Why are some people so obsessed with fat people??????

[the Princess]

People come in all shapes and sizes - GEEZ already.

"We're where it's at
We're fat
GET USED TO IT!"

I prefer the term - Full Figured or Sensually Round. Thank you very much.

LMAO

(Even I couldn't be serious about all of it!!!!!!! LMAO)

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. I prefer "latitudinally luscious".

[the Princess]

3. Oooooooooooo

That's a good one!!!!!! LOL

[CO Liberal]

2. And I Just Prefer The Princess

:-)

[the Princess]

4. My Prince!!

*batting my eyes at the screen*

[RevolutionaryActs]

15. Awww you two are so sweet!

Now stop it! :P

[CO Liberal]

27. We Can't!!!

:-)

[Mr. McD]

5. I refer to my wife as Pleasingly plump.

:)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. It makes them feel better about themselves?

It's easier to tear down someone else rather then fix yourself?

I don't really know. :shrug:

[Heddi]

7. Rubenesque is my term of choice

or curvaceous.

I don't like full figured (personally). I think (again, imo) that it's a pandering term...like "plus sized"---give me a break, As if anything below a 12 is "negative sized".

Rubenesque is artsy. People who are cultured can immediately get an image of the curvaceous, well built women depecticted in art and literature.

Look at the old roman and greek statues---the women had bellies and thighs and nice little mid-section rolls. They weren't morbidly obese, but they were real women---fit, but with cushioning.

I think people are obsessed with fat people because we represent what they fear the most---no, not fear of getting fat, or increasing dress/pant sizes---we generally represent people who have abandoned Hollywood's idea of what Everywoman and Everyman should strive to be---perfect, taught, perky---I'm none of that, and I don't want to be.

We represent people who are comfortable with who we are, and don't surround ourselves with people who only like us because we're pretty, thin, and spend inordinate amounts of money on ugly clothes and impractical shoes.

We're people who can think for ourselves, and can find comfortability in our bodies and ourselves. We don't need constant reinforcement that "Yes, you ARE SO PRETTY" and OH MY GOD YOUR ASS LOOKS SO GOOD IN THOSE JEANS. We don't rely on a hyperinflated or hypersexualized outer to compensate for what's lacking on the inner.

When I was in elementary, middle, and high school, I was constantly shunned because I was Smart, Wore Glasses, Fat, Poor. I spent SO MANY YEARS strugggling to be like "the popular kids". Maybe if I'd just lose weight, they'd like me. Well, that didn't work. Maybe if I lost weight AND bought "ugly but trendy" clothes, then they'd like me. That didn't work either.

Finally, I just said FUCK IT. I stopped caring. I lost weight because *I* wanted to. I never got below a 12, but that's fine with me. I bought clothes *I* liked, regardless how out-of-style they were. I began to make friends on MY terms. I realized that once I started to make MYSELF happy, instead of trying to make OTHERS happy, I had more friends, a better self image, and a generally happier life.

Even now, I encounter the STick=Women who refuse to befriend or even talk to anyone above a size 4. They treat me like I'm shit because I wear a 16 waist. They speak to me like I'm mentally retarded because I have a double chin. All I can do is laugh and pitty them for having such an insecurity about themselves that they have to make other people feel little to make themselves feel big.

I pitty them because they THINK they are making me 'feel bad'. They're not. I know I"m better than them because I do NOT discriminate against people. I have skinny friends, fat friends, rich friends, poor friends. I'm friends with the PERSON, not the OUTSIDE>

That's why theyr'e obsessed with us. We are what they want to be but cannot because of their external fixations of beauty. They want our freedom, our lacadasial attitude towards life, our inhibitions about our bodies. They WANT to not care how their ass looks in a pair of jeans. They WANT to not focus on the outside. But the poor dears are conditioned to do otherwise. I mean, what kind of American are you if you don't spend 1/2 your life with a finger down your throat hoping that losing 10lbs will make you as rich and successful as Jennifer Aniston, and that being skinny will somehow give you a better job, an better mate, make your kids be less bratty, and no money problems ever?

Sigh.

[the Princess]

16. What a great post

I agree completely! The older I get the easier it is to laugh at people like this. Do you know how many women spend their lives hungry? It's sad.

[Heddi]

19. I do laugh at them

I have (according to PEOPLE and VOGUE) a body that should never see the light of day. I should be locked in a room and fed soy and water until I become so thin that a light breeze could carry me away (hey! at least that would save me gas money...just hope the wind is blowing in the right direction....or hope I don't get caught in the Jet Stream...I"d end up in Florida!!!).

But you know what---I wear a 2-peice bathing suit when I go to the beach. And you know what...I really don't care.

I've been laying on a towel with my husband (Mr. Jack Spratt--HE could be carried away by a wind!), and I've had shithead kids walk by and say "Shamoooo" or 'freeeeeeeewillyyyyy' and I just look at them and laugh and laugh and laugh at their stupid shallowness. I generally yell out "Oh gee...haven't heard that one before...think of something more original the next time you pass, okay?"

I wonder if they're so deluded as to think they'll ALWAYS be thin? Or that their thinness makes up for their lack of personality and originality? It's amazing. And these vapid, stupid children grow up to be vapid, stupid adults---the ones who spend thousands of dollars on gym memberships they never use, on diet pills that give them the shits, on pants that are so tight at the waist that it gives them an extra set of boobies (I...will....squeeze...into...these...size... 8...pants....can't....go...double...digit...size....aah" (as their head explodes from the intraabdominal pressure).

They're the people who go and buy a Big Mac with Bacon, XXXtra large fries, and guzzle 3 gallons of Diet Pepsi to "undo the bad" (I love that one).

Fuck that noise.

I eat what I want within reason. I love food and prepare my favourites with as little fat as I can. If I can't substitute butter or lard, then I don't. I don't worry about my pants size. I don't worry about jiggly thighs. I don't worry about stretch marks. I just don't care about it. I'm happy with myself and moreover, my husband LOOOOOVES my jiggly belly and big boobies and sizeable ass. He's so skinny, he says he could never be with a skinny woman because the friction of their bones would start a fire in the bed ha ha ha!

[the Princess]

28. My hubby is the same way

He loves my body the way it is. Thank God for men like this!!

[Heddi]

31. Oh yes. Thank HEAVENS

and to top it off, he's cute AND smart.

His sisters are very judgemental and appearance-based. One of them asked him (out of my presence) when we first got together wehther or not he could see himself marrying "someone like me"...he told his sister to promptly go fuck herself. I was so proud. Then he came home and made my belly jiggle :evil grin:

[the Princess]

42. My hubby's sister's don't like me either

I'm sure it's cause I'm fat. And I say - "FUCK 'EM".

Hubby likes to make my belly jiggle too!! :bounce:

[CO Liberal]

40. And I'm Very Thankful...

...that I found The Princess.

:loveya:

[Worst Username Ever]

8. Cutely corpulant?

Beautifully big-boned?

[AngryAmish]

9. Serious response

Some people have an irrational hatred of fat people. I perceive that they see food and drink as some sort of moral test and fat people fail it.

[Heddi]

10. I had a woman I worked with ask me

---now mind you, i'm fat, but in a more "pleasantly plump" kind of way. My husband, on the other hand, is 5'8 and weighs 130 lbs. We're the real-life Mr & Mrs Jack Spratt---

I had a woman I worked with--one of those snotty Stick-Women who think that extra weight is the same as mental retardation--ask me if I was afraid to have kids.

No, I said (and was wondering why she'd ask that)

"Well, because they may be fat. You don't want fat kids do you? I'd DIE if my kids were fat. It's genetic, you know....fatness, I mean"

Uh yeah, honey. The FIRST thing on my mind if I get pregnant is whether my kid will be fat. Not birth defects, not a healthy baby, not a pregnancy without any complications---I'm worried about a tubby baby.

She was a total c*nt and treated me, and the other fat gals in my department, like we had IQ's of 45. One girl I worked with was a heavy gal, but was taking pre-med classes (was recently accepted to UW med school). This Stick-Woman was AGHAST that this FAT GIRL had the mental accumen necessary to take such high-level classes. She'd always ask really condesending questions like "So, do they make scrubs in your size, or will you have to get them specially made?" and "So once you're a doctor, will they give you free surgery, you know, to be skinny, because, you know, I personally wouldn't go to a doctor who had such a problem with impulse control ha ha ha"

She'd always end every idiotic remark with this fakey "ha ha ha" and poke me (or whomever she was talking to) in the belly and say "I'm just kidding. You look great for your size. You carry it really well".

I hated that wench. Severely hated her.

[CO Liberal]

12. Stupidity Can Be Genetic, Too

Did that stick woman pass her stupidity on to the next generation?

:-)

[redqueen]

13. I'm not a violent person

but that $#@*& was begging for a sock to the jaw.

[Heddi]

18. I heard through the grapevine that she forced her daughter to diet

starting at a very very young age (around 5 or so). This poor girl---if you saw her, she was just the EPITOME of unhappy child. The few times I saw her, I think she was in her early teens...13, 14. She was painfully thin. I didn't ever know whether to trust the "gossip" that SHE (the mtoher) had the girl on a restritive diet, or if the girl had developed an eating disorder because of her mother's preoccupation with weight.

Her daughter could only shop at certain stores (upscale stores that sell $200 jeans), wasn't allowed to eat certain foods, wasn't allowed to drink soda ("Empty Calories, you know!!!" as she'd poke my belly roll and laugh), wasn't allowed to have sugar. We'd go to office dinner parties and she wasn't allowed to eat. It was disgusting. I felt so sorry for the girl. She was really pleasant and when she'd come to the office, I'd always let her have a sip of my coke, or a cookie or something. She'd always get nervous and say "Oh please don't tell my mom! She'd DIE if she knew I ate this cookie". I"d tell her not to worry, it was no-fat or sugar free or whatever, but that wasn't okay with her mom, because eating A cookie is the same as eating ALL the cookies.

This woman had serious problems, and it's a shame that she had to bring an innocent human into this world to inflict her personal hatred of being human onto.

[Shakespeare]

20. She POKED you????

OH, man, Heddi--if that'd been me, she'd have lost an appendage the first (and only) time she tried that. What a horrible person--I'm so sorry you had to put up with that. :-(

[Heddi]

22. Oh yeah. Big poke in the belly

you know, because my fat is there for other people's enjoyment :eyes:

Once she poked me, and I poked her back and immediately said "Ow! Bones hurt ha ha ha ha. I hope I didn't rupture your gallbladder ha ha ha ha ha I'm just kidding. I don't care what other people say, I just don't think you look anorexic ha ha ha ha ha just kidding. THose protruding ribs and scapula look good on YOU and that's what matters"

btw--I said that on the last day I worked with the company. She immediately went to HR and complained that I was insensitive and rude to her and suggested that the HR woman not give me a good reference for future jobs. THe HR woman, btw, was fat, and had been poked and prodded by this woman for years. She just laughed and suggested that Sticky "eat a bagel and get over it"

Us tubbies stick together, you know! It's the lipids....it makes us adhere.

[Shakespeare]

26. OMG, that's great....

She can be cruel to others, but the first time the tables are turned, "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Soooo typical of that personality type.

I'm glad you got your "pokes" in before you parted ways. :7

[CO Liberal]

43. "Eat a Bagel and Get Over It"

What a GREAT line!!!!

:-)

[Misunderestimator]

71. LMAO... Great story!!!

:thumbsup:

[the Princess]

14. Fat is only skin deep

Stupid is to the bone. LMAO

Seriously your post made me laugh pretty hard. Stupid people don't know how funny they are.

[the Princess]

11. Yeah well you know what?

Food is one of the great plesures in life. I'm sorry so many think it's evil.

[Heddi]

17. I went to culinary arts school...gained 20lbs in the first year

but fuckin'aye if that wasn't the tastiest year I ever lived in my life. mmmm.....

[Bouncy Ball]

21. I prefer "voloptuous" (how DO you spell that?)

True story, when I was about nine years old, I thought "full-figured woman" was a huge compliment. I thought it meant, you know, she was REALLY WACK! Like BAM! BAM! and BAM! and all THAT!

So I told my dad I wanted to be a full-figured woman when I grew up. He laughed and said "You better hope not."

I didn't understand until I was older why he said that.

[Misunderestimator]

35. I prefer voluptuous...

women as well... :)

[LDS Jock]

23. because they choose to be fat, its ok to poke fun at them

at least that is the way many people act. There are a lot of reasons people gain weight. One of my sisters had a lot of trouble loosing weight after giving birth. My mother gained a lot of weight due to a prescription she was taking. Maybe someone eats for pyschological reasons. Or maybe they really do just eat everything in sight. It doesn't really matter. People preach acceptance over race or sexual orientation. Why can't we just end all the judging and let their personality stand by itself.

[Heddi]

29. Because people buy into the Entertainment Tonight version of "human"

Look at the "fat" people they show on these shows (it's been awhile since I've watched that tripe, but I'm sure it's the same now)

Fat girls like Anna Nicole Smith, or Kirstie Allie---always doing "Stupid" things, wearing awful clothing, shoving a whole hoagie in their mouths.

But the skinny women are always graceful, poised, full of style and panache. They never make a mis-step. They always say the right thing. They have grace, and that's NATURAL.

So, people who have empty lives and have no real indication of personal happiness look to others for clues on how to be happier, have a better life, a better job, etc.

The message is constantly reinforced: Be skinny, be happy! Be skinny, be successful.

Women's (and mens') magazines are filled with articles about "What is YOUR body type, and how to hide those Imperfections"....pear shaped, triangle shaped...it means NOTHING.

But it's a billion-dollar industry. Between the advertising, the magazines, the movies, the infotainment shows, the diet pills, the fat diets, the exercise equipment that "folds down small enough to fit under a bed or sofa"---people buy into it.

People don't want to be thinner for the health reasons, they want to be thinner for the BEAUTY reasons. The ACCEPTANCE reasons.

People pick on fat people because yes, alot of people are under the impression that FAT=bad choice. So therefore, if you're fat, you've not only made bad FOOD choices, but bad LIFESTYLE choices, and Bad MATE choices, and bad EDUCATION choices. It takes too long to process that certain medical conditions cause weight gain. Certain medications. Certain genetics.

It's much easier and faster to look at someone and gauge their personality in 3 seconds. Yes or No. Good or Bad. Pretty or Ugly. Fat or Thin. And base their ENTIRE perception of a person based on how they look on the OUTSIDE.

It's a pitty. Some of the nicest, most intelligent people I've EVER known were fat. Obese. Plump. People that a large segment of the population would dismiss without a second thought. It's their loss, really.

Then again, it's not my loss if the stupid people congregate together. Keeps them out of my hair.

[the Princess]

37. Will you be my new Best Friend???

I like you a whole lot! :)

[Heddi]

44. Shore Thang. We can have belly jiggle contests

the longest jiggler wins! Hoo hoo!

[the Princess]

45. Woooo Hoooo!

:)

[CO Liberal]

49. Can I Be The Timekeeper?????

Can I??? Huh?? Huh??? Huh?????

:-)

[Heddi]

52. Didja ever see the Simpsons episode

where Homer had gained alot of weight, and the Doctor (higgins?) said that there was a test he could to to test body fat, and what he'd do is poke Homer's belly, and time the jiggles.

SO he poked his belly, and starts looking at the watch, and like 5 days later the belly is still jiggling......

it's alot funnier in real life.

[Misunderestimator]

73. "Keeps them out of my hair." You're the best!!

:D

[China_cat]

106. Have you ever noticed, though

that the medical community's pronouncements on what is a 'healthy' weight most often concurs with what the media considers 'beautiful'?

I thoroughly believe that the whole 'overweight epidemic' in this country is a simple backlash on being told that none of us are any good unless we live down to this unrealistic image. When you find that it is unobtainable, you say the hell with it and go have a hot fudge sundae.

When the skinny models were considered freakish, the population as a whole was less rotund.

[the Princess]

32. Oh yeah if I had a choice I'd be fat!! LOL

It's just ridiculous. I have so many imbalances in my body I know why I'm fat - but I still get shit from Dr's for it. And since I don't take any shit from anybody I rarely get things said to me anymore. :)

[Heddi]

34. I had a doctor ask me once

"So, are you intentionally putting on weight?"

Uh yeah.

I'm 5'3, weigh 180 lbs, gained 10lbs in the past 6 months. Yeah. It's fucking intentional you condesending motherfucker.

that night I went home and prayed he got crabs.

[the Princess]

38. LMAO!!!!!!!!!

[Heddi]

24. Well, they DO say that Fat Bottomed Girls Make the Rockin World Go Round

and I'm here to do my part.

Heddi

Built like a brick shithouse, but without the smell.

[sendero]

62. And when they..

.... get on their bikes and ride... well it's just too sweet :)

[BiggJawn]

105. Fat Bottom girls...Bike shorts.....

Excuse me, I have to go take a cold shower right now...:7

[Bouncy Ball]

25. While we're telling horror stories

when my mother was four, she was at the table eating extra biscuits after breakfast. Her mother said "Stop it! You don't want to look like Mrs. Johnson next door do you?"

Now Mrs. Johnson next door weighed around 300-325 pounds. My mother said she remembers that moment vividly (my grandmother remembered it too). Her eyes got huge and she put down the biscuit.

She became bulimic and still is.

So then when *I* was young, I had this thin-obsessed mother who actually competed in (and won) beauty pageants. When I was 15 years old, I was 5'7" and weighed 125 pounds. Nowhere NEAR even being chubby. I was quite thin. But she decided I might GET fat, so she had me put on a sweatsuit and walk to the gym with her following behind in the car, with her hazards on, to make sure I went. Then I had to work out and walk home. I nearly had heat stroke (think Dallas in the summer in a sweat suit).
Had to do that several times that summer.

[Heddi]

33. aak!

Amazing how quickly neuroses can develop, and what makes them trigger.

I went to school with a girl whose mother was morbidly obese (around 500lbs). So, to prevent her daughter from getting to her size, she put this girl (Aubrey) on a STRICT diet, and wouldn't let her get above 85lbs. Seriously. She would get weighed every other day, and if she got above 85, she wasn't allowed to eat until she 'lost' the weight.

On graduation day, here was Aubrey, 18 years old, 5 foot 7, weighing 85 lbs and looking every ounce of it. Sunken eyes, thin hair, pale skin that you could see the veins through. Horrid.

I felt bad for her AND her mother. I can really see where most likely, initially, the mother was trying to help her daughter. THe mother was obese due to poor dieting and lack of exercise (and depression and a shitty relationship and and and). I can see where SHE saw her shortcomings as far as providing good nutritional advice for her daughter, but she went too far.

I've never seen that girl again, and I wonder if she was ever able to escape "forced eating disorder" that she had lived with for her entire life.

[CO Liberal]

36. Another Horror Story

My first wife's adoptive mother (who was rail-thin) was always nagging her to lose weight. She seemed to think that having a fat daughter marked her as a failure as a mother. Actually, her being a raging alcoholic may have been more of a factor in her poor parenting skills than my ex's weight.

Anyway, my daughter told me a few years ago about the last time her mother (my first wife) and her grandmother (the rail-thin alky) saw each other - when my ex was in the hospital dying from heart and kidney failure. She was bloated because of the shutdown of her renal system, and all her mother could do was bitch about how fat she was.

That's one of the cruelest stories I've ever heard.

[Bouncy Ball]

39. Oh my GOD that's horrific!!!!!

WOw, what a total lack of humanity she had.

I'm so sorry for your ex.

[CO Liberal]

47. Her Mother Was Absolutely Clueless....

She systematically alienated everyone around her. When my ex died, her younger sister (who was down on her luck) asked her to pay for her to come up from Florida to attend the service. Her mother said she would pay for her, but not for her daughter to come with her because she was half African-American.

She constantly ragged on my daughter, who is one of the sweetest people in the entire world, about the least little thing. But on the other hand, my son could do no wrong. It appeared she had a real problem with other women - including her own daughters and granddaughter. I guess there was a good reason that she couldn't have children of her own - maybe the Universe was trying to tell her something.

And when this shrew of a woman finally breathed her last a few years ago, my kids didn't seem to upset about losing their last grandparent. I wonder why....

[JimmyJazz]

51. How sad, Wayne - I'm sorry to hear that. People can be so cruel.

:cry:

[CO Liberal]

54. I Know

This woman knew her daughter was dying, and yet she STILL had to make her feel bad about her weight.

[Misunderestimator]

41. Wow.... sounds like my sister.

We grew up near Dallas too, and since I was the younger sister, I had to follow her along obsessive 5 mile walks "to town" and back. Damn hot in the middle of summer.

[Bouncy Ball]

46. Oh geez wasn't it just God awful?

I remember getting dizzy and sick and I was pretty damn used to the heat (any kid is growing up here).

Shit.

[Misunderestimator]

48. If I wasn't a kid, I'm sure I would have fainted from heat stroke...

it was sheer hell.

[trof]

30. Just more to love.

That's my rejoinder.

[grace0418]

50. It's the last "acceptable" prejudice

Even if people still have prejudice against minorities, gays, women, etc. *most* they know they can't talk about such prejudices in public (unless they're Rush Limbaugh or other idiots like him). But being fat is fair game. You can tell as many fat jokes as you want in movies or on tv. You can film scores of overweight people for news segments. It's really horrible.

[Left Is Write]

58. I'll agree that it seems to be an "acceptable prejudice", but

I don't agree it's the last one.

It's perfectly acceptable to ridicule the very thin also. No one seems to care when thin people are called sticks, walking bones, skeletons, bone hags, sack of bones, and other such names. No one seems to care when people say they hate skinny people, that skinny people aren't fun, that skinny people are bitches, and other such thoughts.

I have never made fun of an overweight person in my life. Not ever. I got ridiculed for standing up for a person who was being picked on when I was in school. I was ridiculed for having a good friend who was overweight. I once dumped a guy who couldn't stop making scathing comments about my roommate, who happened to be a larger woman.

And yet, several times throughout my life, especially when I was younger, many people thought it was perfectly okay to make rude, mean, and hurtful remarks to me because I was skinny.

NO ONE should have to suffer ridicule and cruelty over their size, weight, shape, or any other aspect of their physical self. That goes for heavy, average, and thin alike.

[mcscajun]

86. I agree...with one caveat...

...there is no excuse for making fun of anyone because of their size...either the skinny or the fat. BUT...

But...there isn't an enormous weight-gain industry pressuring skinny people to put on weight, there aren't countless comedians cracking skinny jokes (yes, there are some), and there isn't movie after movie after movie making skinny people the butt of everyone's laughter, and nobody thinks (or worse calls) you a 'moral failure' or 'lacking willpower' for being thin.

You may indeed encounter an occasional, or even more than occasional unwarranted 'skinny bitch' or 'skeleton' comment...but it doesn't begin to reach the level of abuse, ridicule and rejection any fat person has to deal with every single freakin' day.

/endrant

[grace0418]

91. Thank you

Excellent rant. I will change my statement to say "...ONE of the last" but I agree that the degrees of abuse are different.

[KitchenWitch]

98. Back before my metabolism slowed way down

I was extremely skinny....6'3" and 110 lbs. Perfect strangers used to walk up to me and ask me why I wasn't in an eating disorders program. And I mean people of ALL sizes (even the fat people, who should have know better). People I knew would go on and on about how thin I was.

At the time I was probably eating between 3500 - 4000 calories a day and still not able to gain weight...and no, I was too thin to be considered a "beauty" by the media standards...and could never find clothes that were long enough for me.

Yes there is a big weight loss industry, that is the only difference, however...it is still "fair game" to pick on someone's size whether big or small!

GRRR

[Susang]

101. Agreed, though overweight people have it much worse, skinny gets it too

When I was in my teens and twenties, I was naturally extemely thin. I had people I didn't know come right up to me and say "you're so skinny, I hate you!" and the like. I had people tell me that I looked like a concentration camp victim. I had one of my well meaning high school couselors call my mother about my supposed anorexia-nervosa.

You see, it was the eighties and the fashion then was positively amazonian, I just did not fit in with my 5'7" frame and my 96lb body. Had I been born ten years later, I would have shared the exact same measurements as Kate Moss and been considered "heroin chic". :eyes:

Later on, I developed thyroid disease and became fairly overweight for my frame (180lbs), so I have the unusual experience of having seen it from both sides of the coin. Neither form of abuse was particularly pleasant, to tell you the truth.

[KitchenWitch]

102. I am with you on that

I too have seen things from both sides, I currently weigh about 185, but have weighed as much as 240 (6'3") and the abuse you get either way hurts.

[Cuban_Liberal]

65. Sorry, but you have to share that with gays... n/t

[Misunderestimator]

74. Yep... I can't tell you how many times people have told me crude gay

jokes, not knowing I was gay... they knew it soon enough.

[grace0418]

90. I apologize. I guess living in Chicago

and working in a creative field I just don't encounter any idiots who tell gay jokes anymore.

I will change my statement to "...one of the last 'acceptable' prejudices."

HOWEVER, I have two caveats-

1. I still think that while you might see flamboyant stereotypical gay characters on t.v. and in movies, gays are not nearly as vilified as fat, unattractive people are in everyday entertainment. There aren't any reality television shows that ridicule and coerce gay men into acting straight, but there is a reality t.v. show called "The Biggest Loser" which humiliates the overweight contestants into losing weight.

2. If a trim homosexual person and an overweight person (especially a woman) were on career paths in conservative fields, the homosexual person could choose not to divulge his or her sexual orientation in order to avoid discrimination (I'm not advocating this practice, just saying that it's possible). The overweight person has no choice, and really has very little recourse if the discrimination happens.

---------

I guess what I'm trying to is that for every idiot that still thinks gay jokes are funny, there are at least as many people who realize that it's hurtful, bigotted and stupid. But mocking people who are overweight and/or unattractive is so commonplace that many otherwise decent people are more than willing to accept and even engage in the behavior. It's on nearly every sitcom at one time or another and in countless movies. And it's still considered funny.

[Susang]

96. Hi Grace!

Long time, no see! How are you doing? :hi:

[grace0418]

97. Hi Susang

I'm fine thanks. Needed to take a little breather after the "election" but I'm back now. How are you?

[Susang]

99. Bored with my job, but otherwise fine

I just don't understand why I can't find a job that enables me to lay around the house most of the day, yet funds all of my creative endeavors, lets me build an in-home recording studio, and allows me to travel whenever I want to, with no strings attached. :shrug:

Seems like a gig like that shouldn't be to hard to find, right? ;-)

[Behind the Aegis]

53. a couple of shekels from me

Fat people are stupid and lazy. Fat people are sexually undesirable. Fat people are selfish. That about sums it up. Isn't that what you were taught?! Isn't that what you hear?!

This is what we are taught from a very early age. If you gain weight, there is shame attached to it. We see it on the TV, we see it in the magazines, we hear it in public. At some point, we all buy into these stereotypes a little. But, we all have a 'fat' relative and when we make an "ugly" comment about someone's weight, we should think..."how would I feel if someone said that to my loved one?!"

My only concern is when someone is too big that it affects his/her health. I just lost my aunt...jezz, it has almost been a year, and I still miss her so much! Anyway, my aunt was a "large" woman and because of her weight, she couldn't get a much needed liver transplant. She never drank, smoked, did drugs, but had a bad liver and because of her weight, we lost her! However, there are never any guarantees in life. I don't care how big she was, I will always love her. My cousin, her son, always said..."there is just more of you to love." And, that was very true!

I used to be very skinny. When I moved to Oklahoma (or Okla-HELL-ma, as I call it), I put on quite a few pounds. Of course, my family loved it because they saw it as "healthy." They are Southern Jews, so anyone who doesn't have a few extra inches to pinch is dangerously underweight! :) But, it sent me into a deep depression. As much pressure as their is on women to maintain a certain look, it as bad, if not worse sometimes, for gay men. I already suffered from bulimia, now I was suffering from disordered eating. I overcame most of it with counseling and now I don't obsess as much as I used to. I also am much more sensitive to weight and body image issues.

If you are overweight and it threatens your health, get help, please! There is someone out there that would miss you very much! If you are plump and happy...be happy! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Also, watch the Queens of Comedy. The great Monique does a whole bit about fat girls and how she hates skinny girls...it is a RIOT!!!!

I didn't mean to sound sanctimonious, nor put any one down. Just thought I would weigh in. heehee!

[the Princess]

55. hmmmmmmmmmmm

"If you are overweight and it threatens your health, get help, please! There is someone out there that would miss you very much! "


Sometimes because of health issues there is nothing you can do to lose weight. They go hand in hand for some of us. And the best you can do is be as healthy as possible and live your life. Yes, I have some health issues. But my weight is also exaserbated by the meds I take. My hubby's skinny as a rail mom had heart trouble all her life.

So I am not uderstanding your point. Sometimes the meds that help the health issues makeyou gain weight.

It's not as simple as you may think.

Weight is a very very very complicated issue

[CO Liberal]

59. And Size and Mortality Are Not Directly Related...

...regardless of what some people think

For example, I had one aunt who spent most of her adult life between 300 and 400 pounds. She lived to 73. My mother - who always watched her weight - lived to 72.

[u4ic]

82. I think there is a difference between

their and our generation.

Both my grandmothers were large ladies, and they lived to 83 (died 1966) and 88 (d 1993). They kept active, by walking, gardening, housework, etc, albeit at the slower pace of the time. They also had fresh food available to them, from their gardens, and from their farms or the local butcher (they were rural folk, and at the time, pesticides were not used in abundance as they are now).

However, we are in a time where there are so many toxins in our food, soil, water and air, and they are stored in human fat tissues. However - I don't know if it's clear that by loosing weight and 'mobilizing' these toxins, that it does more good than harm.

This is not passing judgement on anyone. I am 'voluptuous' myself. But I think the above may be a concern - and not just for large folks.

[grace0418]

93. My dad, who was very fit, played tennis and took long walks

every day, ate healthy, didn't smoke, didn't drink, died at 73. My grandmother (his mother) was obese, didn't exercise, ate sweets and butter and very few vegetables, lived until she was 86. And she wasn't bedridden at all, she was completely mobile and coherent until the day she died.

[Behind the Aegis]

60. no offense was intended

I, in no way, think weight is a simple issue! Quite the opposite! It is treated as something that is easily changed. Look at the diet fads! Everyone thinks eating this or that, or not eating this or that will do the trick...nope! Media doesn't help either. All the mixed messages about weight and what is desirable or not.

Sometimes because of health issues there is nothing you can do to lose weight. They go hand in hand for some of us. This was the case with my aunt. She couldn't diet because it was bad for her liver, but having the weight, they couldn't operate! It was an evil, catch-22. So, did she diet and risk damage to her kidneys, and possibly her heart, or keep the weight and hope the liver disease didn't progress? Those are not good options!

So, what I was meaning was, if losing the weight will help, then do it. I know some people cannot lose the weight because of genetics, medical reasons, or medication. If that is your lot, then there is little you can do except be happy and as healthy as possible.

I didn't mean to offend you or any other reader of this thread! I also didn't mean to be condescending in any way! If that is how I presented myself, then I apologize profusely!

[CO Liberal]

56. One of My Favorites....

...was a bit the Rosie O'Donnell did on the old "Stand-Up Spotlight" show on VH-1 about a skinny little arobics instructor. Rosie changed her chant to go something like this:

I hate - your guts -
You skinny little bitch
I hope you DIE -

:-)

[Behind the Aegis]

61. Monique

"A skinny bitch, is a confused bitch! Eat something! You're fucked up, cuz you're hungry! Two piece and biscuit!" LOL! Watch it...it will make you scream! (She does use alot of profanity, but that doesn't phase me).

[Left Is Write]

63. You know -

This sort of thing is what I was talking about in this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=2394116&mesg_id=2395006&page=

Why is it okay to call thin women "skinny bitches", accuse them of being "fucked up", and wish them to die? Yeah, yeah. It's a joke. It's funny, right? Yes. Very funny.

[Biased Liberal Media]

64. I completely agree

the mocking on BOTH sides needs to stop...period. It's not right either or.

[Behind the Aegis]

66. I know

She is a comedian. I take it with a grain of salt. She also refers to "fat bitches" too! She even talks about her use of the word "bitch." To me there is a difference when someone is preforming comedy and when someone is passing laws affecting people's lives. I am gay, and I have heard quite a few funny gay jokes. We should be able to laugh at ourselves and not be over-sensitive. There is a fine line, but each person has to define that for themselves.

[Left Is Write]

67. Of course there is a difference between comedy and passing laws.

But as far as I know, this thread hasn't been about passing laws discriminatory against the overweight people. This thread has been about Americans' treatment of overweight people.

Hateful comments are still hateful, even under the guise of humor.

[Behind the Aegis]

68. tis true

I was just saying that humor sometimes isn't PC, nor should it have to be. The issue is when someone fails to understand the humor and takes it for reality or uses it to discriminate. American's mistreat all kinds of people and we, as a people, should be more understanding. But, that doesn't mean we need to lose our sense of humor too.

[Left Is Write]

69. I'm not suggesting everything should be PC.

I'm just suggesting that sometimes this kind of "comedy" can be detrimental - it puts an acceptable face on certain types of hatefulness. I know we all need to laugh at ourselves from time to time, but laughing at myself doesn't have to extend to to self-hatred.

In the mid 80s, shortly after Rock Hudson died, one of the popular jokes went like this:

Q: What does "gay" stand for?
A: Got AIDS Yet?

I didn't think *that* was funny either.

[Behind the Aegis]

70. ...not sure what to say to you

Yes, sometimes comedy can stretch the limits of good taste. Personally, I anything that makes fun of death is not that funny to me. The SNL clip with the coffin of Henry Fonda doing "workout" moves was tasteless. But, some things are just plain funny, if you do not take them seriously. There are some pretty tasteless "Blonde" jokes out there, but I don't have an issue with them. I don't think all blondes are stupid or whores. I don't think all fat people are lazy. I don't think all skinny people are 'skeletons.' I don't think all gays are sex-crazed....BUT....sometimes, a clever turn of a phrase is just that, a clever turn of a phrase, with no hate directed behind it!

[Left Is Write]

72. Okay. I guess I'm just humorless.

What do you suppose would happen, though, if a slim comedian got up on stage and did the Rosie O'Donnell routine, substituting "fat bitch" for "skinny bitch"?

Maybe I just don't think it's funny because I've personally been on the receiving end of, "I hate you, you skinny bitch."

For what it's worth, I'm blonde, and I think quite a few blonde jokes are cute.

[Behind the Aegis]

75. like beauty, humor is in the eye of the beholder

I guess it could get dicey if the comedian was not established or hadn't made disclaimers (such as self-deprecating humor). To me, it is the same as black comedians making fun of whites. Why not the other way? Because of the history of racism in this country. But, a white comedian who was well-known in the black community, probably could get away with making fun of blacks. I have seen plenty of straight performers make fun of gays, but I also know they are gay-supportive. If I hear a comedian make gay jokes, and I don't know where s/he stands, then I am a little suspicious. All in all, I like all kinds of humor and try to go with the flow, as long as I don't see hate as the basis of the joke.

[Biased Liberal Media]

57. I'll tell the story I have told before...

I'm an obese person...and I HATE to see the fat bias everywhere..it bothers the crap out of me. In 2001 I was out, exercising and was pelted with cans from a car that was driving by, and called nasty names because of my weight. It took me 2 years to overcome that fear and stop being an agoraphobe.

I am tired of the stereotypes...and I'm tired of the discrimination a lot of fat folk face on a daily basis.

It NEEDS to stop. And furthermore- those who call themselves progressives/liberals- I expect more out of you. I said it before and I'll say it again- we're human. I am NOT expecting nor do I want pity- I want people to be tolerant and accepting. We can't change overnight, so give us a break. We're human just like anyone else- and instead of trying to figure out WHY a person is fat, why can't you just look at the person for the person THEY ARE???

I will NEVER get it.

[Wapsie B]

76. As they say,

the bigger the cushion..............

:evilgrin:

Big people rock!


:yourock:

[ekhunter]

77. the media?

it seems the media is obsessed with obesity and the health risks associated with it.

[Biased Liberal Media]

78. Yeah, and dieting and looking like a plastic

person with fake boobs and botoxed out face and everything.

Sad ain't it? THe media puts so much pressure on Americans...yet we have an obese nation. It's like, here, eat this hormone-riddled food, but you should buy some Xephra-new diet pill to help you lose weight while you sleep (what a crock of shit!)!!! It's ridiculous, ain't it?

[ekhunter]

94. sad, but true

[Nitrogenica]

79. It's all Sir Mix-A-Lot's fault!

He likes big butts and he cannot lie. People related to it on a huge scale, including me.

[mcscajun]

80. Comprehensive Response to the thread so far...

FYI -- "ikojo" posted a "Fat Acceptance Group" suggestion before the New Year that got lost in the shuffle of Tsunami news and New Year's Eve insanity. I've asked her to repost it this week in hopes of getting a better response. We really Do seem to need this group here at DU.

I started (last week) replying to any thread that uses the word 'fat' as part of an insult to repugs, freepers, etc. asking them, very nicely, to find a way to say what they mean Without using the word 'fat'. My point to them is those of us who are fat don't mind the word, we mind it being used as an insult. It's my new personal crusade on DU for this year, and I encourage you all to do likewise.

And for any of you too young to remember the poetry/comedy of Victor Buono, or too sheltered to have heard it, I recommend the following CD: Heavy! www.laugh.com is a resource for this. "A Word to the Wide" and "Skinny Poems for Fat Lovers" follow the poem I've posted below.

It's 35+ years old...so some references will be dated, and some parts may make you cringe, but overall...it's worth the listen. His delivery is priceless: "...and relentlessly pursue the "Metrecal for lunch bunch", and the Eileen Feather freaks, the Diet Pepsi de-generation and the Rye-Krisp creeps and line 'em up against a wall and make 'em eat cake! Using Twiggy as a fork."

Victor Buono

I'm Fat
===============
I'm fat, I'm fat;
that's all there is to that.

You might think it etiquette
to say that I am heavy-set
or just big-boned. You wanna bet?
I'm fat, I'm fat, I'm fat.

Portly, chubby, plump and stout;
everyone's a diplomat.
Why not let it all hang out
and go ahead and call me fat?

So please don't think you're being kind
by pretending to be blind.
Just take a look at my physique --
there's only one word: fat.

[Rabrrrrrr]

84. Ah, he was such a wonderful comedian

Too bad he died so early.

Others might know him, even if they don't know the name, as King Tut (or whatever the Egyptian-style bad guy was) from the old Batman TV series.

[Biased Liberal Media]

85. If they make a Fat Acceptance Group I'll join

[48pan]

81. Because Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot! nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

83. Me too! Jen of Dangerously Curvy Novels

http://curvynovels.com/

----------------------------------------------------------
Save this nation one town, county, and state at a time!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm#why

[IronLionZion]

87. I like big butts

and I can not lie!

:evilgrin:

[SKKY]

88. You other brothers can't deny...

[IronLionZion]

89. When a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist

and a big thing in yo face, you get SPRUNG!!!

[Wat_Tyler]

92. Health issues, I guess.

Somewhat overweight is fine, obesity is a medical disaster waiting to happen.

[Biased Liberal Media]

104. Why focus on a person's weight??

WHy not look at them for the person they are?? It's one thing to be concerned, but it's quite another to be so FOCUSED on it..know what I mean? The problem is people are focusing too much on it...instead of looking at a person because of their weight, why not take a look at a person and realize they are human too??

Being obese does not equal monster. We are humans too.

[KitchenWitch]

95. I prefer the term "Person of Substance"

[daduddaman]

100. I'm a fat person obsessed with fat people

I was a skinny/average size kid, a FAT teenager, then I got in good shape and was a slim/in-shape young adult. Now in my late twenties I'm fat as hell again. I say I'm obsessed with fat people because now it makes me feel bad to look at other fat people and know that's how I look. It's motivating though, my new year's resolution will be fulfilled this year! Maybe

[UdoKier]

103. Being fat invalidates everything good about you.

Michael Moore makes F-911, and since the right have nothing to rebut it with, they just say "Michael Moore is FAT (therefore wrong by default)

Natalie Maines MILDLY disses Bush at a concert and wears a FUTK shirt and sudddenly it's "Maines of the Dixie Twits is a fat ugly COW" (and therefore just bitter because she is unattractive - so what if she weighs 135 tops)

Margaret Cho lays into Bush in a comedy routine at a fundraiser and she gets TONS OF hate mail from rightwing nutjobs calling her a "fat, slanteyed chink who has had a few too many dogmeat shishkabobs, and she should go back to China if she doesn't like it here" (Never mind that she was born in San Francisco and is of KOREAN ancestry.



The right and its attacks on fat people seems to go hand-in-hand with its misogyny, and is ironic, considering how fat most of the rightwingers we meet are...

[salvorhardin]

107. I'll sign on to a fat acceptance group too n/t

[skygazer]

108. I think a lot of people feel better about themselves

when they can feel superior to others. Which takes the form of berating and insulting people who are different in some way - fat, thin, gay, black, Jewish. I dated a Jewish guy who used to get told totally offensive anti-Semitic jokes by people who didn't realize he was Jewish. Often they were his customers which made it difficult to respond as firmly as he would have liked to. When he pointed out how offensive it was, they'd say, "oh, it's just a joke."

The world would be such a boring place if we were all the same, wouldn't it?

[Nikia]

109. Why are people more obsessed about heavy women than men

If being heavy is a health concern why do heavy women face a harder time than heavy men. It seems that the societal ideal for women is slightly underweight, while the societal ideal for men is slightly overweight. A woman 10 pounds overweight is called "fat". A man 10 pounds overweight is deemed more masculine. I read somewhere that "healthy" weighted women make more than overweight women and much more than obese women. Overweight men make more money than "healthy" weight men. Obese men only make slightly less than "healthy" weight men. If you look in a woman's magazine, losing weight is always a major topic. In a men's magazine, it is rarely a topic. If being heavy was really just a health issue, we would be more concerned about heavy men. After all, men have a lower life expectancy and are more likely to die from heart attacks and such.