Today in my Ethics class we went over “the trolley problem”. We went over two different of it, one with a complete stranger who’s body mass was not identified (he was just identified “as an individual leaning over the edge, looking down at the tracks”), and one who’s body mass was identified (“a fat individual is leaning over the edge, looking down at the tracks”). In the trolley problem, a runaway trolley is about to hit five people. You have to justify either sacrificing one life (the individual on the bridge) versus the other five lives.

Thin privilege is not dealing with the emotional abuse that races through your mind when over half your class has no problem sacrificing the fat individual, but is debatable of the individual who’s body mass isn’t identified.