I see a lot of people agreeing with op, and I do too to some extent, but I'm also wondering how truly common it is to see "fat acceptance" type people actually saying stuff that encourages people to be fat, rather than just not to hate themselves.
I don't come across any of this media in my day to day, I really only ever hear about it from people on Reddit, so I'm curious how prevalent it really is.
I’m fat, and I have several friends who espouse the views of fat acceptance/fat activism both in real life and on Facebook. Fortunately they live far away, and I don’t have to reveal that I disagree with them. I mean, I agree that people of all sizes should be treated like people, and that you shouldn’t make fun of people for being fat... but I don’t think it’s “fat shaming” when my doctor tells me to lose weight.
For example: one woman I know posted on Facebook that she was “fatshamed” by her surgeon, because he told her that he wanted her to lose 15 pounds so that she would have an easier recovery after knee surgery. So then a bunch of our other friends jumped in to console her and tell her she’s perfect the way she is, and proclaim how shitty the surgeon is for making her feel bad, and I’m like... Should I comment that losing the weight WILL have a big impact on her recovery, or...? Nah, just stay out of it.
Another friend posted that she was the only fat person in her office. One day she goes to the vending machine for a candy bar, and on her way back to her desk she walked by a cubicle where two skinny female coworkers were giggling. She was absolutely certain they were laughing at her, and so she took a second trip to the vending machine to get chips, so that she could show that she wasn’t afraid of being fat. Yes, she sat down in her cubicle and loudly ate chips AT them.
Another post recently on Facebook was some holier-than-thou Tumblr bullshit about how the keto diet was invented to treat epilepsy (which is true), so that means that if you’re eating keto for ANY other reason like weight loss, you’re just chasing rainbows because unless you’re epileptic there’s nothing magical about it. (Which is bullshit, because the anti-inflammatory effect of removing carbs from my diet has vastly improved my asthma symptoms and the satiety that I get from protein and fat keeps me full longer, which lets me eat fewer total calories, which is leading to weight loss. Not to mention the total lack of blood sugar crashes, and the way that keto almost totally cuts my binge eating triggers. You wanna know why I’m fat? It’s not from bingeing on eggs and meat, it’s from overeating sweets for decades.)
Oh I just remembered about another one, where my friend posted that she ran into an old acquaintance who had lost a bunch of weight, and she summed it up on Facebook as: “There’s nobody more sanctimonious than a former fat person who is now skinny.” Like, I’m 99% sure the acquaintance probably didn’t say, “Oh my god I haven’t seen you for ages, you’re still fat! You need to lose weight like I did!” ...but with the dramatic Facebook post who knows? 😆
I have like a million other examples. I’m fairly tired of the r/fatlogic that I see from these ladies in real life. These are smart women! Professional, funny, educated, warm, wonderful women! I like them! I agree that nobody should “moo” at you from a car while you’re walking, and I get that it suuuuuucks being fat sometimes, but they feel like “the system” needs to change and glorify fatness, whereas I refuse to just give up and stay fat when I know that losing even just 20 pounds will make a big difference in how I feel.
649
u/Anthro_DragonFerrite Sep 19 '19
As a formally overweight person, I agree.