I go to the gym. I am fat. I really do think people at the gym are too concerned with themselves to really care what anyone else is doing. Yes, people’s eyes may fall on me every once in a while, but that’s usually just because I’m in their field of vision, my eyes fall on other’s too. I guess if I felt insecure about my weight and saw someone looking at me I might assume they were looking at me and judging me because I’m fat, but that would be my own insecurities making me paranoid. Even if people did stare at me or make fun of me, it would make me want to go to the gym even more because it would be a chance for me to break stereotypes, to show people how wrong they are. Even if I didn’t change any minds, I would still feel good about myself knowing that I didn’t let someone else’s closed-mindedness stop me from doing what I wanted. Then again, I have never been the type of girl to feel bad for myself when others put me down or when I face struggles, and I have always taken any chance I can to show people up, and to show people that I won’t let them bring me down. If we embrace who we are, we shouldn’t care what others think, we should live our lives the way we want and do,what we love and not give a f**ck! I can’t read minds, what others think is none of my business, and to be honest it doesn’t matter to me what other people think because I’ve embraced who I am.

Mod response:

Look, your experience is what it is, and that’s cool. But other people – check out the archives – really do have experiences of people being extremely shitty to them at gyms. Not just looks, but actual insults and nastiness. So what you think other people are doing at the gym? Not so much relevant to that.

When people are regularly harassed on the street, in stores, in any public place, and they have been harassed in gyms, it is perfectly understandable that they are then uncomfortable in gyms. *gasp*shock*

And no, sorry, “self esteem” is not some magical panacea that makes everything better, nor is it something people can just decide to have.

Fuck off, all of you assholes insisting that gyms really are accepting places, because many of us have experiences that demonstrate that lots of them aren’t. Your experiences do not trump ours.

-MG