Hi Musers, welcome back to 10 Things I hate about my size part 2. If you haven’t read the first part not to worry, you can find it here 🙂 All done? Great! More things I hate about how fat people are treated…Let’s go!

6. Being told it’s fine for me to be fat “as long as I’m healthy”

At first glance I know this might not seem too bad but once you unpack it, it really is! It’s also a pet peeve of one of my favourite fat activists The Fatphobia Slayer. What you’re saying here is that my body is acceptable only if my health is ok. NO! All bodies deserve respect regardless of whether they’re healthy or not. That’s the very essence of the fat acceptance movement. Bodies come in different sizes and no one should be ostracised. All bodies should be celebrated. The as long as you’re healthy statement is also ableist because….newsflash!…..not everyone has the option of being healthy! A lot of invisible illnesses cause weight gain but short of handing everyone you meet a health questionnaire (which would be weird!) you’re not going to know a damn thing about their circumstances. So how about we just accept and respect all bodies period? 

7. Being asked, “But what about your health?”

This one is my most hated and it follows on directly from point 6. As fat acceptance and body positivity have gained ground it has become less acceptable to mock the fatty. This is great but sadly some of the diehard fat haters in our society were unwilling to give up their favourite sport so they had to find a new way to dress it up. Now we have what’s called “concern trolling”, pretending to care about a person’s health as a mask for fatphobia. The problem with this is as I said in point 2, you can’t tell if a person’s fat by looking at them and in point 6 not everyone even has the option of being healthy in the first place. We can round this off by saying that these people are not worried about our health. They’ve just latched onto this handy way of disguising their fatphobia. It doesn’t work! We know what you’re doing so just stop it!

8. Not being able to fit into chairs in restaurants, hairdressers on aeroplanes etc

Thin people genuinely can’t have an understanding of how annoying and upsetting it is to be looking forward to going on holiday, or for a day trip on the train or to a new restaurant you’ve been wanting to try only to get there and find the seats aren’t made to accommodate you. On planes, you have to squeeze yourself in and then suffer the indignity of asking for a seat belt extender. On trains or in restaurants the arms of the seats cut into your legs. At a hairdresser, you eye the chair wondering if you’ll fit and if the chair will bear your weight instead of looking forward to your new look.

Fat people have always existed and now there are more than ever. Is it really too much to ask for seats designed for everyone’s comfort? NO. No it isn’t! Although it’s a huge purchase plane and train stocks are replenished periodically but still, they don’t increase the seat size. I’m pretty sure this is purely to protect their profit margin. Firstly they want to pack as many people in as possible, bigger seats would reduce the number they could have. Secondly, they’re rubbing their greedy hands together at the thought that fat people will need to buy 2 seats just to be guaranteed a comfortable trip. It’s a disgrace and we need to call travel companies out on it – those left when we get through the current epidemic anyway!

9. Being fetishised

Not one I’ve had to deal with personally thank goodness but sadly many do. As with every other type of fetish, there’s one where the person gets turned on by fat people. The problem with this is the person is only interested because of our fatness. Who we are, our dreams, ambitions and interests are irrelevant. Doesn’t really make for a long-lasting relationship. For some fat people, particularly those who brave online dating, they don’t know if the person is genuinely attracted to them or just their fat. It’s pretty depressing.

10. Seeing all the thin women bending themselves double in order to create non-existent belly rolls to be “body positive”

As body positivity continues to make its pioneering way across social media there is a trend moving away from celebrating images of thin women – traditional white, cisnormative, straight, thin images. This appears to be bothering a lot of these women. After all, how dare there be a space on the internet where they aren’t front and centre!? Where fat people actually dare to love themselves 😲 So in the name of “keeping it real” and “self-love” the body positivity spaces are being flooded by thin women literally contorting their bodies in an attempt to force fat into existence where none exists. This is so wrong I often find myself literally at a loss for words.

Note: I am not saying that thin women never have insecurities and have no right to celebrate their bodies, of course they do! However, forcing fat where none exists is just an insult to the experiences of those of us who genuinely are fat. Please stop it.

That’s my top ten, musers although believe me I could have listed more! What have I missed off the list? Please let me know in the comments below. Also if you feel like being exceptionally awesome today please sign up to my mailing list at the bottom of the page. I would really love to expand this family.