I am addicted to fast food. It is delicious and you can judge me all you want, but when I eat a McDonald's cheeseburger, the joy I feel inside is wonderful. I know that it is terrible for me and I know what gross chemical by-products are in it and I just don't care..I want that wonderful, greasy awesomeness in my hands and then I want to feel the shame and embarrassment over what I have just done because that is always what ends up happening. I probably wouldn't feel so ashamed over eating fast food if I A) didn't eat it like, three times a week and B) wasn't such a goddamn soft fatty mcfat pants. No one should feel like they are going to be judged for eating fast food, sometimes it is just that convenient and for people that don't take their health as serious as others, it is no big deal to eat it. More importantly, no on should be afraid that their photo will end up on the internet and trolled by assholes who think that fat shaming is the new cat breading. I searched Google using "fat girls in fast food restaurants" and "fat people in fast food restaurants" and found numerous photos of people who most likely had their photos unwittingly taken by other customers for the sole purpose of uploading them to the internet so that others could have a rousing game of fat shaming.
These are just a few of the photos that I found, I hate to re-blog them but I am not shaming anyone, but this is how easy it is to become the butt of an internet joke. Additionally, the bottom photo is of two young girls, most likely pre-teens or early teens and it is doubtful that there was any consent for these photos to be taken of these two girls.
Or what about these ads meant to highlight childhood obesity? We view being fat as a moral failing, a lack of self-control and the inability to follow social norms and values. You are not just a person, you are a FAT person. You are not a doctor, but a fat doctor. You are labeled and you will remain so, if you lose weight, you are not a thin person, you are a person who USED TO BE FAT. In a college course on social deviance I read multiple studies that were conducted on people who are overweight and how they are viewed in society. Most respondents felt that fat people were lazy, gross, unmotivated and more likely to be unemployed. What is worse is that people who are overweight are more likely to unemployed because they are less likely to be hired in the first place based solely on their outward appearance.
Society seems to forget that obesity is caused by more than just personal choice. While overeating is usually the culprit in obesity, there are legitimate medical conditions that cause obesity as well. Thyroid conditions, Cushing's Syndrome, and multiple other endocrine disorders can cause obesity. This is regardless of personal eating and exercise habits of the person suffering from the disorder. For others, medications can cause obesity as well. Our default is to immediately judge the person and call them fat and lazy and blame them for all their other failures in life, because as a fat person, they obviously deserve everything they get. Fat people bring it on themselves by just being fat!
Being fat is my fault. I am admittedly lazy when it comes to working out and I have terrible eating habits. I love fruits and vegetables and many other healthy foods. I also love candy. LOVE. CANDY. I love candy so much I am dedicating a half sleeve tattoo on my left arm to the wonder that is candy. I also love ice cream. I can eat ice cream all day, every day. When I am not being lazy, I am adventurous and active. I'm also lazy because I have an autoimmune disorder, suffer from debilitating migraines, and have a nerve disorder, so being active isn't always something I am interested in. I realize and understand that losing weight will benefit me and help me gain control over the medical issues I have...it is just going to be a long road, it has been. I have been wanting to lose weight for years and I have had to endure the up and down battle like many. For me, success is finding the reasons I was fat, understanding them and moving forward. It isn't about shaming myself into losing weight for someone else or for society. It isn't about waking up and feeling terrible about who I am and hating what I look like. It's about waking up and feeling good about how I am today and who I can be tomorrow.
I am not a fat person. I am a woman who is strong and proud of who she is. I am not defined by my body or my looks. I am defined by my strengths and weaknesses as a person, my accomplishments and my failings, and my ability to be strong in the face of adversity.
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