Fat Shaming, Fat Acceptance, and people who can’t mind their own business

This video appeared in my Facebook feed. I love this girl. She is young, smart, self-confident and not trying to influence anybody to lose or gain weight. Screen Shot 2015-07-03 at 8.39.15 AM

On the other hand, she gets a lot of comments from people who are more interested in her weight than is natural. She isn’t exaggerating when she talks about the comments larger women get (and no, they are not asking for them; jerks just think it’s appropriate to comment on something that is none of their business!)

I wrote a blog about being fat-shamed at the Gorham House of Pizza. I was fat, hungry, and had been waiting for my meal for an inordinately long period of time. I had my 4 daughters with me. The youngest was a few months old and the oldest was 8. They were good girls, with good manners, but even well-mannered little girls have a time limit on how long they can sit patiently in a restaurant waiting for their food while everybody around them is eating pizza. The baby was a good baby, but she too, had her limit.

They were put to the test of how long they could maintain good behavior and they finally reached their limit. That was just about the time the pizza finally came. In hunger and desperation to make a hasty exit, I ate a slice very quickly. I got a nasty look and comment.

When I wrote about the incident in my blog, I got several comments telling me that I was transferring my body-weight shame onto the other diners. I was informed that I had no idea who the dirty look and comment was for, so said one person, and another said I deserved a dirty look and negative judgment for having misbehaving children.

This woman (me) will get dirty looks and nasty comments for speed-eating pizza because "she's fat and she's asking for it!"

This woman (me) will get dirty looks and nasty comments for speed-eating pizza because “she’s fat and she’s asking for it!”

The point is that incident happened 26 years ago. I have lost weight and kept it off for 25 years and I can tell you that nobody watches me eat anymore. Now that I am not very overweight, speed-eating pizza doesn’t seem to attract attention. Perhaps somebody is watching, but since it doesn’t seem to affect my weight, speed eating is okay as long as I keep my mouth closed while chewing and avoid spewing bits of food as I eat.

This person (also me) may inspire awe at how fast she can eat a slice of hot pizza, but if anybody has any unkind thoughts about it, they keep them to themselves.

This person (also me) may inspire awe at how fast she can eat a slice of hot pizza, but if anybody has any unkind thoughts about it, they keep them to themselves.

The Fourth of July is tomorrow. Lots of people will be at the beaches and public pools in bathing suits. As long as the private parts are covered, all people have the right to wear the swimsuit that makes them happy and nobody has the right to be a jerk “because wearing that bathing suit is asking for it!”

 

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.