Things I’m tired of hearing as a fat person #1:

My friends and family complaining about gaining weight/being “too fat”.

Wow, how sick am I of this one? “I need to start working out,” they say in a hushed tone, worriedly patting their stomachs. “I’m gonna have a gut if I keep going at this rate.”

Oh.

Heavens.

Never mind that a REAL LIVE PERSON with a gut is sitting right in front of you. Never mind that what you’ve basically told me is that you’re scared of becoming like me, and that it sure does suck that I’M fat, but YOU need to keep the maintenance of your “correct” body.

This one has always baffled me, even as a child. Like many other fat people, I’ve been subjected to entire conversations about how to keep weight off, how badly they need to lose weight, or how scared they are of being fat, as young as elementary school. And every time I sit there, embarrassed and ashamed of MY body because you’re not comfortable with your own, I wonder “do you even realize how this makes me feel?”

Like, are you thin people so far up your ass with your own privilege that you don’t even notice how comments like this can be upsetting? Or is it a matter of “well EVERYONE knows that thin = good and fat = bad, so even if I complain about getting fat to a FAT PERSON it shouldn’t matter, because they know that their body isn’t acceptable!”? Really, I am very curious.

Now when I’m stuck in these sorts of situations, I just look back with a stony expression. “What’s wrong with gaining weight?” I ask. “What’s wrong with being fat?”

Ohhh but then there’s no answer is there? Yea, that’s what I thought. Because you can’t answer without bringing up a very uncomfortable truth - being thin is what society wants. Being thin is what’s considered automatically healthy (no matter how much evidence there is that says otherwise). Being thin is the ONLY OPTION because being fat is such a terrible nightmare.

Yeaaa.

How about next time you just shut the fuck up and save your whining to someone who gives a shit?