(by TeaTime4Frances, commenting on Jezebel)

People who are worried that thin-shaming is anywhere near as harmful* as fat-shaming, please take this short quiz:

1. Of the two body types, which one do employers report that apples-to-apples, all resumes being equal, they would not hire?

a. Thin people

b. Fat people

2. Which of the two body types do Internet commenters and bloggers freely and frequently say they do not want to be seated next to on an airplane, a train, or a bus?

a. Thin people

b. Fat people

3. Which body type is expressly preferred by subscribers to Match.com, PlentyofFish.com, eHarmony, and every other mainstream dating site on the Internet?

a. Thin people

b. Fat people

4. Which body type is associated with “health,” “self-discipline,” “industriousness,” “taking care of oneself,” “goodness,” or “exercise,” by Emma Woolf among countless others? Which body type is generally assumed to be healthy and fit, regardless of, and in the absence of real knowledge about the person’s habits?

a. Thin people

b. Fat people

5. Which parents have had their children taken away from them by various governments because of the size of the parents’ bodies? Which people are, by default. considered so egregiously unfit to be parents that governments consider FOSTER CARE better for their children?

a. Thin parents

b. Fat parents

6. Which people experience discrimination from healthcare providers based on their body size to such an extent that they actually give up going to doctors, because some doctors endanger their health even more than avoiding the doctors does?

a. Thin people

b. Fat people

7. What body size is every Disney hero and heroine?

a. Thin

b. Fat

8. 95% of everyone you see on TV—from show stars, to reality show contestants, to news anchors, to actors in TV commercials—is what size? Even when almost half of their viewership is not, what size are almost all of the people on TV? In movies?

a. Thin

b. Fat

9. Most of the time, when you do see fat people on TV or in the movies, what is the story that character is there to tell?

a. It’s all about how fat, unhealthy, sad, lazy, stupid, weak, or ineffectual they are.

b. About how they’re plucky, unlikely heroes/heroines who are going to save the world.

10. Which people do studies show are more likely to be believed and trusted, more likely to get help from others if they need it, more likely to receive love from their own parents and families, more likely to have better job prospects and greater economic security?

a. Thin people

b. No. It’s thin people.

I’m not advocating for thin-shaming, nor do I practice this myself. What I’m saying is, somebody telling you to eat a sandwich is not keeping you down economically, academically, or romantically. Somebody telling you you could blow away in a stiff wind is not tantamount to medical malpractice; it does not threaten your life or livelihood. People are not judging you to be lazy, shiftless, stupid, undisciplined, or have poor hygiene just by glancing at you. They are being mean assholes, but they are not limiting you in any way that comes anywhere NEAR to the elitist glass-ceiling bullshit that fat people endure from every corner on every day.