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hiddenmuseIt seems that fat has become the last "acceptable" bastion for discrimination.
There's no way that anyone would insult another person to their face over race, age, gender, sexuality, disability, religion or background - but the size of their dress or pants is apparently open for criticism.
A couple of weeks back, Kellie was in her Spin class (which she does 3 times a week - and has done for almost 6 months now) - nearby was another regular, whom I'll call J., and J.'s friend, R., who was there on a Guest Pass. R. had never done a Spin class before - but was in decent shape, and admitted that she hadn't worked out in a while.
Halfway through class, R. was starting to wind down some. The instructor went to see how she was doing, to make sure that she was okay. R. apparently looked over at Kellie and basically said, in the hopes that only the instructor would hear it, "I don't get it - I can't do this, but that fat girl can!"
Well, it turns out that Kellie did hear the comment. The instructor was upset that she'd overheard it, and told Kellie that she kicked R.'s ass - and to keep coming to class. I thought it was quite helpful that the instructor was so encouraging to her, despite some jackass newbie's whining.
And I do have an example of my own - when I was going towards work, someone coming up from the BART station walked past me and called me a "cow". Of course, because said person was a coward for not saying it to my face - I couldn't respond. If I could've responded, I probably would've told him to fuck off (immediate response).
I think it just irritates me that people can insult others like that - without knowing what's really going on inside. They don't know that we're doing something about being fat. They just see it as something to insult, something to react to - because they're dealing with their own wounded egos or low self-opinion. They don't give a damn about us as people. We're just walking/moving targets to them. It's the schoolyard bully, only on a more grand scale.
I'm not saying that I'm going to join FAT?SO! or NAAFA or some other pro-fat organization anytime soon. I know that my size isn't exactly doing my health favors (i.e. - blood pressure and joint problems), so I'm trying to do something about it. In the meantime, I just need to figure out a way to accept my body as it is, right now. :-)
There's no way that anyone would insult another person to their face over race, age, gender, sexuality, disability, religion or background - but the size of their dress or pants is apparently open for criticism.
A couple of weeks back, Kellie was in her Spin class (which she does 3 times a week - and has done for almost 6 months now) - nearby was another regular, whom I'll call J., and J.'s friend, R., who was there on a Guest Pass. R. had never done a Spin class before - but was in decent shape, and admitted that she hadn't worked out in a while.
Halfway through class, R. was starting to wind down some. The instructor went to see how she was doing, to make sure that she was okay. R. apparently looked over at Kellie and basically said, in the hopes that only the instructor would hear it, "I don't get it - I can't do this, but that fat girl can!"
Well, it turns out that Kellie did hear the comment. The instructor was upset that she'd overheard it, and told Kellie that she kicked R.'s ass - and to keep coming to class. I thought it was quite helpful that the instructor was so encouraging to her, despite some jackass newbie's whining.
And I do have an example of my own - when I was going towards work, someone coming up from the BART station walked past me and called me a "cow". Of course, because said person was a coward for not saying it to my face - I couldn't respond. If I could've responded, I probably would've told him to fuck off (immediate response).
I think it just irritates me that people can insult others like that - without knowing what's really going on inside. They don't know that we're doing something about being fat. They just see it as something to insult, something to react to - because they're dealing with their own wounded egos or low self-opinion. They don't give a damn about us as people. We're just walking/moving targets to them. It's the schoolyard bully, only on a more grand scale.
I'm not saying that I'm going to join FAT?SO! or NAAFA or some other pro-fat organization anytime soon. I know that my size isn't exactly doing my health favors (i.e. - blood pressure and joint problems), so I'm trying to do something about it. In the meantime, I just need to figure out a way to accept my body as it is, right now. :-)
