Thin privilege is not being afraid to ask your orientation leader to slow down. Thin privilege is also not risking fainting because you’re terrified of stopping to catch your breath whilst on an all-day tour of campus.

I’ll explain. Recently, I attended my college’s three-day orientation program. Each orientation session has somewhere near three hundred incoming freshman, so we’re broken down into groups of thirty or so, and each group is assigned an orientation leader. Naturally, part of the orientation involves being shown landmarks around campus.

My university’s campus sits on over 100 acres of land, and is hilly (which is something I’m not used to, as my home town has no hills of any kind). We were herded around from one end of campus to another in 97-degree weather for two days and two nights, and it was miserable. But the walking wasn’t the problem for me – my problem was that the humidity levels were ridiculously high at the time I was there, and there were times where I literally could not breathe. I knew I needed to stop walking, to take a five-minute break. I also knew I was dehydrated and needed something to drink. However, I was so afraid of telling my orientation leader (especially in front of thirty strangers!) that I physically couldn’t keep up with the rest of the group because I didn’t want to face the inevitable scorn of my fellow (thin) group members at having to stop so the fat girl could catch her breath.

What was worse was that after I got back to the dorm I was staying in, I mentioned my fears to my (very thin) roommate, who proceeded to tell me I was overreacting and that it was ridiculous of me to even be afraid of getting disgusted looks. She, having been thin and petite her entire life, couldn’t fathom why anybody would risk their health over something as “silly” as a few sideways glances or hushed murmurs. I didn’t have the heart to explain to her absolutely fucking sickening it feels to have people demean and berate you for not having the physical stamina to keep up with a fast-paced orientation group.

(Note: This should have submitted anonymously, but if tumblr glitched and it didn’t, I’d really appreciate it if this could be kept anonymous)