the stigmatization of fat people

Society sees fat people as skinny people who are failing, like being fat is a condition that needs to be fixed. But when does someone reach the level of fatness where it becomes unhealthy? Is it when they’re 10 pounds overweight? 30? 50? When does a person have so much fat that it becomes unacceptable?

Fat people continue to be degraded and ridiculed because of their body type when what’s truly shameful is the complete lack of empathy in humanity.

In the podcast, It’s a Small World After All, Elna Baker describes her experience in her transition from being obese to being skinny. In this period she loses 110 pounds and her life dramatically changes. She even discusses how her husband told her he wouldn’t have married her if she hadn’t lost the weight. What her husband doesn’t know is that in order to lose all of that weight, Elna began taking addictive drugs that suppressed her appetite and allowed her to go days without eating. Is that healthy? Apparently so because Elna began receiving many compliments of people saying she looked ‘healthier’ as she lost weight. In the podcast she admits that she is still taking the pills and has had no luck when trying to stop.

This excuse of health concerns is one of the most popular excuses for fatphobia. But are people truly concerned with other’s physical health if they’re not equally concerned with their mental health? It’s also hard to say you’re concerned about someone’s health when you know absolutely nothing about it. You can’t tell how healthy someone is based on how their body looks. Elna was told she was ‘healthier’ when she was addicted to appetite suppressants. It’s telling that people don’t really care about health because when a skinny person eats three slices of pizza, no one bats an eye. But when a fat person does the exact same, they get talked down to about nutrition. Both are eating unhealthy but only one gets dirty stares and judged.

Even if getting someone to be healthier was someone’s true intention, what happens when fat people try to become skinny in a healthy way and it doesn’t work. Now they’re stuck in a body that’s ‘gross’ and ‘ugly’ with the mindset that their body is ruining their life and it’s their own moral failure and they’re ruining America.

While there are numerous health risks to being obese, many people can’t help that they’re overweight. It is largely caused by their financial status. Maybe all they can afford is fast food. Maybe they can’t pay for a gym membership, or maybe between working 3 jobs they don’t have the time to exercise. Or maybe their metabolism is just very slow and they can’t lose weight. Whatever the reason, when judging someone based on their weight you’re automatically putting the blame onto them and not their situation.

At the end of the day, humiliating and bringing down fat people does no one any good. If bullying fat people encouraged them to lose weight, there would be no more fat people.

Needless to say, the perspective we have on fat people needs to change. Society seems to think that having a double chin, stretch marks, or fat rolls is unsavory, but it’s time to change that narrative.