crimmles.com

I’m going to step outside the normal topics of this blog and talk about something wildly controversial: weight. On one hand, there are overweight people- some who are “fat and fabulous,” others who hate being overweight but can’t seem to control that, and others who are overweight by government standards, but look ok to most- all of whom may have been subject to rude commentary b/c of their respective sizes. On the other, there are thin people who sometimes hear comments like “why don’t you have a couple of cheeseburgers and gain a few?” Weight discrimination (to either side) is nothing new.

Recently, on another blog I read sometimes, the questions “is society to tolerant of overweight people? and when is plus sized overweight?” have been raised. I have to mention, I am a fatty. I have been since I was about 5. I am currently at my heaviest (a number that is no one’s damn business ), and at my lightest, I was about 30 over. I’m also tall, so it used to be pretty well spread. As a child/teenager, I was very active- I played softball, basketball, swam every chance I got, and played sports with my siblings and cousins. I have never been a junk food freak (except for Easter, and that only comes once a year), and we didn’t always have a lot of it in the house (although my parents love ice cream and m&m’s). I went through a poorly executed vegetarian phase that involved a lot of baked tofu and ketchup sandwiches. And, from the age of 13, I have been bulimic. So weight is an issue I am all too familiar with. Most specifically, the “over” end.

I want to know why anyone would think that being heavy is now accepted. Not in my little corner of the world. It seems every time I go out, someone makes a rude remark about my weight. And this seems to be ok with people. Why? I want to know, who does weight affect? If I ever bumped my booty into the back of your head walking past you in a restaurant, I apologize (although, I have to say, I usually try to make the um, front side closer. Sucks to be tall, b/c if I walk past and you look up, you could get a snout full of in-pants vag. oops.) I have had super-skinny friends, and their weight never bugged me. Why is it anyone’s business? Are my bingo wings so offensive? Why? You might as well be offended by red hair, crooked teeth, or lopsided boobs. And if you are, man, you have issues. There are much more worthwhile things to be offended by than whether a person has thighs that rub together or a super bony clavicle.

Now, if I were ever by some miracle of engineering to become super-bony, I might relish being told to “eat a damn twinkie, already.” (not that I would, b/c I have never liked cream filled pastry. I may be fat, but I’m damn picky). And honestly, in my mind, even though it is not right, hearing someone being told to eat sometimes conveys concern for that person; you look a little thin, you should put a little meat on them bones, have a snack! Telling an overweight person to “back away from the drive thru” conveys disgust; you have rolls thanks to your BK habit, and your fat is repulsive, so stop eating, already! I do not think it is right either way, b/c weight is so personal, and not every fat/too thin person can help what they are. Why must they all be lumped together? Not every fat person has diabetes or high cholesterol. Not every thin person is perfectly healthy. There are so many variables to consider.

So, if society is indeed becoming more tolerant, it’s news to me. Perhaps I need to find this strange new Mecca and move. And even if I lose all my excess, I’d still choose to live in a place where people are only judged based on character. We, as denizens of this little blue-green marble should be building each other up and helping each other out, not judging b/c of some stupid beauty ideal. And recall, fleshy and fat used to be in. The only constant in this world is change- hot today, not tomorrow. Fat or thin, we are all worthy of at least basic respect. In the end, a person’s appearance matters so little (well, after everything starts to sag, I suppose, which is unfortunate), so why not make the good things a person does a thing to talk about, and leave their too round or too flat butt out of the discussion?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 am and is filed under not so random thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.