Over overweight
When I found this article from mamamia, I identified with the title instantly.
Is the only thing making fat people unhappy, the prejudice of everyone else?
It is refering to an article by Tanya Gold, in which she writes:I'm posting it because I have always thought the sentiment is true, but didn't realise other people agreed with me.
"According to the advertising industry, I am unattractive; men don't want me. Or if they do, they certainly won't tell their friends about it. Clothing shops don't cater for me. In fact, they detest me. In Bond Street, I am literally waved away from the racks of precious clothes."
Recently the Australian Government began a campaign to encourage Aussies to measure up.
TVC, print, outdoor and even online ads are everwhere, and they look like this:
When I saw these I got very annoyed at the government and the way they are giving people the RIGHT to judge you on your waistline. Because I'm not a bad person if my waist is over 80cm.
I've always thought of myself as a fat person. Even as a kid. But when I look at photos of me in primary school i'm perfectly normal, and same as all of the other kids. I might be slightly bigger, but nothing too bad. Doesn't matter though, because the damage had already been done. I'd already heard the comments and murmers, and that was enough for me to not care about my weight.
(On a side note, this is why I get annoyed when I hear the words "childhood obesity". I think just saying the worlds makes a kid eat a mars bar, instead of a banana. It gives the skinnier, prettier, more popular kids another reason to persecute the larger, more lonely kids. This campaign is the adult version of this and I've had enough).
Through my life I still hear lots of comments which hurt my ego. The other day I asked if there was a Krispy Kreme around here (work), and got told off, that "you don't need that, do you?". Not that it was even for me, instead my half brother was coming up from the country, and I thought it would be a nice gift cos he probably wouldn't have tried them before. One place I worked at my boss wanted pringles and I got told to go up to the shops and get them "because I could use the exercise". Just the other day I got told that if I worked out then I probably wouldn't have had so much period pain. Because strangers have the best insight into how my body works. Even my psych, subtly noted that a fitness first was opening in my area, and therefore "there were no more excuses for a lot of people". There are many more I could add to this list but will stop for my own sanity.
What frustrates me about all this is 99% of the time I'm perfectly happy with my weight. I've accepted who I am and D loves me and my body and I don't care about my size. Sure I have the fitting room freak out when I go to buy clothes, but people get that at any size. Its when I hear the comments, get the looks, that I feel like shit. Like fat people really are the cause of all bad things on earth. Quick, fat people are hiding terrorists behind their great asses. Fat people are the downfall of the economic crisis, and they are responsible for this earths demise because they consume so much more resources.
But what perplexes me the most is that I don't know what to do about it. I'm sure the government awarness ads will help some people who are on their way to being overweight to stop and think about what they are eating and how much they are exercising. But for the ones who are already over the 'waistline threshold' its too late. The damage has been done and unfortunately will continue to be build. I mean, how many people looking at that ad are going to feel good about themselves. Try stopping them from reaching for a mars bar.
Now I know I have my own issues. Gyms just freak me out, and even walking sends me into anxiety territory. But I also know that I have done it all before. Before this anxiety bullshit started I did go to the gym. Nothing. I played soccer. Nothing. I ate salads everyday. Nothing.
The only time I have ever lost weight was when I wasn't trying. D and I were dead broke, and I would walk out the door to go to work with no money, no food, and only eat dinner when I got home. It was a low point and i'm sure it was part of the reason I am where I am now. Once we had a bit more money the weight went back on, and I continued my life as normal.
In a perfect world our media would be saturated with both thin and fat people. Designers would make clothes for a resonable size, not a stick. Gyms would be a place of relaxation and not torture. And food would be something you appreciate, not judge on how many calories make up your meal. Unfortunately we don't live in that world. At least I know that there are other people out there who feel the same. (And that we will be the ones fighting over the last mars bar in the vending machine).
I've always thought of myself as a fat person. Even as a kid. But when I look at photos of me in primary school i'm perfectly normal, and same as all of the other kids. I might be slightly bigger, but nothing too bad. Doesn't matter though, because the damage had already been done. I'd already heard the comments and murmers, and that was enough for me to not care about my weight.
(On a side note, this is why I get annoyed when I hear the words "childhood obesity". I think just saying the worlds makes a kid eat a mars bar, instead of a banana. It gives the skinnier, prettier, more popular kids another reason to persecute the larger, more lonely kids. This campaign is the adult version of this and I've had enough).
Through my life I still hear lots of comments which hurt my ego. The other day I asked if there was a Krispy Kreme around here (work), and got told off, that "you don't need that, do you?". Not that it was even for me, instead my half brother was coming up from the country, and I thought it would be a nice gift cos he probably wouldn't have tried them before. One place I worked at my boss wanted pringles and I got told to go up to the shops and get them "because I could use the exercise". Just the other day I got told that if I worked out then I probably wouldn't have had so much period pain. Because strangers have the best insight into how my body works. Even my psych, subtly noted that a fitness first was opening in my area, and therefore "there were no more excuses for a lot of people". There are many more I could add to this list but will stop for my own sanity.
What frustrates me about all this is 99% of the time I'm perfectly happy with my weight. I've accepted who I am and D loves me and my body and I don't care about my size. Sure I have the fitting room freak out when I go to buy clothes, but people get that at any size. Its when I hear the comments, get the looks, that I feel like shit. Like fat people really are the cause of all bad things on earth. Quick, fat people are hiding terrorists behind their great asses. Fat people are the downfall of the economic crisis, and they are responsible for this earths demise because they consume so much more resources.
But what perplexes me the most is that I don't know what to do about it. I'm sure the government awarness ads will help some people who are on their way to being overweight to stop and think about what they are eating and how much they are exercising. But for the ones who are already over the 'waistline threshold' its too late. The damage has been done and unfortunately will continue to be build. I mean, how many people looking at that ad are going to feel good about themselves. Try stopping them from reaching for a mars bar.
Now I know I have my own issues. Gyms just freak me out, and even walking sends me into anxiety territory. But I also know that I have done it all before. Before this anxiety bullshit started I did go to the gym. Nothing. I played soccer. Nothing. I ate salads everyday. Nothing.
The only time I have ever lost weight was when I wasn't trying. D and I were dead broke, and I would walk out the door to go to work with no money, no food, and only eat dinner when I got home. It was a low point and i'm sure it was part of the reason I am where I am now. Once we had a bit more money the weight went back on, and I continued my life as normal.
In a perfect world our media would be saturated with both thin and fat people. Designers would make clothes for a resonable size, not a stick. Gyms would be a place of relaxation and not torture. And food would be something you appreciate, not judge on how many calories make up your meal. Unfortunately we don't live in that world. At least I know that there are other people out there who feel the same. (And that we will be the ones fighting over the last mars bar in the vending machine).
Comments
... which is kinda depressing me for the past few days. I mean, I always suspected I had it, but I've never been able to get a doctor to confirm my suspicions, mostly since doctors hate it when you think you know more than they do, which, in most cases, I am finding out is true. Ingravesconimis Morbus is a serious and dangerous disease, but fortunately, it is easily cured. Ingravesconimis Morbus is more commonly known as You're Too Fat Disease.
You're Too Fat Disease can strike anyone, even perfectly skinny people such as myself. My normally chiseled good looks have been obscured by puffy, fleshy growths. My ripped abdominal muscles are nearly completely encased in layers of adipose tissue, and their removal is a very costly medical procedure. The manual method of removal is a very long, often multi-year process, and it is very difficult for people who have been stricken with this disease for long periods of time. I myself have been living with for over nine years.
I urge you, good people, who are reading this. Get yourself tested for Ingravesconimis Morbus, known on the street as Fat Bastarditis. You may be suffering from this horrible affliction, and not even know it, as it has been known to affect the brain and the vision, actually preventing itself from being discovered.
I have a friend, who is severely obese, and I don't know how often she came home crying and hating herself, because total strangers had made mean remarks. One time, though, she was mad enough to splap a mans face, who called her a "fat pig". This was one of the rare occasions I unhesitantely and wholeheartedly applauded physical violence. I hope, she hit him very hard.
Gold! Totally agree!
Thanks. I barely am. So why do i still feel so bad?
I came across your blog and I completely agree, and this is an issue that really upsets me. I have never struggled with own weight, but I watch my friends treat themselves like shit because they've been made to feel that way. My best friend cannot go a day without pointing out to me how fat she is. The thing is, she is slightly overweight, but she is also beautiful, funny, intellegent, etc. But her whole life she has been told she is fat and that seems to be the only thing she can identify herself as. It makes me so sad, but also so angry at the world we live in.
And I agree with you about these campaigns that they've put out to combat obesity. They really do make it seem like being overweight makes people bad. It feeds on the negative perception people have already developed through school and media. I mean, as someone who has lost people that I love to complications of wieght-related diabetes I do hope that people will do what they can to take care of their body. However, that means being the healthiest them and not the skinniest. And just as much I wish that we would live in a society that emphasized beauty that comes from loving who you are, no matter what that may look like.
people are so effed up.
and don't even get me started on the way that companies are constantly changing how big/small their sizes run, forcing me to buy a size bigger/smaller when i haven't changed weight at all. it's irritating.
that said - as an anxious person, I've never felt better than when I'm excersising regularly. It's not about losing weight (i've lost exactly 1kg after 1 year) but about feeling good about yourself - which i do now, at exactly the same weight as i felt like shit. It's a really interesting idea/concept.
I wish you all the best though, and hope that you are happy, because you deserve it.