The rhetoric about fat and people who are fat is really intense and nasty and I’ve decided that I would really like to focus on things that make more sense.
But it makes me sad. Really sad. There’s so much discussion about what to do about the fat people, especially the fat children. It feels awful to be at the mercy of public opinion. A public so brainwashed by images they watch on television and see in movies and magazines that they feel that fat people are just wrong and need to be ‘handled’.
Just because a person is fat doesn’t mean they’re not actually a person first. It doesn’t mean that they’re not going about their lives doing whatever and deserve to be treated as anything but an actual person with the same rights and values as everyone else. It doesn’t make them a second class citizen. It just makes them fat.
The problem for me is how upsetting all this is. It feels like a helpless situation and I hate that. All these people with all these things to say about obesity. As if being fat is a disease. As if changing to suit someone else is something that we’re duty bound to do. As if there’s not a whole culture built around shaming and marginalising an entire group of people. And the sad thing is that so many people actively participate in this disgusting bigotry and are actively looking for ways to increase the pressure until they find the magic way to make people loose weight.
What then? Is the goal for all fat people to be thin. That will redeem the world? That will make everything alright?
So, where does that leave me? Unsure is probably the best way of putting it. Unsure of how to proceed. I guess I need to change my focus onto things that support and encourage me rather than detract from what I’m feeling.
What do I want? I like to help people. Individual people. One at a time. Doing whatever I can to make their lives just a little easier. That’s what I want. The best thing for me to do then is move my attention away from this constant debate and focus instead on ways that I can help others.
I’m happy with the way I am; big breasts, big hips, thunder thighs and all. I like me. I’m a good person. I’m also coming to terms with the way I look and I want to develop that feeling more. The annoying thing is I zipped up my pants this morning and they were a little looser and I had a little thrill when I considered I’d lost some weight.
Ugh! This stuff makes my brain hurt.
Leave a Reply