#thingsfatpeoplearetold

Brian von Red No 3 hat vor einigen Tagen ein Twitter-Meme gestartet: Things fat people are told. Einige der Sätze habe ich auch schon mal abgekriegt, aber ich ahne, dass viele schlanke Menschen keine Ahnung haben, was wir uns so anhören „dürfen“. Auf Shakesville fasst Brian zusammen:

“One person would talk about how they were told they would be pretty if they would just lose weight and a dozen would follow along the same lines. As would stories of those who were more direct in demeaning a person as “ugly.” As would stories of people told they’d never find love in a fat body. Or if they did find a partner, the person would just use them for sex. And if their partner didn’t just use them for sex, then there must be something wrong with them for being attracted to a fat person.

Someone would talk about being turned away from a clothing store and then another person would have the same experience. Others talked of being told they would only be accommodated if they bought their clothes online. More chimed in with lack of access to jobs, homes, and health care. If a fat person defied any of these pronouncements in any way, they spoke of having their lives and experiences denied. They couldn’t really have low blood pressure. They couldn’t really be getting married.

The hostility fat people experience is extreme. One woman spoke about being on an operating table for a C-section and having a surgeon mock her fat, suggesting they get rid of it while they’ve got her open. Another spoke of sitting in an ambulance while a police officer refused to believe she was raped. Others were told they should be happy to have been sexually assaulted. We heard about how transgender persons were belittled for being too fat to pass. We heard about fat people who were sick and were denied treatment until they lost weight. Fat mothers were told they were selfish for being fat because they would orphan their children. Or that their children would never love them. Or that they’d just ruin their children’s lives so maybe the baby should just die in the womb. People who were told they would die before their 21st birthday (or 30th, or 40th, as the needs of the threat demanded). It is very difficult to read.”

(via Skreees Gezwitscher)