(mod note: This is in the voice of Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect)

I have a somewhat common first name, so it isn’t unheard of for me to bump into someone else with the same name every now and then. When I met someone with the same name at my college, I figured we would just end up adding our last initial onto our names, or at least one of us going by our last name. At this point in my life, I am a heavier person, and keeping expectations from times when I was closer to other people weight-wise turned out to be misguided.

The other student with the same name as me was thin, and I was not. Naturally, that is what everyone in the entire class decided to base my new “nickname” on. I became “Fat [Name]” to everyone in the room, and the thin student’s entire circle of friends. Even the professor referred to me like that!

They could have picked literally anything else to base a nickname off of, but they picked my weight. It didn’t matter to any of them what my feelings might be on being singled out based solely on my weight. Nobody ever even asked if I wanted the name.

Thin privilege is people caring if they are insulting you every time they use your name.