To be fat in America is to live in defiance of everyone who wishes fat people would just stop existing, and who sees us as monsters instead of real people. When I go to the gym, to the library, to work, to the movies, to anywhere that isn’t my own home, it is with the knowledge there will be observers who wish I would just disappear, and this based solely on the aesthetics of my body.

People always say it’s about health. But when they’re being really honest, it’s about aesthetics – it’s about whether or not fat people are “fuckable” enough to those doing the viewing. If Kelly was actually worried about our health, she wouldn’t use a media platform to talk about how disgusting we look. Actually, if she was really concerned about our health, she wouldn’t be contributing to the mental distress many of us carry around with them every single day. Kelly’s words are far heavier than my body, let me tell you.

If you want people to be healthy, you don’t want to deny them love and affection. You don’t want to deny them the freedom to walk around in public going about their lives. When you want people to be healthy, you don’t dehumanise them. And you certainly don’t use a media platform to discuss how aesthetically displeasing it is to encounter them, even in ways that don’t require interaction.