I gotta admit...I cant' stand the phrase "fat shaming."
From what I've seen throughout my life, people don't fat shame, they're just shitty to people. Absolutely shitty. I had issues in school with the way I was treated, due to my weight. This wasn't simple teasing, it went pretty far sometimes and it's taken me years to get over (no joke, just last summer I was able to take a deep breath and say "I'm over it"). For all the years that I dealt with my fellow students, I was their main target, but not their only. There was a girl, Carol, in school that was a little slow. She was in special needs class, but was still aware of her surroundings, receptive to people's feelings and participated in regular school activities (P.E., dances, assemblies, etc). I can remember at least 4 incidences where the people that bothered me (I don't like to use the term "bully;" I feel it's far over-used) were now attacking Carol, because she was over weight and slower. Carol was a sweet person and these kids were throwing things at her, calling her retarded and and claiming she was "taking up too much room." All she did was stand there and cry, begging for them to stop it. I intervened and was happy to take the attention off of her.
By the time we got to high school, most of the people who has bothered me in middle school, just resorted to ignoring me and whispering about me instead of yelling things at me across the quad. I wasn't always around Carol, as we had a few different classes, but I do remember one time passing through a building on lunch and finding her leaning, her face against the wall, crying. I asked her what was wrong and she had said that she started her period, it went through her clothes and she didn't know what to do. I told her I'd go to the school nurse with her and they'd figure something out. As we were passing through half of the campus to the nurses, (seriously, we had to pass through half the school), some little fucker called something out to her. I don't remember what was said, but I ran over and pushed his ass against the wall, nicely asking him to repeat what he had said. He seemed to forget it in that moment, but I know it had something to do with her mental capabilities, and not her weight.
I also remember kids picking on a boy in school because he used arm crutches (he was born with a physical issue). Granted, this kid was kind of a jerk to most people, but it never stopped kids from making fun of him before he was able to say something to them.
The thing is, people can be mean, but I think putting a specific name to that meanness not only gives it more power, but also gives those who are mean a bit of a shove to push the envelop. I don't like the idea that fat shaming is worse than skinny shaming, mental shaming, look shaming, face shaming, clothes shaming, whatever shaming. It's all the same and it's basically some thinking that it's OK for them to treat others badly. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in free speech, but aggressively pointing out someone's flaws in hopes to look cool or entertain others is cheap and low and no one should be OK with that in society.
We can change that, too. How we act in society is dictated by the masses and, from what I've seen in my 30yrs, people ignore the instances when someone is being treated badly. How about we stop ignoring and start telling people they're wrong for treating others badly? How about we start paying attention and lend a hand to someone who may need it? It's really not hard.
And to go with the theme, my fat, white Diana Ross (taken very recently...all you need to do is wet your hair, use Herbal Essences Totally Twisted [not getting paid to endorse this], french braid your hair, go to sleep, roll hair on both sides of head because it's dirty [the braiding was to give it volume], wear throughout the day, get home, take out 40 bobby pins, brush: MAGIC):
This is sexy.
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