At work, the TV in the lounge is always on. Every time I walk in to get a drink I am bombarded by some sort of news station. Today must have been a slow day because I caught a story about these over weight ladies dramatically portraying their experience at one of their local restaurants.
Apparently, the waiter labelled their order under fat chicks or some such nonsense and it came up on their receipt. These criticisms about overweight people are nothing new. The public outcry about this kind of abuse towards the obese paved the way for plus size models and secured the acceptance of plus sized clothing stores.
What seems to be routinely overlooked is the discrimination against people who are underweight. Sadly, this is a situation I can tell you about first hand. I have been underweight all my life. I have no doubt that I could eat most people under the table. My personal best gorgefest was 9 slices of pizza when I was 11. I could out eat my older brother then and I probably still can, despite the fact that he is just about twice my size. I have never dieted, calorie counted, or exercised. I don't deprive myself of anything. If I want half a bag of Oreos I eat them. At this very moment I am probably 102 lbs soaking wet. I clearly don't try to be this weight. In fact, I can only imagine what a person with a normal metabolism would look like if they ate the way I do. That being said, I wouldn't mind gaining 10 lbs. I just can't seem to make it happen.
I get quite a bit of unwanted attention being this thin. That is something most average people don't understand. I no more want to be singled out for my weight then a fat person does. Yet, some how, it is socially acceptable for someone to say, "Wow, you are so skinny!" My personal favorite is, "Do you eat?!" That is the kind of response I get from TOTAL STRANGERS. God forbid if I go to a restaurant with a group of friends and I am the only one at the table not eating. No one stops to think that I might have eaten before hand. All they see is a skinny girl who is CLEARLY annorexic because she isn't stuffing her face full of the daily special.
Some people who know me try to spin their comments as compliments. "I wish I could be a skinny as you!" Some try to play it off as a joke, "Why don't you go eat a cheese burger?" The ridiculous part about it is that if I were to respond the way I want to and say, "Maybe you should lay off all cheese burgers, fatty." I would be seen as the only mean spirited person in the equation.
So, I ask you this:
Why is it ok for average size people to complain about being too fat but if I complain about being too skinny people roll their eyes and trivialize my dissatisfaction with my body? It must be nice to be able to seek and find sympathy for something that upsets you. I wouldn't know.
Why is it ok for people to point out my weight when it isn't ok for me to point out the weight class of someone bigger then average?
Why is it ok for fat chicks to cry on the news when someone calls them what they are but when I am called what I am I'm expected to smile and say thank you?
The point of my rant is this:
Don't discuss peoples weight. It is tacky. Even if you think you are pointing out something positive. The person carrying that attribute might not want to be defined by it.
That is all.
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