are one of the most hated and discriminated against in society. These thin women get a few bad articles written about them, while those of us who are fat get government initiatives hellbent on getting rid of anybody with a Body Mass Index over 30, in the name of "health."

Fashion models are too thin. This is a fact. The average model is a size 0-2 on a frame over 5'9". They have BMI numbers that are dangerously low - so low, that the risk factors associated with them are worse than those with dangerously high BMI numbers. It's to the point where a size 4 model (Coco Rocha, for example) is considered "fat" by industry standards. According to a health inquiry done in 2007 on models, it was found that 40% of these girls are suffering from an eating disorder. So yeah, a little bit of bitching is in order here. Eating disorders barely make radar in the mind of health professionals, while those of us with "obesity" are hounded down like rabid dogs.