Why jokes about fat people need to stop immediately.
TL:DR Jokes about fat people are not acceptable and need to stop! So please enjoy the pictures of all these fabulous plus size ladies I’ve added and realise they are not funny, they’re fabulous. I know that fatphobia is a male issue too but as I’m female and I’m writing about my experience i’m using pictures of ladies I follow on Instagram. If you’re male or transgender or non binary or anything in between and you’d like me to feature you please get in touch. Maybe I’ll do a fat acceptance post just with the photos 🙂
As a pretty big girl I wanted this to be one of my first posts as it is very close to my heart. As a society I like to think we’ve come a long way from the days of slavery, homosexuality being illegal and the casual oppression of women. I will say though that recent events around Black Lives Matter make me question even that. If we ignore that for this post though we haven’t made anywhere near the same progress with fat acceptance. If you take a look at social media, comments on websites and the way fat people are treated in film you’ll see fatphobia, often disguised as jokes, still runs rife through our society.
Fatphobia? Where? I’ve never seen it
Several things brought this home to me over the past few months. I was reading the comments section on a local news site (I know, I know never read the bottom half of the internet!) Over the course of a few weeks I read stories about people who committed fraud, drink drivers, shoplifters etc. In every case if they were overweight a fat insult was used even though this clearly had nothing to do with their crime. It wouldn’t be acceptable to insult them for being black or gay so is fat the last socially accceptable prejudice?
Ok, what else?
Two things also occurred during the dreaded coronavirus outbreak. The first is that there was a tidal wave of posts in the early weeks of lockdown encouraging readers to use the time productively (ok good) and “get in the best shape of your life” Wait….what? Don’t take the chance to spend some quality time with loved ones in your bubble. Or learn a new skill you always wanted to but never found time. Don’t practice self care and really take time for you. Nope, get in the best shape of your life because being fat is unacceptable.
We also need to take into account people with disabilities who actually can’t do these things, or people who struggle to motivate themselves due to mental health issues or the fact that people may just not want to do these things. We need posts telling them that if just getting from day to day is all they can manage then that is ok.
As well as all these “get your ass in shape” posts there also came the jokes about weight gain during the virus. Some of the ones I read were asking if after quarantine they should contact My 600lb life or if the producers would find them. Another said when none of your jeans fit after quarantine so now you have thigh high boots. A third mentioned not being able to get their hair cut for a month. “I couldn’t believe my hair weighs a stone but that’s what the scales say”
These jokes are meant to be funny! Can’t you take a joke Claire?
Actually yes, I can take a joke. I think I have a great sense of humour and many people find me very funny. Being fat should not make you the butt of jokes though. People come in all sizes and not always through their diet and life choices and it is absolutely not ok to make fun of them for it. Again, we don’t make fun of minorities or gay people or women now but they used to be seen as completely acceptable If anyone objected they’d also be asked if they couldn’t take a joke. No I can’t, not when it’s bias and fatphobia dressed up as humour. Jokes about fat people and fatphobia need to stop. Period. What’s sad is I even used to do it too! Make fat jokes about myself to get in before others could, almost make it an apology just for being me. This is so wrong and imagine what it does to your self esteem? To see yourself as a joke. No more! I am beautiful and sexy and more than enough just as I am.
Wait a moment Claire! I’m plus size and I love myself, I’m comfortable making jokes about myself so why shouldn’t I?
First let me say it’s so wonderful that you’ve found self love and self acceptance! I’ve been making a long journey there and it’s hard. I think you shouldn’t make jokes about your weight for three main reasons.
- Are you really ok with yourself or do you secretly still have a bit of internal fatphobia way deep down? If so we need to fight it every single day!
- Even if you are completely accepting of yourself others may not be and hearing it may hurt their feelings and reinforce their own fatphobia and feelings of self esteem.
- Finally by doing this you are also telling others that jokes about fat people are ok. That being fat is bad and should be made fun. No. For all your fat and fabulous brothers and sisters please get the word out that fat shaming is never ok, even as a joke.
Wow! You’re really serious about this aren’t you?
I do realise this piece may have come off as preachy but the fact is nothing ever changes unless someone is willing to speak out about it. I find it really weird that having a wide array of clothes or shoes or food or books or movies is seen as a good thing but not different people in all their glory. We need everyone to be seen as beautiful and amazing and fabulous and be celebrated. I‘d love to see magazines and billboards and movies and social media full of them! Fat/thin, tall/short, black/white/Asian/mixed race, straight/gay/bi, cis/transgender/non binary, able/differently abled and all the possiblities and combos in between! I want the world to be a riot of different people coming together to appreciate and celebrate each other. I think that’d make the world a pretty amazing place don’t you?
I know, that was a lot! If you want to fall into something sweet and comforting check out my blondies here
Wow you made it this far, thanks so much for stopping by 🙂 You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I’d love you to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments. If you like what I’m doing and don’t want to miss a thing then please subscribe. There’s a handy form on the right of the page 🙂
