I can NOT believe we have to have this conversation again.

[polimicks]

Ok, in light of the whole Kevin Smith debacle, as well as a little tiff I got involved with on Pandagon, I would like to say something.

Ahem.

Fat Acceptance does NOT mean that one is against better diets (as in way of eating as a whole) for everyone, including increasing access to healthier and less processed foods.

Fat Acceptance does NOT mean that one is against exercise, or that one thinks kids getting exercise is a bad thing.

Fat Acceptance does NOT mean that I think you need to find me fuckable, or even likable. I probably don't like you, either.

What Fat Acceptance means is that you have to treat me like a human being, with courtesy and observing the bounds of civil interaction. That's it.

No one in Fat Acceptance land is advocating that everyone sit on their ass in front of the tv and mainline lard and cornstarch, washing it down with Jolt cola.

No one in Fat Acceptance land says kids shouldn't go outside and play.

NO ONE. Hear that, douchefucking assheads?

What people in Fat Acceptance land are saying is that YOU don't know why someone is fat just by looking at them. You don't. You don't know if they're on meds, if they fucked up their joints running triathalons and hold a world record from before their joints went south, or if they really do mainline jelly bellies while snorting pure confectioner's sugar, and throwing darts at pictures of that asshole Jillian Michaels. YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.

So, do me a favor and quit pretending you do. Ok, Karnack?

And while we're at it, if airlines want to throw fat people off for impinging on other passengers' space, and comfort, I have an additional list:
People who wear cheap perfume, and too much of it (guys, too)
Men who sprawl and take up all your leg room
People who won't shut the fuck up about their sports team/children/religion/surgery/politics
Screaming children
People with headphones so loud I can hear them over my own.
Seatkickers
People who lay their seat back without asking you if it's ok and crush you and your laptop

Well, none of that is a risk to safety, you say snidely... fat people could get stuck... Oh, spare me. I have yet to get stuck anywhere and I have a huge fat ass.

But the perfume people are a risk to safety. I happen to be incredibly allergic to a lot of perfumes, as in it starts with sneezing and watery eyes, then moves on to severe asthma attacks. If I can't get to my inhaler because some asshole has his seat down in front of me and the guy next to me is sprawled into my space... THEN it is a safety fucking issue and a whole lot more likely to cause issues than my fat would in the unlikely event we were to plummet to earth like a fucking stone. Got that?

So, here's the deal. You pretend you think we're people, and I'll pretend that you guys who sit with your legs all splayed really "need" to.* *wink wink*

Oh, and I have another request. If my fat ass is out there working out, walking, you know all that shit you guys keep telling me I need to do, shut the fuck up. If the goal were really to get us exercising, then my sister wouldn't have had that one asshead follow her around at the gym and tell her she didn't belong there every time she went. I also wouldn't have had to drop a free weight on the foot of some asshole who called me a whale (fat people, we're so weak and clumsy, you know).

There are worse things in life than you having to see or even, heavens forfend, brush up against my fat. Like missing your mother's dying moments as nearly happened with Kate Harding's sister, or not being able to go to a friend or family member's wedding, or being humiliated in front of a plane load of people.

Trust me, fat shaming doesn't work. If it did, we'd all be skinny. But it doesn't. And you know what? It doesn't cost you shit to be polite.

Besides, if sitting next to fat me really is a problem, next time YOU volunteer to sit between the screaming toddler and the evangelical.




*Someone somewhere referred to "Phantom Gigantic Schlong Syndrome," which does not happen only on planes, but also on buses, and pisses me off there, too.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

You're absolutely right. Someone looking different should in no way determine how they are treated by people on a day-to-day basis. It's cruel to do this to people when, as you say, you have no idea why they are the way they are. It's frustrating when people don't extend the courtesy of treating others like they're human.

However, there is absolutely no circumstance in which it is okay for a 6 year old to weigh 100 lbs. Sure, they might have severe medical issues that cause them to look like this, and as long as they're getting proper medical treatment trying to control the issue, great. But most of the time, it's because their parents aren't teaching them how to eat properly, and when children that young are overweight by that much, it becomes a very, very serious health risk, that lowers their life expectancy by A LOT. Should the kid be treated like any other kid? Of course. The poor kid probably gets teased a lot, and kids (and everyone else) need love and attention, but those kinds of situations need someone to step in and prevent the parents from giving their child a heart attack by the time they're 25.

I'm sorry to rant, but the health risks implied by that are just too great to overlook. You, however, are talking about treating everyone with kindness no matter how they look, and that should be an essential part of human interaction. Tragically enough, most people are assholes.

[polimicks.livejournal.com]

The thing is, in spite of the "obesity crisis" panic, 100 lb six year olds are still the exception, rather than the rule. And like as not, the kid did not get that way from being fed too much. If a six year old gets up to 100 lbs, odds are good there's an underlying condition or reason that is not going to be helped by doctors just bleating, LOSE WEIGHT, FEED THE CHILD LESS! without looking for those underlying reasons.

Hey, maybe the kid is one of those people who has eaten themselves fat, but maybe they aren't. And starving children without finding out what's going on causes any number of long term health issues like say, Oh, Rickets.



But ultimately, my point of all points, as you pointed out, is that the world would be a whole lot more pleasant with a lot fewer dickbags in it.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm wondering how many people who are so horrified by this hypothetical 100 lb. 6-year-old actually know any 6-year-old people.

My son is 5. And, he's a big kid. He's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight, and he weighs about 55 lbs. And, as I mentioned, he is a BIG kid and is taller and heavier than 90% of his peers. And, he still weighs 45 lbs. less than this hypothetical six year old.

When we are talking about children so much larger than other children their age, it just seems silly to imagine that it's because they eat too much. For one thing, I can't imagine a situation in which a child could eat themselves to twice the weight of even their larger peers, unless a parent was literally forcefeeding them. Even then, I'm not sure it would work. For another, most kids that age I know will not eat when they aren't hungry. Trying to get my son to eat a meal when he doesn't feel like eating is a losing proposition every single time. He's a kid who likes food and likes to eat and has a hearty appetite, but when he isn't hungry, he doesn't eat. I could hand him bags of chips and cookies all day long, and he wouldn't simply just keep shoving the food into his mouth. Once he wasn't hungry, he'd be done eating.

So if a child does weigh 100 lbs. at age 6, it seems pretty much 100% certain to me that there are biological/medical/hormonal/genetic issues at work, and not overeating.

[polimicks.livejournal.com]

Yup. Pretty much.

The reason 100 lb six year olds are comment worthy is because they ARE so rare.

Thank you for commenting.